Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

I’ve had countless dreams of being a rock star. Writing hit songs that everyone sings along to. Playing at enormous, sold-out arenas. Gathering the largest crowds at festivals. It’s an experience only bands like Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones can say they’ve had. Thanks to video games, rock star wannabes can get a little closer to that dream. I recently had mine fulfilled (virtually) with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It was just as I had imagined – plus a live performance of “Welcome to the Jungle” inside a prison full of convicts.

Given the separation from its original creators, the Guitar Hero series had to accept a new developer: Neversoft. Having launched Tony Hawk and the original 3D Spider-Man game for PSone, there wasn’t much worry from the gaming community. If any studio could move forward, it was Neversoft. But it wasn’t until the track/song lists were announced that we knew for certain that the game was headed in the right direction.

Go Ahead Tom Morello. Make My Day.

Slash and Tom Morello belong to Guitar Hero III’s touted boss battles – a one-on-one competition to the death … of one man’s career. Both competitors’ notes are displayed side-by-side to show every successful strum, as well as every mistake. You take turns rocking specific parts of songs that were written exclusively for the game. The best parts, of course, are performed by Slash and Morello.

You aren’t merely competing to see who can rock the best – you’re fighting with video-game tricks pulled right out of Tetris. Certain notes and chords award the player with power-ups. These aren’t the self-help aids that are found in Mario Kart, they’re the damaging kind that prevent your competitor from keeping up with the song.

Collect the Broken String power-up to temporarily eliminate one of your opponent’s strings. Once this power-up is used, he won’t be able to play that string until that particular fret is tapped several times. It’s not a hard thing to fix, but it comes unexpectedly. Even good players, or skilled computer AI, will lose a note or two (if not more) before recovering.

Amp Overload, another power-up, sounds very damaging. It blurs and shakes the screen, making it difficult see the notes. Double Notes is an even greater challenge. It does exactly what you’d expect and doubles the number of notes that you or your opponent has to play.

The Difficulty Up power-up temporarily increases the game’s challenge, and the Steal power-up allows players to take another power-up from their opponents before it gets used. There’s also a power-up that confuses the unfortunate receiver by reversing the note setup.

Boss battles must be won before the end of the song is reached. To pull that off, you’re going to need every power-up that appears. One of the more effective strategies is to hold onto whatever you have until the boss is just about to start playing. When your portion of the song reaches the end, you know your opponent is about to begin, and that’s the best time to attack. This will hurt the boss’s rock meter and lessen the chances of him acquiring power-ups that could help him down the road.

New Console, New Guitar

Those of you who bought the PS2 version of the first or second Guitar Hero likely noticed that the Xbox 360 received an exclusive guitar design last fall. Xbox, along with PlayStation 3, received yet another controller update this year – a Gibson Les Paul with interchangeable faceplates. But only this guitar controller is played with a Wii remote (not included) locked inside.

Aesthetically, it looks very cool. Physically, you won’t notice much of a difference. Response times are equally as high as the guitars on competing consoles, the buttons are just as solid, and the plastic casing feels very sturdy. The controller is slightly heavier than last year’s PS2 and Xbox 360 guitars but still lighter than the Rock Band peripherals, which are designed to feel more like the real thing. You can turn the Wii on and off with the remote’s power button, but since the sensor bar is blocked when the remote is inside the guitar, you’ll have to use the guitar’s nunchuck-style thumbstick to select the game from the main Wii console menu.

Two pros and one con remain:

Pro 1: By using an existing remote’s technology to power the guitar and make it wireless, players don’t have to worry about an additional power source. We also benefit from having Wii’s flawless, uninterrupted wireless signal.

Pro 2: Instead of pressing the “-” (minus) button – the one on the guitar, not on the remote – to activate your Star Power, players can tilt their guitars up and look like a rockstar while scoring additional points.

Con: Because of the Wii-specific design (it needs an open slot for the remote), special faceplates must be made for this controller. Right now, stores across the country are stocked with several faceplates for the new Xbox 360 and PS3 guitars, which are nearly identical. Those faceplates are not compatible with the Wii guitar.

At $90, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the most expensive game available for Wii. But with several dozen music tracks and a great guitar controller included in the package, there can be no complaints. If you loved the others, you’ll love this sequel.

Gameplay: 8.5
Guitar Hero III doesn’t attempt innovation with a sixth fret button or some other controller addition. It sticks to what players know and builds on the experience with a great song lineup, more advanced chords and note patterns (on the harder difficulty settings), and the introduction of celebrity boss battles.

Graphics: 8.3
It’s hard to praise a music game’s graphics when you spend most of the game staring at notes, not at the polygonal backgrounds. But when you glance away from the notes for just a sec, or watch the game while others are playing, Guitar Hero III’s visual prowess is very strong.

Sound: 8.5
An excellent lineup of music from the past several decades. The 60s, 70s and 80s tracks are great, and some of the 90s songs are unforgettable classics. But while I enjoy AFI and The Killers, they are hardly a great representation of modern rock. I know their Billboard Top 40 status had everything to do with their inclusion in the game. However, there are several superior rockers that were overlooked – likely because they aren’t currently on the Top 40 list.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium/Hard
One of the great things about the Guitar Hero series is the difficulty. Any player – of any skill level – can learn the game and enjoy it. You can play with just three buttons and few chords or all five buttons and several chords. It’s very expansive.

Concept: 8.0
Tons of new songs to master, great boss battles, and an amusing, visual-based story make Guitar Hero III more than the average music game sequel.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Co-op and competitive multiplayer modes ensure you’ll want to pick up a second guitar controller.

Overall: 8.5
A grand addition to anyone’s music game collection, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock continues the legacy started by Harmonix.