Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Added November 2nd, 2007 by Kenneth Rathburn

The Guitar Hero franchise is barely two years old and it’s already the biggest party game around. The original release in mid-2005 took what looked like the silliest idea ever and now has the possibility of becoming the biggest name in videogaming. Guitar Hero 2 and Guitar Hero Rocks the 80’s added a neat cooperative mode and raised the ante with the difficulty. Now the Guitar Hero name has been handed to Tony Hawk developer Neversoft while Harmonix split to work on the upcoming game Rock Band. So the big question is whether Neversoft can keep the Guitar Hero formula fresh with another solid follow-up.

Probably the first things people will notice are the changes and improvements to the visuals and presentation. Guitar Hero 3 uses a lot more of the cell-shaded visual style in the menus and brief cutscenes, which make for a couple good chuckles. But when playing songs the game goes for a realistic look over comic-book style. Both the characters and locations have been given a decent graphical overhaul, although there are some rough areas, particularly with the stages. Oh, and the singer used when you play songs, his mouth is huge!

There have also been a couple changes made to the way the game plays now. The first thing most experienced players will notice is that it’s easy to hit the notes, especially the hammer-on’s and pull-off’s. While this might just sound like a new way to make inexperienced players catch up, experienced players will also finds reasons to savor this tweak. Why’s this? Well, let’s just say that Guitar Hero 3 is harder than its predecessors; a LOT harder. How much harder? Put it this way, if you were barely able to get through most of the songs on Expert in Guitar Hero 2, you’re likely to go back down to Hard and stay there for a good while.

Another change made is how some of the note charts on certain songs have been made. You’ll find that many songs that you might normally think would be a straight streak of hammer-on’s or pull-off’s actually have notes you need to strum to in the middle. There are some songs that revolve around different variants of three-note chords, which will either be a curse or blessing for you depending on how far you can stretch each of your fingers. And remember how the three-note chords were usually just tossed in every so often without many notes surround them? Yeah, that concept has pretty much been ditched for some of the harder songs. Needless to say, it’s going to be a while before you full-combo (FC for short; you get a perfect score) the songs in the higher tiers.

Another addition to the series is the Guitar Battles, or Battle mode. This mode is available in both the multiplayer and Career modes. Your goal is to basically screw up your opponent. The way you accomplish this is that instead of getting Star Power you acquire power ups in Battle Mode, which you tilt up the controller (or use select) to activate and mess your foe up. These power ups range from increasing the difficulty, to doubling the notes, causing the amp to overload and make the screen shake, forcing your opponent to strum the whammy bar and a few others. Guitar Battles are incorporated into the Career by having you face off against a legendary guitarist, who won’t miss a single not until you send a power up his way. The Battle mode is a nice idea but it’s definitely an acquired taste since most multiplayer battles last only a few seconds. And since it’s usually the luck of the draw so to speak for the power ups you obtain, it’s easy to feel cheated sometimes.

Since it’s basically evident that you’ll fail at some point in the Hard or Expert Career, Practice mode will be the place most will head to try and improve their skills. As most will remember from Guitar Hero 2, the Practice mode was a Godsend for those that needed to beat the harder songs. However, the mode just doesn’t feel as helpful as before, more or less because the speed you need to hit the notes when a song is slowed down feels more awkward. So, don’t be surprised when you find yourself turned away from Practice mode to save yourself further frustration.

So you might be thinking without the Practice mode being so useful it’ll be impossible to beat the game. Fortunately, this isn’t the case since most of the parts you’ll need to practice on aren’t too hard to learn. The Practice mode can still help players pass and improve upon songs to where they can beat them, but it doesn’t really pay off for songs that you’ll be trying to FC. If you’re looking at this with fear that you won’t be able to beat the game, don’t. The game is very tough and challenging, no doubt, but it’s definitely possible to beat the game on Hard at least and barely use Practice mode for ten minutes.

Despite all these changes and additions the core gameplay is still essentially Guitar Hero. If you’re comfortable with how the series plays by now, then there isn’t any reason why you shouldn’t be able to jump right into this one with ease. However, if you’re new or rusty to the series it might be harder for you to get into this particular installment since the game is more challenging regardless of the difficulty selected. This above anything else is why Guitar Hero 3 is best approached by the already experienced players.

The Career mode itself is set up just like previous Guitar Hero games, with a couple additions for good measure. You’ll start by naming your band, picking a guitarist, a guitar, outfit and beating songs will earn you money; the better you do the more you receive. Most of the characters you know and love from previous Guitar Hero games return, although some like Clive Winston and Pandora are missing in action; rest their souls. Fortunately, there are a lot more items to buy and several new characters.

But this is a series that’s all about the music, and the song selection is a big part of why these games have been so well-received. Lucky for us, Guitar Hero 3 has arguably the best soundtrack in Guitar Hero yet. There are more big band names and a lot more master tracks this time around; and covers aren’t too shabby on their own. Among the bands you’ll find in Guitar Hero 3 are Slayer, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, In Flames, Guns ‘N’ Roses and so much more. Oh, and all the songs by the mentioned bands are among the many original recordings.

There are over seventy songs to play through in Guitar Hero 3, and a good few of them are going to demand some practice to five star. As before, there are the Face Off and Pro Face Off modes in the game along with a new Co-op Career. The co-op play works a little differently than Guitar Hero 2 this time around. Unlike its predecessors, in Guitar Hero 3 you can only play co-op in the Career mode, which unlocks a few extra songs only available via co-op. While this isn’t a big issue, the real problem is that you need to beat Co-op Career on each difficulty if your friend(s) want to play on a higher or lower difficulty than you. This doesn’t ruin the co-op mode, but it definitely makes it stand out less than before.

Fortunately, there’s still plenty to do and unlock in the game. In addition to the seventy-one songs in the game there are loads of guitars, finishes, characters and outfits to buy. While all but the songs are ultimately just visual differences it’s still nice to have all these options and you’ll have a moment or two to grace some of the neat designs and animations in the game. In addition to all this and the several modes in the game, Guitar Hero finally goes online with Legends of Rock. The online portion is set up like most games online, allowing you to create matches, select custom rules you’d like to play with or just jump right into a game. And like most other online games the procedure is pretty painless, but don’t be surprised if you have a tough time connecting to some matches.

All told, Guitar Hero 3 is another solid, worthy entry into an already highly-successful series. While not all of the changes and additions made benefit the game, the core gameplay is still there and that’s more than enough to make the game appeal to Guitar Hero veterans. Thanks to an impressive soundtrack with plenty of master tracks, the still fun competitive modes and a nicely done online mode, this is definitely the most full-fledged Guitar Hero experience yet. With so much content available, it’s definitely going to take a really addicting game to keep Guitar Hero 3 out of your system. If you’re an experienced Guitar Hero player, this game’s got must-have written all over it. As for those who aren’t so familiar with the series, this one’s worth a look but don’t be surprised if the game is overwhelming to you.