Rock 'n roll ain't cheap

Guitar Hero World Tour looks like it is the most entertaining and comprehensive music game ever released, but Australians will have to shell out over $300 to get the most out of it.

The "complete band" bundle with a single guitar, drum kit and microphone will be "around $300" according to Activision Blizzard Asia Pacific Managing Director Philip Earl.

Most players will also want a second guitar (approximate cost $80) so a fourth member can join their Guitar Hero band and play bass.

Both the guitar and drum kit are wireless, and feature some clever innovations.

The guitar features a "slider" underneath the coloured fret buttons. You can use the slider instead of the strum bar, which is particularly fun for bass slapping, and any time there is a sustained note you can move your hands back and forth on the slider bar for a cool "wah" effect.

Also, when playing lead guitar there are tapping sections, highlighted by transparent notes with connecting lines, that enable you to show off by moving your hand back and forth along the slider to rapidly "catch" the notes.

The drum kit features a high hat, snare, high tom, floor tom and the crash cymbal, plus a bass pedal. The pads can pick up notes at a very fast tempo, can register the velocity of your strikes so you can be expressive in your drumming, and have a pleasing "bounce" when you hit them.

Like Rock Band before it, you cannot over-emphasise how much that playing alongside other people in a band transforms and adds to the experience.

You are no longer strangers, no longer just friends. You are brothers in rock.

But it's not just the added instruments that ensure World Tour is by far the most comprehensive package in the popular series so far. The game is incredibly comprehensive and customisable, including an astonishingly fully-featured recording studio.

The game comes with 85 songs on the disc, but the recording studio will ensure that budding musicians around the world have access to potentially millions of other songs created by other Guitar Hero owners to download for free.

Guitar Hero World Tour will be released on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2 in Australia on November 12.

The game will be released in disc-only format, in the traditional bundle with a single guitar, and in a "complete band" bundle with a single guitar, drum kit and microphone. The drum kit will not initially be available separately, but Activision Blizzard has suggested that might change in future.

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Game Paradise

Video games are captivating more and more Australians every day. Award-winning veteran games journalist Jason Hill has chronicled the video game industry’s rise to mainstream entertainment force for over 15 years. Join Jason in exploring the latest news, issues and trends in interactive entertainment.