Rating: Skip it!

With “Warriors of Rock,” the sixth installment in the popular “Guitar Hero” franchise, developers Neversoft have tried to revive the music game genre with a new story-driven career mode called Quest Mode. Despite a strong (though disjointed) soundtrack, the game ultimately lacks content.

Quest Mode follows the story of the Warriors of Rock on their quest to obtain the legendary guitar and defeat some evil beast. Although Neversoft claimed the mode would tell an epic tale, the entire story can be summed up in one sentence — and just was. Even narration by the legendary Gene Simmons falls flat and sounds awkward.

The unique twist to Quest Mode lies in the new power-ups, which do everything from granting additional star power to raising multipliers and preventing failure. When power-ups are combined, the goal of each song changes from simply passing the song to getting a high score. Fans of the series will know that each approach requires slightly different tactics, including changes in star power use and variation of strumming technique. Unfortunately, these power-ups can often be chaotic and incredibly distracting. Thankfully, if you dislike the powers, then once you beat Quest Mode (which takes about 10 hours), you are not forced to use them. Most of the songs in the game are available right out of the box, with only the most difficult songs requiring game completion to unlock. Aside from Quest Mode, there are no other major new modes, and only small improvements to overall gameplay.

This game’s real strength is its soundtrack, which features 93 songs from a variety of bands and genres. The bands range from Soundgarden, to Rammstein, to Dethklok, to Dragonforce, to Megadeth, and the songs include an entire seven-part epic, “2112” by Rush.

“Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock” is short on new features and, despite the return of fan-favorite modes such as party mode and the music creator, the game feels stale and recycled. Pick up this game only if you like the soundtrack; otherwise, wait for “Rock Band 3.”