Guitar Hero III Review (360)

You can check out the Salient website here for the Guitar Hero III review, click on the printed version for a closeup, or read it below...

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC
Genre: Music/Rhythm
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision

Guitar Hero is a recognised brand globally, although it was really Konami that invented the music/rhythm genre with GuitarFreaks. Yet Guitar Hero, by porting to the console from the arcade, really capitalised the genre and brought it mainstream. This time around Harmonix have moved on to bigger and better things with Rockband, (still not released in NZ) so Neversoft of Tony Hawk fame have taken the reigns as developer and here we have Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Not much has changed since Guitar Hero II - a bit of a graphical overhaul with the user interface, but of course what more can you really do to Guitar Hero? The addition of Battle Mode is interesting and slightly amusing against friends but really, using power-ups against virtual reincarnations of Slash or Tom Morello is just embarrassing. Power-ups are used as weapons against your opponent by causing broken strings, breaking the whammy bar or increasing the difficulty. Winning Battle Mode is achieved by firing enough power-ups so your victim misses notes, and falls into the red.

The Sex Pistols got back together to do an exclusive rerecording of Anarchy in the UK, since their master recording mysteriously vanished. Many classic songs appear in the set list such as Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones, Hit Me with Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar and Welcome to the Jungle by Guns ‘N Roses. There are a couple of song packs available for download for consoles with the ability but the selection is really pathetic, plus there is no option to download songs singularly from song packs.

The new plastic guitar that comes with Guitar Hero III, if you’re that way inclined, is a black Gibson Les Paul. The first wireless Guitar Hero controller is a blessing. No more tripping over tangled wires as you jump off your couch! It also hosts a removable faceplate, and the neck can be disconnected for carrying round to mates’ places. You can’t do that with your electric guitar now can you?! However at $80 the peripheral bears a price tag that only the most extreme Guitar Hero fan could justify.

Guitar Hero III does little to improve upon its predecessors, and even removes some of the charm of the originals but if you’ve yet to own a Guitar Hero game, than this is as good a place as any to start. Otherwise sticking to what you already own will save you money and disappointment.

By Mriceguy