For those who weren’t gaming in the late ‘00s when plastic instruments were all the rage and Activision was pumping out yearly instalments of Guitar Hero and similar spins on the late, great rhythm genre; let me take you back to a simpler time. A rare moment in gaming history where you could boot up a game which featured not only in-game performances of Taylor Swift, but also Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani. Band Hero swapped out the Rock for Pop with a pretty stunning mixture of results. Sadly, it was a one and done series which never saw a follow-up as the market became oversaturated and filled with far too much far too quickly.
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I remember Band Hero being marketed as an sanitised version of its older sibling with a lower age rating and the inclusion of artists like Taylor Swift that would attract cute young girls instead of hardened rocker boys. The Music Industry herself even filmed a trailer for the game that saw her sliding into view Jerry Maguire-style before rocking out with folks from Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and Blink-182. Watching as Swift walks up to an imaginary crowd of people while singing her then-biggest hit Love Story (included in the game itself) is a special kind of brilliant, speaking to a moment in gaming history we’ve long since left behind. Part of me misses it, cringe and all.
While Swift was far from performing sets to rival her Eras Tour in Band Hero, and she was still a long way from the global stardom she commands today, the game has a nice selection of tracks. Love Story, You Belong With Me, and Picture To Burn are present with mo-capped performances by Taylor Swift and her accompanying band. She comes armed with outfits from her debut album and sophomore Fearless, expressing a variety of pop and country styles that are still so much fun to play. Love Story is a faster, poppier mix for the sake of gameplay, but that hardly takes away from the moment-to-moment action which makes me feel like a fabulous pop sensation. It’s even the version of Picture To Burn without the awkward homophobia so full marks all round.
Band Hero was sold with its own bespoke instruments and a DS version featuring an entirely unique track list, but in my experience it was a game picked up by existing Guitar Hero users for the songs alone, before being shortly discarded because it didn’t possess the same rock ‘ n’ roll attitude. Songs tended to be easier while the visual aesthetic was considerably more exuberant. It seems this change in attitude combined with the general decline of music game sales scuppered plans of a sequel, with 600,000 or so copies sold before the series all but faded into obscurity. In another world it could have been the first foray into myriad genres for the series, although this need to split them by different games instead of combining them under the Guitar Hero umbrella probably didn’t help matters. And neither did the No Doubt lawsuit that emerged a day after the game’s release due to their likenesses in the game.
Unless you’re making her inThe Simsor erecting shrines in her honour inAnimal Crossing: New Horizonsthough, this is probably still the best Taylor Swift video game experience out there. You’re rocking out with her on stage to early hits and a range of fabulous outfits along with choreography and set design completely unique to the game. If the concert tickets don’t work out, I may just dust off myPS3and find some pictures to burn.
