Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Review

By Keza MacDonald Published 22 November, 2007

Putting PS2 and 360 to the test. No need to fret.

Version tested: Xbox 360

If I'd spent anything like the amount of time with an actual guitar as I have with Guitar Hero, I'd probably be playing to packed-out stadiums by now. I'd be the next Hendrix, only female, right-handed and with slightly less excellent hair. There are people who might consider spending about six hours a week playing a pretend guitar laughable, but you understand me, dear readers. You understand how important it is that Neversoft gets Guitar Hero III right, especially after the (Harmonix-designed, I should point out) damp squib that was Rocks the 80s.

Happily, it's all worked out as well as could possibly have been imagined. We've got seventy fantastic tracks, all transposed perfectly into five-button tablature. We've got perfect, roof-raising multiplayer modes, all of them fully online. It's worth pointing out that Legends of Rock is not technically a new game; it's a nicer-looking, more complete version of an old game. But when that old game is as good as Guitar Hero II, and the chief additions are fully licensed songs, an incredible co-op career mode and long-awaited online functionality, that criticism falls completely flat (except, perhaps, in the case of the comparatively rough-looking, online-deprived PS2 version). Guitar Hero III isn't an expansion pack, and Neversoft has not been remotely complacent in bringing the series forward. The changes here aren't padding; they're conscious, informed adjustments that make a great game much better.

Firstly, there's that gorgeous, weighty new controller. It has 'Gibson' proudly flashed across the head of the little plastic headstock, a detachable neck and faceplate, a much sturdier strum bar, prettier buttons, and absolutely no wires - which in itself opens up whole new levels of rock-shape-throwing possibility. Apart from looking much cooler (indeed, I'd venture that it's about as cool as pretend guitars can look), it also plays a bit better than the old Xplorer and SG models thanks to its comfortable weight and smoother buttons, which are clearly designed to take a lot of punishment.

'Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock' Screenshot 1

I wonder if Tom Morello is pissed off at being a first-tier boss.

It probably won't take anywhere near as much punishment as you will. Neversoft has ramped up the difficulty on Expert so that pretty much everyone except proud owners of GH2's Kick the Bucket Achievement can expect to have their arse handed to them with pleasing regularity - the tepidity of Guitar Hero 80s is long gone. Bonus songs like Through the Fire and Flames and Take This Life - hell, even the last tier's eclectic mix of shred-heavy, screaming metal and joyful country riffs - provide whole new challenges even for the most practiced guitar heroes. Then there's the return of GH2's performance mode, which removes everything on the screen except the background, and the introduction of a slightly more feasible challenge in the form of precision mode, which unlocks upon completion of the Expert career and completely removes the timing window for notes. Hardcore.

Some American reviewers have even been complaining about the difficulty, but frankly, they're wimps. For a rhythm-action game - especially one with as many skilled devotees as Guitar Hero - there is no such thing as 'too difficult' on the expert levels, and as always the game's four difficulty settings are designed so that everybody has their comfort zone. What's most important is that, as ever, you'll have incredible fun with Guitar Hero even if you never make it any higher than Medium, such is the infectious, incomparable joy of making pretend music with a plastic, tilt-sensitive instrument.

'Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock' Screenshot 2

Cult of Personality boasts a new ENDLESS SOLO for GH3. Even Slash has trouble.

The track list makes or breaks any music game, of course, and thankfully it's impossible to complain about Guitar Hero III's. Gone are the covers - save for One by those notorious killjoys, Metallica, which is sadly a particularly glaring anomaly. [Editor's note: Keza now informs us that One is not in fact a cover, "it just sounds terrible". She also says she's sorry!] There's far more of a European focus, with pretty much equal musical representation from each side of the pond. The only possible gripe here is a certain loss of obscurity, but the people who mourn that will be very much in the minority. It turns out that Guitar Hero is more fun when you're playing songs you actually know than when it's trying to introduce you to little-known Bostonian prog-rock. The tremendous improvement in co-op is largely due to the diversity of the track list; instead of shoehorning lacklustre bass parts into every song, co-op career selects forty songs from the roster, some multiplayer-exclusive, with sufficiently challenging, interesting bass or support parts to make them a joy for both players. It's superb for multiple rock-god residences, or online with distant band-mates.

The game looks fantastic. Even the little Neversoft intro looks stunningly good. The art style has managed the developer transition intact, but it looks altogether more polished now; what's happening in the background, merely incidental before, has had much-needed attention lavished upon it and is now a spectacle to rival the best-looking current games. We've also got new, gently humourous cut-scenes, drawn in the style of the Guitar Hero II TV advert from a while ago.

The characters, too, have all been turned up to eleven, so to speak - you can practically smell the stench of week-old sweat wafting from Axel Steel's minging denims. There's also the fantastic addition of actual real-life guitarists Tom Morello and Slash alongside Guitar Hero's own excellent rock archetypes, which adds wow-factor in spades. It's hard to believe that Guitar Hero was once just an import curiosity, now that it's a world-famous, real life rock-god-endorsed phenomenon with an almost complete complement of fully licensed songs.

'Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock' Screenshot 3

Ahh, you can almost see the white residue on Johnny Napalm's upper lip.

Hand in hand with the new characters come Career mode's new boss battles, and a new multiplayer mode, Guitar Battle. It introduces Amplitude's disruptive items to the Guitar Hero mix; hitting sequences of notes earns you an item, like lefty-flip or broken-string, with which to inconvenience your opponent. It works well, albeit in an incredibly silly way. It can liven up dull competitive matches - say, between an Expert and Medium player - but in the context of the career mode, they can feel random and frustrating. There are only three boss battles in the entire game, and clever use of items is the only way to win them; they're invariably a lot better at guitar than you. Unsurprising, given that they're virtual representations of legendary, world-renowned guitarists and we're... well, let's be honest, we're playing pretend instruments in our living rooms.

Who cares, though, when it's this much fun?

Despite sharing the exact same innards as Guitar Hero II, Legends of Rock is, in every conceivable way, a better product than its predecessors. It's better presented, better put together, more professional, more complete. As the series always has, it brings fantastic music together with challenging, addictive, endlessly rewarding gameplay and a great sense of style - only this time it has flawless co-op, online multiplayer, and a 1980s German-language punk anthem.

In other words, it's damned near perfect.

9 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Keza.

About Keza MacDonald

Read more articles from Keza by visiting the Keza MacDonald archive page.

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Comments (89) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Erinan #1 4 years ago

    Can't wait for next week \o/

  • gamerbunny #2 4 years ago

    But seriously, this is a great buy for any Rock fan. Easy to pick up, and very fun with friends around.

  • hula hoops #3 4 years ago

    My workmate is a fan of this. But personally I am a bit scared to try. By the look of some videos the of button pressing is just to much to make me enjoy this sort of game.

  • Tejstar #4 4 years ago

    My main concern about the game is the tracklist. I'm not into heavy rock and I could only name less than 5 songs from the games tracklist that I could recognise. Playing the demo didn't really allay those fears either.

    Whilst technically the game is very good, it still lives or falls on the accessibility of its songs. For that reason alone it will have a tough job of living up to Guitar Hero which I still enjoy playing more than Guitar Hero II.

  • Azazel #5 4 years ago

    I'm not into heavy rock

    GTFO

    ;-)

  • Triggerhappytel #6 4 years ago

    The GH games have never really done it for me. I had the first game, but sold it to a mate for £20 (with the guitar), because as much fun as it was in theory I never particularly enjoyed playing it.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 08:34

  • Stifler #7 4 years ago

    "(indeed, I'd venture that it's about as cool as pretend guitars can look)"

    Hmm, i personally think that the Rock Band Strat looks about a bazillion times cooler :)

  • DUFFMAN5 #8 4 years ago

    Guitar queer-o
    I'll stick to the thing with six strings. Although it does look to be a good bit of fun, maybe after I finish assassins Creed then.

  • afray #9 4 years ago

    [link url=http://www.eurogam er.net/view_screenshot.php?image=assets/articles//a/8/7/6/8/ 1/gh3_02.jpg.jpg
    ]http://ww w.eurogamer.net/view_screenshot...[/link]

    This is full of win.

  • Feet #10 4 years ago

    Question is should I save my cash for Rock Band instead... ?

  • BrokenSymmetry #11 4 years ago

    No complaints about the redesign of Judy Nails?

  • Valis #12 4 years ago

    The new eurogamer scoring principle - everything is nine!

    No need for innovation. No consideration of the fact that we all know rock band will be better, but they have given out too many 10's this year so will give it a 9 too, making the two apear equal.

  • mentat #13 4 years ago

    Does the new wireless controller work ok with GH2?

  • epic_wanderer #14 4 years ago

    it does, apparently. Also works with rock band

  • Killerbee #15 4 years ago

    Is this out on the Wii as well?

    I've never played a Guitar Hero game before, mainly due to being completely unimpressed by the track listings of previous versions, but this one actually looks good and I'm wondering if I should take the plunge...

  • bdaggers #16 4 years ago

    I thought this review was heading for an 11 out of 10.

    The killjoys ain`t Metallica, its EG !


    : p

  • shido #17 4 years ago

    "Gone are the covers - save for One by those notorious killjoys, Metallica"

    This is why i shalt waiteth for Rock Band.

  • FabricatedLunatic #18 4 years ago

    I've never played Guitar Hero before; perhaps I'll have a go at this. It looks good but I have a suspicion that the game would end up the same way as my real guitar: seldom played and gathering increasing amounts of dust.

  • Brogan #19 4 years ago

    people need to stop stressing over track lists. you learn to enjoy the song through the game being fun you don't have to enjoy the song to find the game fun. Case in point Lamb of God really isn't my normally cup of tea at all but i love that song afterafter it was in GHII.

  • WinstonChurchill #20 4 years ago

    Which is worse: console wars or franchise wars?

    FIFA vs PES
    Football Manager vs Championship Manager
    Guitar Hero vs Rock Band

    I think I'll buy GHIII and enjoy it. And then buy Rock Band and enjoy it.

