2old2play reviews the latest installment in the Guitar Hero series. How does it stack up to the last two incarnations? Shred on to find out.
Are you sick and tired of shredding to the same old tunes and getting tangled up in wires as you kick your leg up in the air to the final note of your favorite song? Well wait no more because the newest installment of Guitar Hero is upon us and the developers at Neversoft have taken a classic rhythm game while adding a few new tweaks. They also saw fit to include a new wireless guitar in the package, woot!
The ship date for the game was 10/30/2007, if you pre-ordered, but the in store date came a few days earlier. So if you are some of the unlucky few who decided to pre-order your game and have been watching your friends toss their axes around the living room all weekend here’s a little bit more information to wet your whistle.
The Guitar
Upon ripping open the packaging of our newest toy we found shiny new look to the Guitar Hero “Axe” complete with a new button layout that is reminiscent of the older PS2 controller many gamers fell in love with when they first played the game years ago. This time around the developers have partnered with Gibson to bring us a version that resembles a classic Les Paul.
Button Layout
The buttons on the controller and a slimmer feel to them as they sit a little flusher with the neck of the guitar and are placed a little closer together than they were on the previous xplorer version many of us are familiar with from GH II.
The strum bar has a hardier feel to it this time around and feels a lot more realistic when you strum up or down. It has also been elongated to give people with bigger hands or different playing styles a better chance to wrap their fingers around it and get to jamming.
The start and back button are much bigger this time around compared to the xplorer. This makes it easier to pause the game with a quick click of the start button or deploy your “Star Power” instead of tilting your guitar by hitting the back button.
*In a bonus note star power seems to be able to be unleashed with a little more ease on most controllers. Some gamers have found that the first generation of these controllers has a bug which makes it impossible to launch their star power at all. In our games we had absolutely no problem what so ever of launching star power with a slight flick of the wrist. *
The trademark Xbox Guide button is located above and to the left of you’re the strum bar along with the D-Pad controller for easy Friends list and message managing.
All in all the newest version of the Guitar Hero controller has a sturdier and more realistic feel / look to it that long time fans will enjoy and newer fans will come to love.
The Songs
Legends of rock boasts the largest selection of out of the box songs, 71 to be exact, 46 of which are on your main playlist and the other 25 are set as bonus tracks that can be bought or unlocked.
Guitar Hero III also sets a new precedence when it comes to master recordings. Who really wants to listen to a cover of one of your favorite songs? It’s always better to hear the original version, right? Well now you don’t have to listen to some second rate singer and band take on your favorites, for a good portion of the game. Fifty one songs on the playlist are master recording (the highest total yet for a Guitar Hero release).
Here’s a few of the classics that will set your fingers on fire:
Tier 1:
Foghat - Slow Ride
Poison - Talk Dirty to Me
Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Social Distortion - Story of My Life
Encore: Kiss - Rock and Roll All Nite
Co-op Encore: Beastie Boys - Sabotage
Tier 2:
Mountain - Mississippi Queen
Alice Cooper - School's Out
Cream - Sunshine of Your Life
Heart - Barracuda
Boss: Tom Morello - Guitar Battle
Encore: Rage Against the Machine - Bulls on Parade
Co-op Encore: The Strokes – Reptilia
Tier 3:
The Killers - When You Were Young
AFI - Miss Murder
The Who - The Seeker
Priestess - Lay Down
Encore: Rolling Stones - Paint It Black
Co-op Encore: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss
Tier 4:
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK
Sonic Youth - Kool Thing
Weezer - My Name Is Jonas
Encore: Pearl Jam - Evenflow
Co-op Encore: Blue Oyster Cult - Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll
Tier 5:
The Dead Kennedy's - Holiday in Cambodia
Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane
Aerosmith - Same Old Song and Dance
ZZ Top - La Grange
Boss: Slash - Guitar Battle
Encore: Guns N Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
Co-op Encore: Bloc Party - Hellicopter
Tier 6:
Santana - Black Magic Woman
Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
White Zombie - Black Sunshine
Tenacious D - The Meta
Encore: Stevie Ray Vaughn - Pride and Joy
Co-op Encore: Matchbook Romance - Monsters
Tier 7:
Slipknot - Before I Forget
Disturbed - Stricken
Queens of the Stone Age - 3's and 7's
Muse - Knights of Cydonia
Encore: Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Tier 8:
Slayer - Raining Blood
Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Metallica - One
Boss: Lou - Guitar Battle
Career
When it comes to the single player portion of the game it’s the same old song and dance, (no pun intended), as far as picking your way through the list of music from easier to mind bogglingly difficult. This time around though there is a little bit of story behind the shredding as you make your way from an out of work musician looking to join a band to the top of the music world and become a guitar god.
