Play the game, and be prepared to have fun and laughs...at the graphics.
So when I heard that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was to be transferred from Harmonix to Neversoft, it wasn't so much the thought of a new format and style that irked me, but the fear that it could go all wrong from the start. Nevertheless, even after looking at countless screenshot after screenshot and viewing video after video, I still could not see any major differences that would wreck the franchise.
So how does this game shape up to the previous two?
Well, it's definitely fun. But I'm writing this review after playing Rock Band (also for the PS2). It became apparent to me that Harmonix should have kept the keys.
-GAMEPLAY-
First, the good news: the reader will be glad to hear that this game is still Guitar Hero overall. As in the last three games (if you count "Rocks the 80's"), your controller (besides the Dualshock 2, my specialty) is a small guitar-shaped plastic instrument complete with 5 separately-colored buttons, a strum bar and a whammy bar. The job of the player (during a song) is to use this "guitar" to hit as many notes as possible in the song by pressing specific button combinations relating to the colors on the screen and strumming at the right moment, all the while collecting points for your efforts. If you miss notes, you affect the rock meter on the screen which ranges from green (rocking!) to yellow (so-so) to red (uncool) to flashing red (just hanging on). Missing too many notes, and therefore making the meter plummet, will cost you the crowd and your game. On the other hand, the more consecutive notes you hit without messing up earns you multipliers to buff your score. Each single note is 50, each two-note chord is 100 and each three-note chord is 150, but these numbers are multiplied by 2, 3 or 4 for each 10 notes you hit consecutively. A long note runs the score up depending on how long you hold down the buttons.
Certain elements are implemented into the game that enhance your "guitar-playing experience"; for example, "Star Power" can be garnered by nailing programmed phrases of notes, and this power can be unleashed simply by tilting the guitar upward in order to win the crowd in a tough situation or rack up even more points by doubling your multipliers. Also, just like when playing a real guitar, during quick phrases some notes don't need to be strummed, but simply button-pressed with your strum. These notes, called hammer-ons and pull-offs, shine white on the screen and can make fast parts of a song easier, though they take some time to learn and can be tricky. Other effects include using the controller's whammy bar on long notes to both collect minimal amounts of points and more Star Power if the note is part of a Star Power phrase.
The goal for each song is to get as high a score as possible as so to improve your ranking. Each song has four rankings, depending on your score:
THREE STARS = Worst ranking possible, marks completion of song, usually < 90% notes hit
FOUR STARS = Good score, usually 90% - 95% notes hit
FIVE STARS = Impressive score, usually 95% - 99% notes hit
FIVE GOLDEN STARS = Perfect score, 100% notes hit
There are also four difficulties: Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. Obviously these difficulties decide how intense your game is. On Easy only the first three buttons (green, red and yellow) are used and realistic note phrases in songs are constricted to only four or five sequences of single notes. On Medium the fourth button (blue) is used and the note progressions become more complex. On Hard the final fifth button (orange) is used and the difficulty hikes up even farther. Finally, on Expert, the notes on the screen "almost" match that of the real song (more on that later). Needless to say, the higher the difficulty the higher the score, but the higher the risk of failing is.
Multiplayer mode includes three branches: Face-Off, Pro-Face Off, and Battle. Face-Off, present in all three games, pits you against a friend (with varying difficulties) in a song of your choosing, with each person playing different parts of each song. Pro Face-Off, originally from Guitar Hero II, is similar to Face-Off, except each person plays every note, and the game must be beaten on any difficulty for it to be unlocked.
Battle mode is new to the Guitar Hero franchise, and from the looks of it, doesn't seem to be that much of a worthy addition. Basically, Battle is similar to Pro Face-Off, in that each person plays every note in the song (excepting Career Battles, which are more similar to Face-Offs). However, instead of Star Power, note phrases with a black outline signify "Battle Power". When Battle Power is garnered, the player is given a random weapon that, when used by tilting the guitar, will affect the performance of the other player. These weapons range from "Lefty Flip" (reverses notes) to "Double Notes" (turns singles into chords and so on) to "Higher Difficulty" (unless you play on Expert). This sounds like a good idea on paper, but in execution the mode is slightly broken. I find that whenever I try to do a Battle with a friend or my brother, the first one to achieve Battle Power wins the Battle, because the victim can't seem to catch up enough in the song to get Battle Power themselves while the other is blasting more Power at his opponent. In this vein, each Battle usually lasts around 30 seconds, not nearly enough time to enjoy a song.
After explaining that awfully long passage I can tell you now how Guitar Hero III differs from Harmonix's Guitar Hero I and II.
On the positive side, hammer-ons and pull-offs have become much easier due to the new visual style of the game (again, more on that later). Previously these notes were outlined in white, which could be difficult to see in the heat of the higher difficulty levels. This time these elusive notes are almost completely white, making them easier to read.