  • moggsy #21 4 years ago

    @ Valis

    The new eurogamer scoring principle - everything is nine!

    No need for innovation. No consideration of the fact that we all know rock band will be better, but they have given out too many 10's this year so will give it a 9 too, making the two apear equal.

    How does anybody know Rock Band will be better? Assassins Creed was shaping up to be a classic but fell at the last hurdle. Also how many people will really fork out over £100 and then find space in their living room for a drum kit?

    Also, you are quite correct. There is no need for innovation when you just add polish and extra content to an already great game.
    Edited by 3 at 16/11/07 @ 09:59

  • JonFE #22 4 years ago

    I purchased GH2 on the x360 and debate whether to get this with or without the wireless guitar. There's only so much space wasted on "toys" missus can tolerate and Rock Band is just around the corner...

  • mowgli #23 4 years ago

    This is the only fucking game i want!! Mario and Mass Effect can fuck right of im waiting for this!!

  • Pachinko #24 4 years ago

    A nice read, but what the hell do you mean by 'gone are the covers'? There's a bunch of covers in there, starting with Rock You Like a Hurricane being sung some eight octaves lower than the original.

  • Wendelius #25 4 years ago

    I take issue with one thing Keza said:

    "Some American reviewers have even been complaining about the difficulty, but frankly, they're wimps. For a rhythm-action game - especially one with as many skilled devotees as Guitar Hero - there is no such thing as 'too difficult' on the expert levels, and as always the game's four difficulty settings are designed so that everybody has their comfort zone."

    I have played and enjoy GHII quite a lot and so does my wife. We both aren't quite done with Hard and She has done a few tiers on Expert but that's beyond me.

    In GHII, the first time you transition from Medium to Hard, the transition feels brutal (I'm sure the reviewer can remember something like that countless hours of GH ago). By many accounts from people who played GHIII, the transition to Hard is more brutal this time.

    I know there are GH pros out there. And I have no qualms with either making Expert harder or creating another difficulty level. But reports from players make it sound like raising the difficulty on Hard (something the reviewer would hardly notice if she is already an Expert player) has actually created a gap in the comfort zones.

    I guess I'll know for sure next week. But I no longer expect the difficulty to be nicely paced. GHIII seems to have more erratic song difficulty and that Hard wall. Many people have said it's harder than GHII. and it should not be at less than the Expert level.

    If you're not as good as Keza, you might need to take that into account. If you are, you probably won't even notice.

    Wendelius

  • mkreku #26 4 years ago

    M-more difficult than GH2?? I'm not s-scared! B-bring it on..

  • Wendelius #27 4 years ago

    @mrkeku

    Good man! You show them who is boss! :)

    Wendelius

  • brooza #28 4 years ago

    No complaints about the SLOWDOWN?

  • Zuiyo #29 4 years ago

    This is a good example of why reviews and scores don't match. The content of the review is a 10+, yet the score is not. A good thing, I say. Make people read!

  • Garwoofoo #30 4 years ago

    I always thought that, rather than making the game harder, Guitar Hero actually needed an additional difficulty level between Medium and Hard - that had the speed and some of the complexity of Hard but didn't yet introduce the fifth fret button. As others have said, the difficulty leap up to Hard even in the earlier games could be off-putting.

    Interesting review, though. Word of mouth on this hasn't been great. This is the first fully positive review I've seen, and my interest levels are up again. I'll be getting the PS2 version though, there's only so many plastic guitars a grown man needs.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 10:12

  • Fwing #31 4 years ago

    The 360 achievements and leaderboards are worse than GH2s and the boss battles are. . .of questionable merit gameplay-wise even if they are a neat idea.

    It also drops frames when you activate star power which can kill you. IMO this should be patched if at all possible.

    And I was "meh" over the track list as well but it grows on me much like 2's did.

  • ERG1008 #32 4 years ago

    When I was younger we actually played real guitars & joined real bands. ;o)

  • groovychainsaw #33 4 years ago

    Hmmm - I can't afford guitar hero AND rock band - and I want to play drums more than guitar- Shame, if they had no competition, it would be no question, really...

  • BulletTheory05 #34 4 years ago

    I think the tracklist is great.

    quick question, will the PS3 version have DLC?

  • dsmx #35 4 years ago

    To quote a recent south park episode if you master this game "you are fags"

  • Moz #36 4 years ago

    WHAT THE HELL!!! Just seen that the 360 & PS3 versions cost £20 more then the PS2 version how the hell are they justifing that???

  • Notorious_LRO #37 4 years ago

    I am having trouble understanding those who say that GHIII has the same feel as GHII. They are two entirely different games in my book, with the latter feeling less like playing a guitar than punching keys in the right order. The good 'ol feeling is gone I'm afraid. 7/10.

  • Notorious_LRO #38 4 years ago

    @ Moggsy

    "Also, you are quite correct. There is no need for innovation when you just add polish and extra content to an already great game. "

    You are the reason Electronic Arts is the biggest video game company in the world. Congratulations, you are average.

