Guitar Hero 3
“Under new management” can be bad ju-ju to an established brand. Maybe it’s a local pizza joint being bought by a national chain or a famous frog and his pals joining a certain mouse and his buddies. Things could go either way really and the same can be said for games. The success of the Guitar Hero franchise in the rythm-based game market has been largely unrivaled. We get that guitar-shaped hunk of plastic in our hands and for a brief shining moment feel like we’re genuinely talented with the chosen weapon of the rock gods.
Thankfully for those about to rock, a new guitar and a new publisher aren’t enough to take the title out to pasture. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock gives some new life, in fact, with a truly legendary track list that’s sure to please any rock and roll fan of the past 4 decades. Sorely lacking from its predecessor, GH3 injects an online element, letting you shred in head-to-head axe battles or participate in co-op with fellow thrashers. There’s no substitute for playing against a friend in the same room, but online rocking comes in a close second.
The sound: GH3 throws in a whopping 70+ tracks from heavy hitters like Aerosmith, Kiss, and The Who mixing in more recent bands like Disturbed, Pearl Jam and The Smashing Pumpkins. Even The Stones and Metallica are found in the title. GH3 is like an iTunes top 70 list for rock music.
The look: GH3’s animation has noticeably improved over the last 2 games. The new player models are smoother, particularly the lip-syncing by the vocalist is accurate and entertaining if you happen to be stuck on the sidelines rather than playing. One nag I had is how stiff the drummer looks during gameplay. The other models are smooth and vivid, but the drummer for whatevere reason looks like a Chuck E Cheese robotic reject. Since it doesn’t effect gameplay, I let it slide. New effects, particularly in lighting are very cool, again, if you can keep your eyes off the scrolling fret board. In GH2, completing a set and moving to a new venue showed a sorta cut scene where your band’s current vehicle would move across the map with some mouth-made sound effects. In GH3, each cut scene is a humorous animated short of your band being discovered or signing deals with a shifty, smooth talking agent.
The feel: If you’re not familar with the series, take a refresher course from our original Guitar Hero (playstation 2) review. Adding to the tried and true match-the-color-fret-to-the-strum-and-a-little-whammy-bar play, guitar battles are available at critical moments in your career or as a play mode in multiplayer. Normally, completing specially marked note combos score you “star power”. Gather enough star power and tilt your guitar to give your score a huge multiplier. In battle, completing these combos give you attacks to send your opponents way with a quick tilt. Break a string and that fret button needs to be wailed on before it can be used again. Overload their Amp and the fret board shakes and flashes making notes harder to hit. Really wanna eff em up? Give em the lefty/righty flip and watch them flounder around the frets like a spasmatic dolphin. Battle mode adds a much needed competetive element to the title and the new co-op career gives it a hefty helping of replayability with a friend.
The problems: Not many. I hate to repeat myself, but like GH1 and 2, the tutorial mode is very wordy. There’s a bit of humor, but even for newbies, the tuts are drawn out without a way to bypass all the talk in order to get the lesson. Especially frutration for veterans of the series who want the achievement (Xbox 360) that comes with completing it. Secondly, though I’ll admit to being stumped on how it could be pulled off, I’d still like to see a free style fret mode to record your own sets for example, or play a type of HORSE game with a friend.
The verdict: Still, these little piddly complaints don’t stand a chance against the positives. Guitar Hero 3 is a fitting sequel that adds just enough fresh play to an already excellent formula for a glorified air guitar experience any wannabe Slash or Tom Morello (found in the game as boss-battles) should have as part of game library.
