In four years we've seen a stack of Guitar Hero titles with two others coming before the end of the year in the form of Guitar Hero Van Halen and Guitar Hero 5. If you needed any more proof that the billion dollar product is being milked until its chafed teat is raw, you'll find it in the recent release of Greatest Hits; which is a one-disc compilation of what are, apparently – according to someone somewhere, the best songs to appear in the first four games (the fourth being Rock the 80's). The catch is now that you can play your favourite songs from the older editions as a band, making use of the drums and microphone that Guitar Hero World Tour introduced.

What we have here is a cash-in on an obviously popular franchise. Now, I hear people saying ‘oh, lay off, they have a right to want to make money as a business' and ‘thank you Captain Obvious', but how ludicrous do these releases have to become before we simply refuse to pay near full retail price for second-hand songs? Take a page out of Rock Band's ‘Guide To' and realize all of the effort going into constantly rushing out retail discs could be going into matching Rock Band's dominance in digital distribution. In our opinion, Greatest Hits, while a desirable concept, should have seen release as downloadable content, it's as simple as that.

Now we all know the idea when it comes to Guitar Hero; the challenge is to have the steady hands and co-ordination to be able to pluck the strum bar whilst holding the coloured buttons on your controller as designated by the on-screen scrolling highway. It sounds simple enough, but most can find it quite tricky, with expert difficulty being their Everest. Then by chaining together the string of notes coated in the electric blue feel, you can unleash the fury of star power by tilting your plastic axe vertically thus for a short time doubling whatever your current multiplier is. If guitar doesn't quite grab your interest, why not thrash out on the drums or test your pipes by singing a tune or two. They're both incredibly fun alternatives, and with the ‘Super Bundle' being at its lowest price yet, I dare say it's worth investing in the entire kit if you're looking for the entire Guitar Hero experience.

There are numerous ways to approach playing Greatest Hits; some might delve straight into the lengthy career mode, while others may opt for the more casual quickplay option. The formula for the career remains practically untouched since the Metallica outing, with venues (modelled after the Wonders of the World) becoming available by achieving a set number of stars from the previously available songs. I found this idea very accessible for the casual gamers in Metallica, but I also found it made the game bit too easy for the experienced fans of the franchise. In Greatest Hits, once you reach the penultimate set you'll need to finish every song available to unlock the finale. Luckily for beginners, Greatest Hits is undoubtedly easier than Metallica, making the learning curve for the game pretty generous. I mean, ‘Through the Fire and Flames' was considered a gargantuan hurdle for gamers in Legends of Rock, yet I was able to conquer it first go in Greatest Hits without any stress. This is just one example of difficult songs being scaled down for a pretty casual audience, which I find to be a bit of a slap in the face being a long-time player – where's the challenge, guys? I mean, beating Lou in Legends of Rock was a titanic struggle, yet lately a breeze could knock this game over on expert, c'mon.

If you're not quite ready to take on the career mode but want to tackle one of your favourite tunes, every song is readily available from the get-go through quickplay. Not being forced to endure the career is certainly a plus as I rarely felt nostalgia when playing through Greatest Hits. I thought I'd happily reminisce as I checked off song after song, though I was struck with a terrible feeling of having triumphed it all before.

Greatest Hits, in keeping consistent with the rest of the series, is a solid online experience. Sadly you may be limited to the one-on-one match types, as simply not enough people play to put together a band (or at least not at any of the times I've attempted to). That's not to say it isn't fun, because we all know that it is. Fortunately, if you're one of the rare gamers to have real world friends, you could always kick your party off with a casual romp of Guitar Hero. I've always said, ‘mix in a drink or two, and Guitar Hero is the ultimate party game'.

Since Legends of Rock, we've seen real-life rockers lend their appearances to the Guitar Hero series; from Slash through to Ozzy Osbourne, and most of the between. This, however, is not the case in Greatest Hits as Beenox Studios, making their series debut, thought it'd be a testament to the series to only use original creations including Axel Steel and Clive Winston (my personal favourite). Despite not undergoing many changes over the years, they still have a certain charm about them that gives the game that warmth that, I believe, is missing in Rock Band. As mentioned earlier, the venues are inspired by the Wonders of the World and range from the humid Amazon Rain Forest to the chilly Polar Ice Caps; while your focus isn't on your surroundings while playing, these newly modelled environments are gorgeous to say the least.

Alright first things first – I am aware that music is a very subjective issue, and while keeping that in mind, I do have to protest that Greatest Hits is hardly a compilation of the best songs in the series up until this point. I mean, where's the Megadeth? Where's David Bowie with ‘Ziggy Stardust'? I dare say many of the glaring omissions were simply songs Activision couldn't obtain licensing rights for, which is a great shame because the setlist as released is a bit of a disappointment. Who would, in their right mind, pick ‘Barracuda' as the Heart song when ‘Crazy on You' is on the table? At least they've continued an impressive standard of including nothing but mastered recordings on the final product. Every song included should have been a classic, and yet I find myself only selecting every third song in constructing a set to play – this screams to me poor track selection. Keep in mind my own subjective taste is undoubtedly swaying my judgement here.