  • barabbas #39 4 years ago

    After reading reports of the difficulty I canceled my preorder and decided to save my money for Rock Band. In my opinion GHI had good difficulty curve, and even though I completed Hard in GHII it was much less enjoyable than GHI.

    It's a pity every installment of the series it seems to be geared more and more towards hard-core players. In GHI there were several songs that were just plain fun to play again and again, even though they didn't offer too much of a challenge.

  • easy_lee #40 4 years ago

    There are a list of things I disagree with in this review, but the main problem I have is that you find the notecharts brilliant. IMO, they are far from that, they are inconsistent and oftentimes bear little or no relation to the music you are playing. Also, there are some great tracks on there for listening too, but things like Sabotage and Mississippi Queen are boring to play. Overall, this is still Guitar Hero and thus great, but the game has its fair share of problems which keep it from being better than the previous installments.

  • MrChuckles #41 4 years ago

    Ok, i do love some Metallica tracks, but if they keep acting like corporate cocks, i say games like GH should start using guys who cover their stuff.

    How about using this:

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=v7c2cHA5aNc
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=v7c2cHA5aNc
    [/link]

    :-)

    And when will a guitar game put this in it, it's tacky, but i love it and would be awesome to play on GH!

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8
    [/link]

  • Moz #42 4 years ago

    "@ Moggsy

    "Also, you are quite correct. There is no need for innovation when you just add polish and extra content to an already great game. "

    You are the reason Electronic Arts is the biggest video game company in the world. Congratulations, you are average."

    To be fair with quality of games and graphics these days there is alot less room for innovation, and with something like GH what is there to do really other then give people more songs to play? In story based games I know look more for a decent plot with solid game play.

  • epic_wanderer #43 4 years ago

    Wikipedia (I know...) says 'One' is not a cover, can anyone confirm?

  • flaming.elk #44 4 years ago

    Since when has 'One' been a cover? Last I heard all the Metallica tracks, GH or RB, were masters. Is this just the EU version? No other review has mentioned it.

  • SteveB #45 4 years ago

    Never played GH before, but after trying the demo (with the pad,) I couldn't believe how much fun it was and pre-ordered immediately.

    Is it easier with the guitar controller as I found medium a challenge with the pad ?

  • KingKongBassett #46 4 years ago

    I don't own Guitar Hero II, but want to play this two-player on one 360. Anyone know if the guitars will be available separately?

  • beastlybeast #47 4 years ago

    One is not a cover.

  • Rodafowa #48 4 years ago

    In GHII, the first time you transition from Medium to Hard, the transition feels brutal (I'm sure the reviewer can remember something like that countless hours of GH ago). By many accounts from people who played GHIII, the transition to Hard is more brutal this time.

    I know there are GH pros out there. And I have no qualms with either making Expert harder or creating another difficulty level. But reports from players make it sound like raising the difficulty on Hard (something the reviewer would hardly notice if she is already an Expert player) has actually created a gap in the comfort zones.

    This.

    The cliff-face learning curve between Medium and Hard, and the largely-terrible higher difficulty levels filled with tedious thrash-metal that's REALLY hard to play without being ANY fun at all really marred GH2 for me, and the reviewer blithely skipping straight over the issue didn't really help.

    I'll likely still end up getting it, but I'm now a bit more worried than I was previously. Still, thanks for the info, Wendelius.

  • Wendelius #49 4 years ago

    I was surprised it was glossed over too, Rodafowa.

    On the subject of slowdowns, I've seen people suggest that they might occur with some of the characters and not others. Something worth experimenting with, I guess.

    Wendelius

  • domoslaf #50 4 years ago

    From what I've heard until now, "One" is not a cover (as some people around here already noticed). It's clearly labeled "not cover" in Wikipedia, on YouTube videos from GH III you can see "by Metallica" (as opposed to "as made famous by", which denotes covers) and most importantly - listening to it from said videos, I'd never say it's a cover.

    But now, is it possible that due to some strange creepy licensing issues Metallica's One *is* in fact a cover in the European version of GH III? :/ That would be crazy stupid... Can the reviewer say something about it?
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 11:44

  • Fyzzu #51 4 years ago

    Yes, the Medium/Hard jump is far more difficult than in GH2, and so's the Hard/Expert jump. And I'm talking about the PS2 version of GH2 there, which had broken difficulty levels.

    Expert itself is largely made more difficult for the sake of being difficult and a lot of the songs don't "feel" quite right because of it. Beware the vast abundance of three-note-chords. They're not that hard to hit if you've beaten GH2 on Expert, but it just doesn't seem quite right.

    And no mention of the sub-GH1 graphics on PS2, or the occasional framerate drops on both versions, or the somewhat-shoddy online implementation in the 360 version (often forcing you to go back to the dashboard and reload the game), or co-op mode requiring you to unlock the songs again on EVERY SINGLE DIFFICULTY, or... yeah, the list of complaints goes on. I'd honestly bitch about the lack of boss battle songs in multiplayer but that's been fixed for 360, it seems. The unlocking-all-songs-again-on-every-difficulty-in-co-op, and the lack of co-op quickplay have both apparently been fixed on the 360 too, but it's such a pain in the arse on PS2 that I couldn't let it slip.

    It's still a fun game, but (some of the hilariously fun tracks in GH3 aside) I still hold GH2 as the triumph of the series.

    EDIT: I'll clarify that I've not played it online so I perhaps shouldn't whine about crappy online implentation, but God, everyone I know who has is moaning about it. It's apparently good fun when it works and you don't come up against someone who picks a lower difficulty level than they really should (and thus inevitably wins), but it takes awhile to get a game going.
    Edited by 2 at 16/11/07 @ 11:56

  • Keza #52 4 years ago

    Just for the record, to hell with Rock Band. Based on what I've played so far, I doubt it'll trump this.

  • dudefella #53 4 years ago

    Uhm, One is not a cover, what the hell are you on about? Well that just tells me I can wholly ignore this review.

  • Keza #54 4 years ago

    Sorry everyone - you're right, One's not a cover. I was fooled by the fact that it sounds weirdly bad.

  • MrChuckles #55 4 years ago

    I'm gonna buy both, and i doubt i'll get as far as GH2, on which i thought the difficultly level was nigh on perfect.

    I had Hangar 18 and Freebird left on Expert, all the rest were complete. Hate the fact i couldn't do the last two though, and i still can't do hammer ons & pull offs at all.

    I loved the fact i would just about scrape through medium at first, until the last songs, but by then could do the first hard songs. Then once i had mastered them, i could go back to medium and 5 star them apart from the end ones, by which time i could complete the middle Hard ones etc. This kept going all the way to the top of expert. I can 5* 2/3 of Hard, and the first 2 sets of expert, but above that, it's all a bit tricky :-)

  • Wendelius #56 4 years ago

    What about the other comments on multiplayer, difficulty all over the place and slow downs? Have you always played with the same character or were all chars slow down free for you?

  • domoslaf #57 4 years ago

    Keza: Hmm, maybe I'm deaf, but it sounds perfectly fine to me, just like on the original CD...

    EDIT: Of course you could probably still argue that Metallica itself "sounds weirdly bad", but that's a completely different argument and has nothing to do with the game. ;)

    EDIT2: Just for comparison:
    [link url=http://pl.y outube.com/watch?v=JwW9L_qzqp8
    ]http://pl.y outube.com/watch?v=JwW9L_qzqp8
    [/link]
    http://pl.y outube.com/watch?v=Ptv8TFjxFjo
    Edited by 3 at 16/11/07 @ 12:46

  • Fyzzu #58 4 years ago

    I'll clarify by saying it's still really good, but I have way more issues with it than were brought up. How long have you played for, Keza? I ask as most of these issues took a little while before they got really irritating - and no, I'm not maligning reviewer playtimes.

    And One sounds bad because it's *not* a cover, obviously.

    /gets coat

  • Verwandlung #59 4 years ago

    I would be interested in a Conductor Hero.

  • Keza #60 4 years ago

    The difficulty: As I said, the game is designed so that everyone has their own comfort zone. It's a hard game - which a lot of people don't like - but I don't think it's unfair. I managed my way comfortably through most of the game, then started having trouble on the last two tiers - which is about right. As for the jump between Medium and Hard, that's always been there - the addition of an extra button is, unfortunately, pretty impossible to sugar-coat, difficulty wise. It's not hard for the sake of it at any point, although rhythm-action games often are - they've chosen songs that are harder to play. The only objection I had was the ENDLESS solo that's been shoehorned into Cult of Personality, which seemed mildly unnecessary.

    The slowdown: This happened to me twice, playing as the Rock God, but it never affected me - it lasted all of half a second. However it should definitely still be fixed, and doubtless will in a patch.

    EDIT: Fyzzu: About two weeks, ish. Have made my way through the game three or four times on Expert, Hard and co-op career modes.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 12:45

  • moggsy #61 4 years ago

    "Also, you are quite correct. There is no need for innovation when you just add polish and extra content to an already great game. "

    You are the reason Electronic Arts is the biggest video game company in the world. Congratulations, you are average.

    @ Notorious_LRO

    So would you prefer it if every single game released was 'innovative'. Even if that meant a much higher percentage of garbage?

    If you've hit on an innovation which people like then what's wrong with making more of the same as long as each version is an improvement on the last?

  • TheEnd #62 4 years ago

    'One' sounds bad because the original track is so very badly mixed. If ever an album needed remastering it would be 'And Justice For All'

  • Wendelius #63 4 years ago

    Keza, it does sound to me like you are too good at the game to feel the bigger pain of Hard in GHIII. Fair enough. That comment hasn't come only from one person or one message board though... As a non expert player, I expect to be fully affected by it. We'll see.

    Wendelius

  • Keza #64 4 years ago

    I just don't understand how, with Practice mode and everything, it could just suddenly get too hard. It's never at the point where you can perfect every song on Medium, but can't hit any of the notes on Hard. There's always a level at which you're comfortable, and a level that kicks your arse occasionally.

