Activision can do NO WRONG when it throws a party.  Their basic formula is tried and true: invite celebs, have free food and booze, be extremely organized……. oh and always have the hottest bands perform!  To celebrate the Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock release this week – Activision treated Los Angeles media and fans to a Soundgarden concert on the Paramount Studios Lot.  What made the event even more special was that Paramount’s back lot was revamped to emulate the look and feel of Manhattan’s ‘Lower East Side’ – home of the famous but now defunct CBGB’s of New Y0rk City.

Soundgarden’s new album (their first in years) will be available to play in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and one of the recreated venues in the game is CBGB’s — yes, that’s how it all ties together.  As you can see from the photos there was the Bleecker train station, a gallery of images and artifacts from the original CBGB’s (pictured: telephone booth from the entrance) and a photo booth from Polite In Public was setup to remind us all how foul the men’s bathroom became over the years.

So how does Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock stack up?  It’s difficult to give a full review playing the game outdoors during a party atmosphere but the new guitar feel slick and are light-weight however we’re not excited about the new drums as they are smaller and the placement of the control pad is poorly placed.  On a positive side – the game never looked this polished.  The note-tracking feels right, jump in and jump out play on the fly is perfect (you can change your instrument and difficulty without disturbing the song) and most of all there’s over 90 classic rock and metal tracks ready to shred.

Visit www.GuitarHero.com for more info on the game.