The positive features of Guitar Hero III are marred by overcharting and sloppy presentation.
So, where to start? Well, first, I will note that I'll compare just about everything to its competitor, Rock Band. But first, what exactly makes a rhythm game work? I mean, there's no "story," there's no "combat" so what actually drives a rhythm game like this?
There's the setlist, the actual gameplay, and the peripherals first and foremost. And some minor, but still significant elements are the presentation, featured modes, among other things, so here is a step-by-step comparison of Guitar Hero III and Rock Band
Setlist: Guitar Hero III's setlist, in all honesty, is bland. Yes, it has a lot of master tracks. But the only true "epic" songs so to speak that are in the game are "One" by Metallica, "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden, "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'N' Roses, "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones, "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse, "The Seeker" by The Who, and three Def Leppard songs. Rock Band, on the other hand has "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult, "Enter Sandman," "...And Justice For All," "Blackened" and "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica, 7 Boston songs, Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws, "Gimme Three Steps" and "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Run to the Hills" and "Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden, "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi ,and an astounding 13 songs by The Who. I could keep going, but I'm trying to keep this shorter than a mile.
Of course, some of us will be saying "LOL BUT FEZ YOU CAN'T JUST HAVE A GUITAR GAME BUILT AROUND THESE SO-CALLED 'EPIC' SONGS, WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE SETLIST'
What about it? Slipknot vs. Radiohead? Disturbed vs. better Disturbed AND Jet? Alice Cooper vs. REM? Crappy AFI vs. Bang Camaro? Slayer vs. Megadeth? The Fall of Troy vs. Coheed and Cambria? Bret Michaels Band vs. Stone Temple Pilots? DragonForce vs. Judas Priest?
And before anyone says "LOL BUT FEZ YOU'RE JUST CHOOSING GUITAR HERO'S WORST SONGS, ROCK BAND HAS SOME BAD SONGS." The worst band is The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, second worst is Vagiant, and third worst are the crappy thrash bands. So yeah, to hell with Guitar Hero. Anywho:
Where exactly is the better setlist for Guitar Hero.There are a couple of other good artists in the GHIII list like ZZ Top, Santana, Heart, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Foo Fighters, Journey, No Doubt, Muse, annnd, that's about it. The only artists I would publicly tote in support for this game have been mentioned (Excluding songs that are in both games, at least). As for Rock Band, the unmentioned artists so far are Wolfmother, The Police, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Rush, Oasis, Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails, The Grateful Dead, Serj Tankian/System of a Down, The Cars, Jimmy Buffett, Shinedown, Machinehead, and Dream Theater. With weekly DLC vs. monthly DLC, Rock Band > Guitar Hero
Very long winded, I know, but I wanted to drive this point home. WHERE is the better list? I don't see it anywhere. Next point.
Gameplay: Guitar Hero overcharts everything, horribly. And that's even when you're not playing lead AND rhythm guitar AND effects in one f***ing track. Add in some three-note chord abuse, playing notes that don't exist, AND playing half the songs on the wrong side of the fretboard and you have a maddening game. It is HORRIBLE. Then, on top of that, the HOPO's in Guitar Hero are broken. You can hold a note for five seconds before it actually arrives and STILL play it. How does that work? I have yet to conceive of a way to take a guitar, press down on a string, and the note plays five seconds later. It does not work, and will not ever work unless I become a magician. Rock Band is not perfect, there are like, 3 songs you play a piano solo, but almost nothing is overcharted.. I will not bring the drums and vocals into the gameplay discussion because Guitar Hero obviously can't compete.
Peripherals: This is Guitar Hero's only strong point. The guitar is better than Rock Band's, hands down. Most people I know don't like Rock Band's fret buttons, strum bars, wammy bars, the effects switch, or, well, anthing about it. My only problem was the strum bar. But Guitar Hero's is more responsive, has a sturdier strum bar, and doesn't break WAY too easily. So yeah, Guitar Hero has something for it. Too bad having golden keys to a Pinto still leaves you with a crappy car.
Presentation Guitar Hero comes off as immature. Everything is cartoony, poorly designed and poorly animated. Even the pastel colors on the chart look like it was designed by 14 year-old who thought it looked awesome. Rock Band's menu system and presentation is nothing to rave about, but in game the models are very well detailed, very fluidly animated, and in general look very nice. Also, my own custom character > Jimi Hendrix clone. Love ya Jimi, but I don't want to play as you. Of course, it's a minor setback, but when the game I'm playing is douchebaggy and throwing a thousand notes at me, it's even worse when I look around and find out that it's all a 14 year-old's idea of what TEH RAWK AND ROLLL should be. Rock Band wins.
Game modes: Both games have basically the same game modes, except Rock Band's world tour is miles ahead of Guitar Hero's career mode. Of course, single player Rock Band is basically the same thing, so whatever. They have virtually the same online modes, and they both play very fluidly, so this was almost worthless to mention, but whatever.
Activision had a great game to work with, but they stripped it to the foundation and put a shoddy game filled with master tracks to look pretty in its place. Rock Band is miles ahead of it, and if you buy it, you actually get access to 250 BETTER songs and you get to play DRUMS! :D
Guitar Hero is absolutely overrated.