    Like a real guitar, if you practise, you get better. A lot of the American reviewers just seem to be pissed off that they're not really good at it straight away, and maybe have to fail a song ten times before managing their way through it. But that's rhythm-action games for you. They're rarely kind.

    If Hard's too difficult and you just want to play the songs, why not play on Medium?
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 13:01

  • Wendelius #65 4 years ago

    "If Hard's too difficult and you just want to play the songs, why not play on Medium?"

    Because there comes a time where Medium is too easy? And if you increase the gap between Medium and Hard, then there is no fun middle ground anymore.

    IMO, if you want to make a game more difficult for the very good players, it seems to me that the ideal place to do so is on the Expert level or add yet another level. But not at lower difficulties.

    We'll see. I might find that I'm a GHIII god on Hard, even though I somehow doubt it. :)

    Wendelius
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/07 @ 13:15

  • Keza #66 4 years ago

    The main issue for me when I was learning Guitar Hero was the addition of the fifth button, and the realisation that I actually had to move my hand around. But to be honest I think that's an inevitable major adjustment :-) - once you get past that, it's fine.

  • barchetta #67 4 years ago

    So is there an opportunity for some sort of fifth-finger peripheral?

    Here's hoping I don't face some redneck inbred five-finger banjo-playing freak in an online battle.

  • sharky_ob #68 4 years ago

    Has 'Duelling Banjos' been in one of these games? If not, it bloody should have.

  • Masarin #69 4 years ago

    It turns out that Guitar Hero is more fun when you're playing songs you actually know than when it's trying to introduce you to little-known Bostonian prog-rock.

    Maybe you're narrow minded, I dunno. Go out and explore.
    I think it's a less varied track list than GHII and that's not a plus.

  • Turrican #70 4 years ago

    I hit a wall on GH II Expert mode which wasn't the 5th button, it was just the crazy speed of some of the songs. The trouble is that for me those hard-rock songs are not very pleasant and so after retrying a song 10 times, including parts of it in practise mode, only to face the same mountain again with the next song, I shelved the game.

    I definitely agree with some of the posts that at Hard level you should be able to play on all 5 keys and just enjoy the songs without the crazy button mashing it descends into on certain songs.

    This game was on my xmas list but now its a maybe due to that difficulty spike.

  • neuroniky #71 4 years ago

    Damn, I still haven't got my bucket achievement and this is almost out...

  • darc #72 4 years ago

    I guess I'm agreeing with Keza, essentially, that the difficulty spike from medium to hard is not a problem given the addition (as of GH2) of the training mode. If anything it's a *feature* because it forces you to use the (incredibly well-implemented) training mode, which is where the game reveals a lot of its surprising depth.

    For all you guitarists who are avoiding this for its lack of realism etc, remember that when you pick up your real guitar, you don't instantly have a well-rehearsed, well-produced band rocking out behind you. Nor can you enjoy that experience with your non-playing wife/girlfriend/drinking buddies on a moment's notice. It really is a lot of fun, especially if you turn it up loud enough. I also think there's considerable "real musical" value in it, in so far as it encourages active, participatory listening, with emphasis on rythym, song structure etc. I've developed an appreciation for many songs I thought I hated.

    To the reviewer: no worries re: "6 hours a week". 6 hours a day is what launches most of the greats. :)
    Edited by 2 at 16/11/07 @ 15:34

  • darc #73 4 years ago

    A second post because it's totally unrelated to my first:

    Is anyone else experiencing instability (perhaps overheating) problems with the PS2 version? This is the first time I've experienced graphical glitches and system hangs (typically during the load screens) on a console. I thought this was strictly the bane of the PC gamer LOL.

    (No such problems with GH2, by the way.)
    Edited by 2 at 16/11/07 @ 15:31

  • smelly #74 4 years ago

    I dont understand why the wii version is so expensive. Surely it should be cheaper as the wiimote is doing all the bluetoothy stuff?

  • Fyzzu #75 4 years ago

    Keza: You've played probably the same length I have then (if not more) so no complaints there, I guess; you'd definitely have picked up on the annoying niggles by now if you agreed with 'em :) On the other hand, I liked the additional solo to Cult of Personality, so...

    I dunno. It's great fun, but I have way more complaints about it than I do GH2 (although admittedly I had a ton of faults with that, too, which I can now largely ignore.) So, yeah, don't get me wrong. I'm just bitching about things that weren't mentioned so that they *are* mentioned somewhere. My opinion of it is still pretty high.

    A final issue, though - star power. The riffs seem way, way longer than any of the other games had, and this seems to lend itself more to people going for high scores than it does people struggling with the songs. In previous games they always seemed to counterbalance the difficulty somewhat so that people could just hold on and get through, but in GH3, if you can hit most of the star power riffs, you're good enough to finish the song anyway. It's not something that comes up in every song but it's really, really noticable in a few. On Expert, anyway. I didn't really play the other difficulties enough to notice. Still, fence-sitters: if you like GH1 and 2, then you'll almost certainly like this. Regardless of the faults, there's a huge deal of enjoyment in there.

