Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Review
A Review - By Gaetano Prestia
NOTE: This review is for the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Guitar Hero III: Legend's of Rock.
In a matter of 12 months we've seen three Guitar Hero games; Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (exclusively for PS2) and now Guitar Hero 3. The latter is the only one not developed by the brain-child of the franchise, Harmonix, and Activision have taken over the reins and brought out a worthy addition to the popular, expanding and million-unit-selling series.
The Good
Not only is Guitar Hero III the deepest and most challenging of the series, it also has the best soundtrack by far. Not only do you have the likes of Metallica and The Rolling Stones to play too (and with master tracks, too) but also bands like The Sex Pistol who temporarily reformed to sing tracks specifically for the game. Activision must have a hell of a bargaining team as the assortment of talent is beyond anything one could expect, even after the fantastic first three games.
There are a few additions worth mentioning. One is that there is an individual co-operative mode with its own track list so you and a friend can join up and play lead guitar and bass. You also have tough but enjoyable boss fights at specific times in the game where you play off against rock gods like Slash and the leader of the underworld himself, Satan (no, not Tony Mokhbel). You each compete in turns to play the tunes and collect "attacks" that you throw over to your opponent, which causes them to play off tune. You have to "kill" them before the time the time runs out otherwise you lose the battle. It's quite the enjoyable and intense addition and adds something new to the gameplay. Beyond being able to play against some rock legends you'll also have the opportunity to play as them once you beat them.
Online multiplayer mode has been added for the first time, allowing you to play co-op (not online), face-off, pro face-off and battle mode. Online runs smoothly with little to no lag and is a great addition. Once you get through the single-player it's definitely worth checking out.
While the game overall is quite challenging, the easier difficulties have been brought down a few levels and this is encouraging, especially for those who have never played a GH game before. The timing to hit each note has been increased so there is more room to work with and if you miss a note by half-a-second you'll still get the note pending you push the correct button. While it might make the easier difficulties too easy for the hardcore GH player, it broadens the appeal of the title and opens it to new players. Once you get deep into Expert mode the difficulty is as hard as its ever been and to think that there may be someone out there who will master this game is frightening; Expert is challenging in the later songs that you can't help but think that you'd actually need 14 fingers to finish a song.
The Bad
Overall, it's very difficult to find something in Guitar Hero III that can actually be classified as a downfall. The title does what it has to do, albeit perfectly, and as a guitar-based rhythm game it's superb. It does have its minor downfalls however, though they have little to no effect on the gameplay. Firstly, the graphics and character animations leave little to the imagination. The crowd's all move together in a synchronised flow and you'd expect a little more from a title that is appearing on two very powerful consoles. It would have been cool to have more attitude and personality with the crowds instead of a plain direction that looks awkward. This stands out particularly in a prison stage where you play in front of a hall full of cons. They all look identical and sway and jump together and when you put this together with the same, pin-stripped, clichéd jail uniform you have an overly repetitive and boring atmosphere to play too.
Your band mates look OK and you'll see that your head singer moves his lips to the tunes, which is impressive, but overall the title looks like a souped-up Playstation 2 game above anything else. It's hard to complain about this as it really has no effect on the gameplay, but it would only add to the "coolness" of the title if you can play to a graphically impressive arena filled with individual characters.
There is some slight slowdown at times which is inexcusable for a music game but its very minimal and shouldn't have too much of an influence on your score. It only happened on the easiest difficulty and never showed up once in about 4 hours of play on Expert.
The boss modes, while impressive and fun are limited in the sense that you can't play the battle songs outside of those modes. Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones is a great song to play too, but you'll have to complete the set tier in order to play it and it doesn't appear in the set list which is very disappointing.
With all the hype surrounding the title and its "Legends of Rock" theme it would have been better had there been some more rock legends to unlock. Slash and Tom Morello are fantastic additions and it's hard to go past them, but a few more couldn't have gone astray.
Guitar Hero III is a great addition to the popular franchise. Its track list is the most impressive and the title stands to be the most challenging, yet the best option in the series for beginners. The boss modes are a fantastic addition, as is the online component.
Graphics and Display
6.5/10
While graphics are hardly an important factor for a game like this, they seem underdone and unimpressive. The crowd animations are emotionless and boring and overall the title looks like a shiny PS2 game. As a music game this title comes as close to perfection as it can get, but you need a better overall presentation to truly be something special.
Gameplay
9.5/10
Activision have entered the franchise with a bang and brought out a perfect music title. It plays better than the other three titles and excels in difficulty and openness for those new to the series.
Sound
9.5/10
The best soundtrack in the series. While the boss tracks would have been great to battle a friend too, the tracklist is amazing and deep.
Value
9.0/10
If you feel the need to go through all the difficulties you're looking at about 8-12 hours of gameplay, pending you get through each song on the first playthrough. Even if you choose to skip the easier difficulties or if expert is too hard for you, you can go online and play to your hearts content in a lag-free, enjoyable multiplayer experience.
The Final Verdict
9.5/10
Without doubt the best GH title available. The soundtrack is superb, the gameplay is improved and impressive, online is great, the boss battles are fun and the challenge is welcomed. If you haven’t yet gotten into GH, be sure to buy this third addition straight away - it plays better than its older brothers and it's a perfect introduction to the franchise.
05/11/2007
11
Join MyPS3 to vote for your favourite story!
Tags:
3
360
GHIII
Guitar
GuitarHero3
GuitarHeroIII
Hero
Legends
of
playstation
Playstation3
ps
ps3
rock
xbox
xbox360
More Info:
Guitar Hero III
Related News:
Related Reviews:
Related Videos: