Reviews// Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock Review

Let’s talk about that new gee-tar. It’s slightly heavier than the last version; it also has a removable fretboard (nifty, for taking it to the in-laws for Christmas fun). Its mainbody has a removable, plastic front-piece (erm... scratchboard??), so you can opt for a Who-like Union Jack or you can customise your look.

It’s Gibson-branded too of course, which, for reasons I’m not entirely sure about, is just cooler than Fender^±. I didn’t make the cool rules, but that’s one of them. While the 'removeability' or otherwise of guitar parts doesn't really impact on the gameplay itself, these touches show that Guitar Hero’s new daddy at Activision understands that being able to customise and transport the plastic guitar peripheral and really make it your own is something that gamers want to do.

If you don’t have too much experience of playing with the last 360 version of GH2, then playing with a wireless guitar is incredibly sweet. It’s just that much easier to pass round a crowded room than the clumsy, wired versions of yore.

So, while GH3:Legends Of Rock is not breaking new ground (apart, perhaps, from the slightly strange ‘boss battles’ which I'll come to shortly) it is such a major step forward in terms of better technology, better gameplay and better choice of tunes that it would be churlish not to congratulate Activision on a job well done.

I’ve yet to play EA’s new contender, Rock Band but after spending a week caning Guitar Hero III I truly think it’s going to be a hard act to follow. Plus, who the hell wants to be a DRUMMER, anyhow? This game is all about developing and nurturing the air guitarist in all of us. How often do you do ‘air drumming’ to songs? How many drum riffs can you recognise and name? See^±±.

If you fancy yourself as a singer, then Sony’s own superb Singstar on PS3 is out this Christmas. Buy that and warble away 'til your heart’s content; buy Guitar Hero 3 for when you fancy a bit of virtual axe-action. Why wait till next Spring for the jack-of-all-trades version? (We'll tell you when we review Rock Band).

I will now cut to the chase and list what is better about GH3 and why you need to take GH2 immediately to your nearest CEX or GameStation and upgrade:

More of the songs this time around are fully licensed original versions (or re-recorded versions in the case of the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy In The UK – which I challenge anybody to try to playing without a Rotten-a-like sneer on their face). Even some of the ‘as made famous by’ tunes sound so much better and like the original versions this time around. Once you have played through the Career mode on your own for a while, you can play through it again in co-op mode with a mate.

For the truly hardcore the difficulty levels are just right. Easy is still challenging enough for Guitar Hero noobs. Expert is naughty-swearword-inducingly hard to crack. I plan to put in the time in the coming months though, and I will not be entirely happy until I’ve finally cracked She Bangs The Drums on expert^±±±.

While the game is very much not about the graphics, Neversoft has still made sure that it looks nothing less than beautiful, with the neon-lit, sleazy bar backdrops and the comedy rock-stereotype characters never failing to raise a smile. For the record, I plumped for Axel Steel in classic blue denim, every time.

Now I don’t want to moan too much about this superb game, but I have to at least try to find some faults and flaws. So, if it has to be anything, I would rather that Neversoft just leaves out the new boss battles in the next iteration of the game (there will be one, this time next year, no question). Either that, or just make the battles with look-alikes of real-life guitar heroes like Tom Morello or Slash a little more fun.

Every time I came to the boss battle section in the game, my heart sank just a little, as it just wasn’t as much fun as the tunes and it was a slight chore to get through it. A minor gripe, and in no way a reason to avoid the game, but it just struck me as a tacked on novelty mini-game that added little to the overall experience.


SPOnG Score: 92%

Guitar Hero III is the best pretend-rock-guitar game ever made and I urge you to buy it this Christmas. Aside from Mario it’s the game I’ll most likely be continuing to return to and spending most time with in the coming months. It’s out on PS3 (the version I’ve been playing), 360, PS2, PC and Wii - a version with a few special little extras that we should be getting a look-in with in the coming weeks, so watch out for more on that. Somewhat weirdly, a DS version is in the works due for release sometime early next year. If we had such a thing as a SPOnG Buy-It award, then I’d stick it on this game. Though I’ll never forgive Activision for listing ‘She Bangs A Drum’ on the box.




A footnote(s)
<sup>± It is still not as cool as a Rickenbacker 330. Ed.

±± Answers to the Forum please, air drummers and people who can immediately recognise When The Levee Breaks or Watching The Detectives or Leader of the Pack or Kings of the Wild Frontier and or Eat Yourself Fitter.

±±±Whoever wrote and proof-read the copy on the game’s packaging and missed the unforgivable error in the track listing on the back of the box needs to be immediately fired and shamed across the internets.(The Stone Roses’ She Bangs A Drum anyone?? D'oh!)</sup>