    EDIT: And I've always found Practice Mode pretty useless, but then again, barring Jordan and Through the Fire and Flames, I've never needed it. Raining Blood came close, though.

    EDIT 2: Note of mild hypocrisy - this post was written in between the loading times between songs on GH3. Cough.
    Edited by 2 at 16/11/07 @ 17:58

  • Keza #76 4 years ago

    Are you playing the PS2 version? It's a bit rubbish. :p

    SODDING Raining Blood can sod RIGHT OFF. I hate it. Can't do that backwards four-finger movement with any degree of speed.

  • Ryder35 #77 4 years ago

    Keza

    No problems with the guitar double strumming or missing upstrums on fast sections? I had the PS3 version and it was terrible for this reason, esp on hard or expert. Swapped to the 360 disk only and use my explorer and all is good.

    I think the note charts for hard are very different than GH2, many more chords: slipknot is giving me huge problems with its 3 note chord changes. Probably more "accurate" but less fun to play in some ways. Overall tho I prefer it to GH2 and would say it is nice to play some well known songs. Anarchy in the UK tho is a simply awful version!

  • Keza #78 4 years ago

    Rydner: There are known problems when the guitar starts to run out of batteries, although I've not heard of anything that bad yet! I've had no problems at all with my 360 Les Paul shape.

    I loves it.

  • Fyzzu #79 4 years ago

    Keza: I am indeed playing on PS2. It's flawed and ugly, but it's such fun anyway. I had the opportunity to play the 360 version a week ago and it was quite an improvement; I intend to upgrade to the 360 version, but not for a little while yet. And yes, Raining Blood is horrible. I've finished that song exactly once, and I've never played it again after finishing it. I'll need to go back to 5-star it shortly, but... gneh. I think it was luck got me through that section the first time. I fear another attempt.

    Not played on PS3, but I've had some interesting strumming problems on PS2. Strumming by "flicking" the strum bar lightly results in missing the note (almost just brushing it with my thumb.) It's definitely strumming, as it plays the Note Failed sound, but it doesn't hit it, and I don't think it's double-strumming, either. I've not seen this on GH1 or 2, and it occurs with both of my guitars. I forgot to try it on 360, though, as I've pretty much adapted to never do that now (although it still screws up a friend of mine who only plays using that strumming technique.) I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere, though, which would imply a local issue. Hm.

  • NegativeZero #80 4 years ago

    They haven't deliberately made it more difficult. The song choices and the actual notes aren't as well thought out as Harmonix would have done it, and as a result they're harder to play. The changes they've made to hammer-ons and pull-offs are incredibly frustrating too. There are a lot of spots that I know I would have been able to do them in GHII and I can't any more. Plus there are songs where you can do them sometimes, but the exact same notes played in other parts of the song will not have the HO/PO notes.

    I'm in the minority that hates the new guitar too. Half the time I hit the buttons slightly too low, and sustained notes will suddenly turn off. The whole break-apart deal was an utterly retarded move too, I often have to connect the thing together ten times or more for the buttons to all work consistently.

    I think what it boils down to is that Neversoft have really made the game for a select group of extremely hardcore GHII fans, and expected everyone to come along for the ride.

  • NBAoz #81 4 years ago

    Guitar Hero III has been out in Australia since 7th of November. How come you guys haven't got it yet?!?!?!?!? I got it on release day and am up to the last boss battle in career mode. I agree with most of what has been said here about the flaws, however haven't experienced any slowdown yet whilst activating star power.... I would have to say that one aspect of the game that's easier than GH1 & 2 is that it's now more lenient with timing when holding down frets and strumming.

  • hellweaver666 #82 4 years ago

    Does anyone know if GH2 downloadable content for xbox360 can be used with GHIII?

    Can't wait to collect this - I have my preorder in, money waiting and a day booked off work ;)

  • Zastai #83 4 years ago

    To whoever asked it, yes the PS3 version has DLC.

    Do note however that while the Les Paul guitar from GH3 works fine with both GH2 and Rock Band on the 360, the PS3 DOES NOT (currently) work with anything other than GH3 (i.e. it can't be used on GH1/2, nor does it (currently) work with Rock Band).

  • Dronten. #84 4 years ago

    A PS2 player here who would like to share his thoughts.
    In GHII I've got 5 stars on all non-bonus songs on expert, except for Misirlou, and with 4 stars on Jordan, I think of myself as an a-ok player.
    I consider myself a gameplay-oriented person, who cares more about how fun the charts are, than a music-oriented, who pays more attention to how good the songs are.

    I've now quickly run through the singleplayer campaign, and am currently (at this very moment) beating my head against Lou. It took a short while to get used to the new interface, (smaller notes, new HOPO-graphics), I must say it's an improvement over GHII, it feels cooler and more fast-paced. I like.

    What I don't like, on the other hand, is, well, the songlist. Where GHII had shoddy covers to throw you off, GHIII throws in monotous nervebusting trash metal. What the hell were they thinking, putting in 5 Freya's in one game. It just doesn't make sense.
    Muse's Knights of Cydonia sort of redeems it, being very interesting to play, but how can a game developer convince himself, that it's fun to play the same 3 chords separated by 5 tight green notes over and over again for 5 minutes?
    People who listen to that sort of music listen to it, because it's repetitive and consisent in it's nature. Hell, I can listen to it - if it's played like that - without whining too much (concerts of Machine Head, Gojira, Slayer, all in my belt) - I just headbang my way out of it.
    But the moment you put it in a form where it (for about 99% of the playerbase) won't be played with a 100% consistency, it sucks utterly, because it's not in it's true form. To clarify, a 70% Barracuda may still sound decent, but a 87% Raining Blood or Before I Forget is a mess.

    In short, the song list didn't improve squat. It's still a few really entertaining and good songs amongst a lot of songs with low entertainment or listening value.

    Battle Mode? Seriously, what a joke. It's one hundred percent based on luck. Try Lou getting a Double Note on his first battle power. It's just 3 minutes of foreplay wasted on nothing.

    The Co-op career is sort of cool, but it is also made of much fail. It's really cool with another story to back it up, and some songs made specifically for it. A very nice idea. But WHY oh WHY must everything be locked up and made unavailable until I find someone else to play on expert to help me get it?! Hath ye Vision of Acti no mercy?

    So to compare GHIII with GHII. Dragonforce, Rolling Stones and Muse is definetely thumbs up. I also liked the idea of putting in When You Were Young, because it's a step towards a whole different ballgame than GHII's "Look how nerdy my music collection is". I also liked Tom Morello and Slash (I mean, watching Slash shredding in a mocap is just classic). I liked the additions to the store, new guitars, finishes, clothing and stuff for your character, it's a bit MMORPG-ish. I like that. I also like the new menus, with band names and years.

    What I don't like, is the massive locked function mongery. it was OKAY in GHII to have a few guitars locked until you'd played for too much time, but it just isn't reasonable to force people into co-ops and frustrating luckbased battlemodes to get a shot at playing anything, namely the dragonforce song which was no 1 reason I bought the game. Yes, I know I can just beat it on medium, but then I'll have to go through the entire career AGAIN, at snail pace. I have even less patience for that than to wait for the green note of freedom to appear in the lou battle. That would also mean that when I do beat Lou, there's no real reward for it. Yay.

  • Kizza #85 4 years ago

    We'll I can't possibly disagree with this review any more. Neversoft have broken my favourite game.

    But where to start with where it went wrong? Half the tracks are durge and just aren't fun to play, I mean who wants to play the Dead Kennedys? The note tracks are the most unnatural ever and at points feel totally random. I managed to make it through GH2 on expert after some perseverance but I doubt I'll complete this and I don't think I want to either. There's nothing fun about a game vomiting random notes at you.

    I play bass for real and one of the things that made guitar hero great was that despite the limitations of the controller it gives you the same feel you get from playing the real thing. GH3 fails miserably in that part (including the bass lines).

    I've been playing the game on the old xplorer controller and I don't know if it's just me, but the tilt for star power seems to go off ALL THE TIME with makes a complete mockery of the albeit useless battle mode.

    Online play crashed and failed to connect regularly and was somewhat soulless. Finally the graphics, Neversoft seem to find it impossible not to make all their characters look ugly, the even did it to poor old Tom Morello.

    After an hours play you'll be reaching for your old GH2 disc and playing Sweet Child 'o Mine or Freebird and enjoying yourself again.

    And whats with the bom cicka wah wah dollies looking all out place as a rock gig?!?

  • rhinoxious #86 4 years ago

    I was all meh, till I found it included Holiday in Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys

    Brilliant.

  • Corben_Dallas #87 4 years ago

    Track list is average with a few hidden gems, but overall average.

    Rock Band every song seems to be better.

  • darc #88 4 years ago

    "I was all meh, till I found it included Holiday in Cambodia by the Dead Kennedys

    Brilliant."

    That's weird, I find this to be one of the lamest entries in GH3, perhaps tied with the Sex Pistols tune(is it Anarchy in the UK?) They're both fantastic songs, of course, they're just not very good GH content. There is a difference.

  • fujimaster #89 4 years ago

    I've never played GH or GHII. Have always wanted to, but was just put off the whole 'guitar' aspect of it. Finally plumped up the cash for GH3 on my 360 and have had an absolute blast! The track listing is a bit random, but it doesn't matter - the tracks shouldn't be picked to suit *your* music tastes (how the hell could Neversoft EVER have done that?!) - they should just be fun to play.

    The one thing that really gets me is how into the game you can get. Playing bass in co-op on Knights of Cydonia for example is just excellent fun! To the point where you're really enjoying just playing the song, and not worrying so much about the fact you're playing a game. And when you do manage to pull off a really good streak, the feeling is incredible. It's like "my god, I can't believe my fingers just did that!".

    Yes it gets hard, REALLY hard, but I think there is enough fun to be had in playing within your own comfort zone. I really did find it's a game you can pick up and treat in one of two ways - 1) To beat it, as a game in its own right, or 2) To enjoy the music, and sort of treat as an interactive jukebox.

    Excellent fun, and this is from a total NON-GH fan.