Guitar Hero 3 improves upon the series and gives us a game that is extremely addictive despite a few hindrances.
Well, the short of it would be they definitely have, and this is mainly thanks to the great tracklist they've acquired whilst keeping the core gameplay the same with only a few adjustments. However, some of the new modes aren't very inspiring and only seem to detract from the fun that can be had when playing this finger-numbing game. There has also been an increase in the difficulty this time around, and some songs on Expert mode may seem a bit too wild at times. Even though the step up in difficulty could prove to turn some newcomers off spending the £70 to grab the game, many will still enjoy what Guitar Hero III has to offer, along with all the previous fans of the game.
The controls are obviously what make this game, so I will try and briefly explain the concept of it in case you haven't come across one of these games before. With your left hand, you will be pressing up to five buttons depending on the difficulty setting which represents the fret board. Pushing these down won't produce a noise, but when you strum with your right hand it will then play that note. Think of it has holding down the string. You will also get longer single notes or chords which involve keeping the correct buttons down after you've strummed until the note has played through. On the guitar controller, you also have a whammy bar which you can use on the longer notes. It also includes Start and Select buttons, and a D-pad. The guitar is quite small, with a detachable fret board and at some retailers it comes with a case for safer carrying too.
The key update to the guitar is its use of wireless. On the 360, it just has a synchronise button and the Xbox button, whereas for the PS2 and PS3 version a dongle in the controller port or USB port is needed. The Wii version is probably the most interesting; with a slot for you to fit the Wii remote inside of it which can be used for a very minute amount of motion control. But the clunking sound when a note is missed actually comes from the Wii remote in the guitar, which is a nice feature.
The graphics for the on-screen fret board are perfect: it looks clean and smooth, which allows seeing what notes to hit a lot easier. However, the rest of the game doesn't look so good, with mediocre graphics which are hard to distinguish from last gen. This doesn't matter too much, as you will really just be concentrating on the notes coming at you, but it would have still been nice to have less ugly band members and more than three audience models being repeated with the exact same movements.
During the Career mode, the aim is to just get through the tracklist to the end, but it has a few additions to spice it up. With each song, you get a score which is calculated by what notes you're hitting with some bonuses, such as Star Power. Some of the notes will be star shaped and if you hit the entire group of them, your Star Power will increase. You can extract even more from them by using the whammy bar on the longer star notes. Once you've got enough you can keep building it up to full so it will last longer, or just use it when you want to by tilting the guitar upwards.
While you may feel cool doing this, you'll probably look a bit stupid at the same time and it doesn't help that it is such a distraction it can make you lose your momentum. However, this will electrify all the notes for as long as your Star Power lasts, which you can see draining from the right hand side, and will double points for hitting notes while it's on.
The tracklist is set up into four songs and you'll have to either complete three out of the four to continue on Easy and Medium, or all four to carry on with Hard and Expert modes. Once you've completed a chapter like this you will either just get the option to play an encore with a new unlocked song or a Boss Battle followed by an encore if you beat them.
You probably won't really enjoy these Boss Battles. Whilst you may recognise the few people you compete against in them, like Slash or Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, there isn't actually anything that fun added to them and is frustrating at times.
The idea is that you are playing against them at different times or simultaneously and instead of picking up Star Power, you get Battle Power. This gives you certain abilities, like snapping the other person's guitar string, increasing the difficulty of their piece or doubling the notes. Basically things that will make you mess up, but don't get too cocky because they can use them on you too and unless they have one of these Battle Powers on them they won't miss a note. You will have to make them screw up so badly that their rock-meter goes to zero and you win, and you must do this before the song ends. If you keep failing on this, you do have the option to skip eventually however. They have also added some animations for a bit of story but these don't really do anything good or bad to the overall game experience.
You will also receive cash for each song you play which can be spent on a variety of unlockables, such as new characters, guitars and songs. Overall, the tracklist has a whopping 71 playable songs as long as you unlock them all; which brings me on to playing with a friend.
You will have to play through the Co-op career to unlock the songs which is a bit of an annoyance, as Guitar Hero is one of the best party game franchises and should include a Co-op quick play so you can jump right into any song with friends.
Luckily, the 360 version includes a patch from release to obtain the mode via Xbox Live, whereas the other platforms have yet to be announced on when they will get this free added feature. Either way you play it, once on Co-op one person will be playing the Lead guitar and the other will generally be the Bass or Rhythm guitar; depending on which song you select. This is probably where the most fun is had if you are playing with friends as your score, note streak and star power are all shared.
I only noticed one complication with this when playing it: you both have to activate Star Power at almost the exact same time for it to turn on. This can be awkward as one person could be playing absolutely different notes to the other and it might take a while to find an appropriate spot for both of you to lift up your guitar like axe-wielding maniacs.
If you really want a challenge though, you can compete head to head with your mates or online (excluding the PS2 version) with either Battle Mode, which is the multiplayer version of the Boss Battles, or simply up against each other on the same song to see who gets more points. It's important to state on any multiplayer game you can select different difficulties, which is a much needed feature seeing as you may be playing with less or more experienced players. The harder the song though, the more notes there are so that means all the more possible points there are to get.
So take what I said, wrap it up in some quite blatant advertising, and this is what the latest installment of Guitar Hero is. And considering it seems to have quite a few things hindering it, it is a relief that it never stops being immensely addictive fun. There will also be, no doubt, a wealth of content to be downloaded online in the coming months, and with two expansion packs already announced, this will surely last you well into next year.
See more of my reviews at www.sector7arcade.com