The back story is very cartoony and kind of funny as you watch the cut scenes and listen to the grunts of the non-speaking musicians, manager, and finally Satan himself, (who you have to battle at the end of the game).
The story although not really necessary gives the gamer a little bit of purpose and also gives you something to laugh about as you watch it unfold.
As they did in previous GH titles players will name their band and commence their effort to tackle the list of songs as they make their way from venue to venue. We played through an medium and beat the game in single player in about five hours, five staring most of the songs until the final set list where they become increasingly difficult.
Boss Battles
Another new addition to the GH series are the boss battles. From time to time throughout your journey you’ll have to face off against three bosses in the new “Battle mode.” Players will have to defeat each boss in order to move on with the game and they also get harder as you move down your setlist.
The bosses you’ll have to face off against include Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou. Each boss plays his own style of music, not a particular song more just jamming.
The first boss you’ll face is Tom Morello formerly of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave hits you up with his trade mark sounds of guitar effects, such as delay, modulation, wah, harmonizers, distortion, pitch shifters, feedback, and others.
Second in line is Slash formerly of Guns and Roses and Velvet Revolver. Fans of G ‘n’ R will be pleasantly surprised when they try and tackle this one, because they music you’ll be playing is very reminiscent of his old stuff, think “Paradise City”.
The final boss you’ll face is Lou the devil himself, and let me tell you he brings his “A” game so be prepared to have to play this one over a few times if you are new to series. Hell even if you aren’t new to the series you’ll probably have a try this one a few times before you get it done. We won’t tell you, if you don’t already know, which song you’ll have to tackle because it’s a serious doozey.
The boss battles are fun and at times very difficult if you are newer to the series. Then game could have been done without them, but they do add a little bit of feeling of accomplishment when you down your opponent. Who doesn’t want to say they beat up on a famous guitar player, even if it is just a video game, right?
Co-Op Career
Just like in previous installments of you can team up with a partner to tackle the list of songs placed in front of you, but this time around the song list from the single player career and Co-Op career don’t always match up.
The reason for this is that some songs have a better feel to them when you are playing the lead or bass line. Nobody wants to sit there for 3 to 4 minutes hitting the same button while their partner smashes away at the keys and sets his or her guitar on fire. That’s not any fun. In an effort to combat this NeverSoft has made some songs playable in the career only in Co-Op, such as the famous Beastie Boys Classic “Sabotage”.
You’ll still be able to play them online or in quick play, so no worries if you don’t have someone to team up with for the Co-Op.
Quick Play
Same as before you can select any song that you have either unlocked, bought or downloaded for a quick fix, or a jam session that lasts into the wee hours of the night.
Multiplayer
In previous version of the game players only had to option of taking on their friends and family if they were in the same room. You can still do that, but now if you’ve got a buddy that lives half way across the country or you just want to test your skills against other GH players you’ve got the option to jump on live.
The game modes include: Face-Off, Pro Face-Off, Co-Op, and the newest game mode Battle.
Face-Off – Same as before players will face-off against each other while alternating play on the same note chart (song). Each player is able to choose their own level of difficulty.
Pro Face-Off – Two players face off against each other on the same song with the same difficulty. So if you think you can take your brother, mother, sister, friend, or wife down this is probably where you’ll want to play. Just be sure to pick your songs carefully you never know what they’ve been practicing when you’re not around.
Battle – The newest addition to the Guitar Hero series. In this new game mode you’ll be in face off mode, but instead of “Star Power” you’ll have power ups that enable you to virtually Pimp Slap your opponent right in middle of his set.
Here they are:
Difficulty Up: Increases the difficulty at which you are playing. This can be a devastating attack to newer players especially if they are in a difficult portion of the song. This power up cannot be enable if you and your opponent are both set to the expert difficulty.
Amp Overload: Like strobe lights? Well then you’ll love this power up, because it makes your opponents notes flash on the screen like they are watching glow sticks at a rave.
Whammy Bar: Don’t want your opponent to be able to play for a little while? Serve him or her up a nice portion of the whammy power up. They’ll have to hit their notes and the whammy bar at the same time until the icon disappears. Think this sounds easy well it’s not, you’ve been warned.
Steal Power: This one is very self explanatory. If your opponent has a power up that you want tilt your guitar and take it away. Timed right this can be a killer especially if they are about to launch an attack.
Double Notes: Make your opponent do double time as you double up the amount of notes they’ll have to play for a limited amount of time.
Lefty Flip: Time for a reincarnation of Jimmi Hendrix? I think it is, but I’m sure you’re opponent won’t be happy. Flip the notes from left (lowest) to right (highest) to right to left. Deployed at the right time you won’t be able to stop this attack.
Broken String: Sounds exactly like what it does. One string on your opponents guitar will not work for a period of time and they have to “repair” it by rapidly tapping it until the icon disappears. Until they have fixed the note any time they press it down it will make a dull twang noise indicating it is still broken.
If you and your opponent don’t take each other out within the constraints of the song you’ll be put into sudden death mode where each power up becomes a Death Drain. With Death Drain each mistake that your foe makes after this is deployed will slowly start to drain his or her rock meter.
Players can also save up attacks from the regular battle mode and deploy them in sudden death. This came as a surprise when we were putting this new mode through its paces and took me down almost instantaneously when combined with a Death Drain.
The power ups are deployed the same way you launch your star power in regular game modes, by quickly titling the neck of your guitar up toward the sky.
Online Multiplayer
Players will be able to play all the same modes online as they can offline, Face-Off, Pro Face-Off, Battle, Co-Op, Quick Match, or Create a Match. Players cannot however play their Co-Op Career online.
There are quite a few options to choose from as far as setting up your game types and how long you want to play against your opponent. Players can choose from a single song, a 3 set list, 5 set list, a 7 set list or place the game on random.
If you choose to play more than one song the host will always have the option to choose the majority of the songs, 3 out of 5 if it’s a 5 set list, and the opposing player will choose the other two. This is a nice option so the player who didn’t set up the room doesn’t get stuck playing all of the other players favorite songs.
There is a lobby and a post game stats screen to let you know how well you did in each portion of the songs that you played, how long your streaks were, etc… There isn’t however any type of way at this time to have a continuous lobby where you play your set and then bounce back to set up another one. As of now you’ll have to completely restart the room from scratch every time a game ends. So that kind of sucks and puts a damper on all night gaming sessions.
If the after game stats page aren’t enough for you players can hit up the leader boards to see where they rank among the top players on Xbox Live or within the confines of your friends list.
The Rub
Neversoft really stepped up their game with the addition of a re-designed controller, boss battles, a story to back the gameplay, updated graphics, and the new battle mode. These new additions really give a game that has been out on the market a fresh feel and is just what fans of the series needed to revitalize their love of the game.
The new Battle mode alone will give this game even more re-playablity than it already has, and an even better party game. So if you’ve got the time and money you’ve got to check out the lasts installment of Guitar Hero this Holiday season
