Between its newfound focus on storytelling and its status as (gasp) the only Guitar Hero game out this calendar year, Warriors of Rock carried major promise to evolve the stubborn music franchise. Maybe you balked at the concept of a story-focused game featuring a cast of characters who have never spoken before, but at least storytelling represents a fairly unbeaten path in the increasingly beaten rhythm genre. (Well, fictional storytelling, anyway.)

However, you don't have to spend much time with Warriors of Rock to realize that what sounded like evolutions are actually ancient gameplay mechanics -- only shrouded in a campy heavy metal veneer.