Neutrally, the note scheme has become sloppier than the first and second games. While this sounds like a bad thing, the notes on screen are easier to input and the timing definitely does not have to be as precise as, say, the first Guitar Hero.
However, I found the worst thing about Guitar Hero III's gameplay was that it is, indeed, a sequel to a sequel. As a third installment, GHlll has ramped up the difficulty so much that it can only be truly accessible to veteran players. Whereas Easy and Medium can be cakewalks, switching to Hard can bring the player in for a bit of a shock. Hard is only slightly easier than Expert, excepting the truly blistering songs (once again, more on that later).
What also irritated me was how immature the developers had gotten as to how the notes are programmed. This came to me after seeing how Rock Band's guitar parts were laid out. Instead of leveling out the difficulty and sticking to the traditional layout of the songs, the developers simply slapped on more two-note and three-note chords to replace single notes, making the experience that much more unrealistic. What's even worse is that, on the hardest songs, it is truly and utterly impossible to achieve a golden five star ranking, of even close to it, because the songs are just that difficult. No amount of practice will give you the ability to perfectly play every song in the game on Expert (one last time, more on that later).
Overall, though, if you're looking for an exciting (albeit mind numbing) game experience, try playing a copy. Or, if you really want to have fun, play it at a party. The best part about games like these is the feeling you get from proving to everyone else that you are better than them. Or something like that, I can't really describe how GHIII works at parties. But if you want fun, try it. It seems to be quite popular.
-SONG LIST-
For your convenience, here is a list of songs needed to be completed in the game. I won't bother listing the extra songs, because they are optional and most of them aren't very good anyway.
Tier 1:
"Slow Ride" - Foghat
"Talk Dirty to Me" - Poison
"Hit Me with Your Best Shot" - Pat Benatar
"Story of My Life" - Social Distortion
* "Rock and Roll All Night" - KISS
** "Sabotage" - Beastie Boys
Tier 2:
"Mississippi Queen" - Mountain
"School's Out" - Alice Cooper
"Sunshine of Your Love" - Cream
"Barracuda" - Heart
*** "BATTLE with Tom Morello" - Tom Morello
* "Bulls on Parade" - Rage Against the Machine
** "Reptilia" - The Strokes
Tier 3:
"When You Were Young" - The Killers
"Miss Murder" - AFI
"The Seeker" - The Who
"Lay Down" - Priestess
* "Paint It Black" - The Rolling Stones
*** "Suck My Kiss" - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tier 4:
"Paranoid" - Black Sabbath
"Anarchy in the U.K." - The Sex Pistols
"Kool Thing" - Sonic Youth
"My Name is Jonas" - Weezer
* "Evenflow" - Pearl Jam\
** "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" - Blue Oyster Cult
Tier 5:
"Holiday in Cambodia" - The Dead Kennedys
"Rock You Like A Hurricane" - The Scorpions
"Same Old Song and Dance" - Aerosmith
"La Grange" - ZZ Top
*** "BATTLE with Slash" - Slash
* "Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns 'N Roses
** "Helicopter" - Bloc Party
Tier 6:
"Black Magic Woman" - Santana
"Cherub Rock" - The Smashing Pumpkins
"Black Sunshine" - White Zombie
"The Metal" - Tenacious D
* "Pride and Joy" - Stevie Ray Vaughan
** "Monsters" - Matchbook Romance
Tier 7:
"Before I Forget" - Slipknot
"Stricken" - Disturbed
"3's and 7's" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Knights of Cydonia" - Muse
* "Cult of Personality" - Living Colour
Tier 8:
"Raining Blood" - Slayer
"Cliffs of Dover" - Eric Johnson
"Number of the Beast" - Iron Maiden
"One" - Metallica
*** * "The Devil Went Down to Georgia (metal edition)" - The Charlie Daniels Band
"Tier 9":
* "Through the Fire and Flames" - Dragonforce
* = Encore Song
** = Co-op Song (only unlockable in Co-op Mode)
*** = Guitar Battle
If you look at this list and recognize at least more than five of these songs, then you are most certainly not alone. Neversoft seems to have gone out of their way to please the crowd by adding all of these favorites, even if some of them aren't traditionally Guitar Hero material. Familiar names can be recognized (such as White Zombie from the first Guitar Hero or Heart from the second), but newer bands join the list (such as Social Distortion, Slipknot, Disturbed, Muse, etc.) As for me, I found some of these to be less entertaining than others (Kool Thing, anyone?), but again, it depends on your taste in music.
Also notable is the fact that many of the original tracks can be found here. This can be considered a first for Guitar Hero, since Guitar Hero II had few (if any) original tracks at all. What some people may appreciate, though, is how some songs were re-recorded for use exclusively in the game. Living Colour ended up reproducing "Cult of Personality", adding a special guitar solo. Bret Michaels, the lead vocalist of Poison, also re-did voice work for their Tier 1 song, as well as added an extra song. This effort makes Guitar Hero III's song list an impressive opus.
The one caveat, however, is how bad the covers sound in comparison to the originals. Ozzy Osbourne's cover is pathetic (but, then, nobody can really match him), and I laughed out loud at Mississippi Queen. However, I give much credence to the song list. Well done, Neversoft.
-GRAPHICS-
Ah yes, the graphics. Remember when I said how I was never a big fan of Neversoft? This is why. Do you want to know why there's a 6.5 as the score? This is why. Do you want to know why I secretly prefer Rock Band over this game? This is why.
First of all, I have to say right here that I have no right to criticize the game of its graphical component by simply basing my opinion off of the technologically-impaired Playstation 2. My point is that this game could have looked SO much better even on the Playstation 2 that I feel as though I need to have a stab at criticizing it.
Where to begin? Let's start with the character design. Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater 3 may have looked amazing at its time, but this game seems almost identical to it graphically. Carrying on the Guitar Hero tradition, all the old characters (plus some new creations and some cameo appearances) come back for a third round. However, their habits and looks have changed dramatically. Izzy Sparks in the first Guitar Hero was crazy, colorful and vivid. I have no pleasure now looking at a polygonal, blocky, awkward, dark-skinned, retard Izzy Sparks bending down in some kind of sissy stretch when I go to select him at the character selection screen (which is why I never do). Xavier Stone in the first two games was a suave, yet menacing character. Now, apparently, he spends his time putting on preschool rugs and walking around with a dopey expression on his face.
The new characters, especially, make little to no sense. The effort was positive, but honestly, who would want to play a little devilish hyperactive Japanese princess named Midori? Where did she come from? Was she simply thrown into the game merely to appease the female crowd of Guitar Hero? The same goes for Budroy Elvis, the fat, chest-hairy replacement of Eddie Knox from Guitar Hero II. I do agree, though, that Metalhead, a character exclusive to the PS2 and Wii editions, is a pretty cool addition to the roster. But one character a roster does not make.
When the actual band comes together, however, the result is laughable (in my opinion). This is indeed bad motion capture, and although (again) it was a good try, Neversoft gets another D+ for its assignment. The guitarist, or your character, does have some impressive fret movements (as in the past games), but this is barely noticeable in lieu of his/her awkward movements on stage. Some characters (in the case of Midori, that wench) will move their head sideways, back and forth, wielding a creepy smile. Others will do nothing but stomp around. Regardless, each and every character will remain rooted to their one spot for the entire song, making them feel like robots. What I found absolutely hilarious was how every guitarist strummed every note (even hammer-ons and pull-offs, which makes it very funny on some of the harder songs), and strummed with a sort of scratching motion or a jerky flick of the wrist. I know as well as you that real people don't do that.
The other band members are just as bad, if not worse. In fact, compared to the band members, the guitarists' motion capture is actually quite well done. The old lovable bass player with the long beard now plays his instrument like the engine of a motorcycle. Next time you're watching a song, pay attention to the sausage that is the bassist's thumb.
The singer is just as bad, if not worse. While the singer in Guitar Hero I and II seemed right for a "Battle of the Bands"-themed venue, the singer here is nearly embarrassing. With paper-like hair and extremely disturbing eyes, this butt-ugly singer is truly a sight to vomit at. Why on earth did they decide to change the once-cool singer into a grungy hobo?
The drummer is most definitely the worst. In fact, I dare you to look up at the drummer while you are playing a song and not crack up at how poorly this guy moves. Clearly there was NO motion capture done on this little fellow at all. If you've ever seen a mechanical band at a cheap pizza-chain, you'll know what I'm talking about. Technically, the drummer doesn't seem to be alive because of his blocky frame, his dumbass smile, and the way he looks as though he's hitting UP on the drums instead of DOWN. How do you mess that up?
I've already mentioned how the graphics relate to early Playstation 2 works. I'm not through yet, though. I have to talk about how blatantly disappointing it is to see so much product-placement in the game. Neversoft seems to have taken this franchise to extremes, as they have thrown this delicious piece of meat into the lion's den that is the marketing business. American car dealers like Pontiac and Ford get their share of advertising, while regular contributors like Gibson are left to nibble at the scraps under the vast majority of creative designs of guitars that Neversoft has concocted.
But AXE seems to have stolen that same piece of meat, slobbered on it, and thrown it back after sucking the red blood from it. I've never believed much in using AXE deodorant, and now I don't think I ever will. It is unfathomable how badly that company has taken over this game. Several different "AXE" axes, a set of AXE go-go dancers, and more are slathered on like black paint. Perhaps it was to promote its aerosol deodorant to the grimy, unclean teenagers that actually play the game; in this sense, it can be considered almost condescending.
-CONCLUSION-
Okay, I've had my rant. Review over. Play the game, and be prepared to have fun and laughs...at the graphics.
I'll get you someday, Midori!