Even with a new developer, this game doesn't miss a step
The general concept of the story is the same as the previous installments. You play songs in different tiers, striving to be the #1 guitarist. What they changed in this concept is, they added animation cutscenes between tiers in career mode, giving you an actual story behind the game. You find out that a garage band needs a guitarist. After you join, the band goes on a conquest of trying to make it in the rock world. I like this new approach, but I hope they don't start trying to add to much to the story in the next one.
The visuals are really good. The characters are more detailed and fleshed out. Neversoft changed the shape of the notes, making them a more round shape. Slash(Guns N' Roses) and Tom Morello's(Rage Against the Machine) in-game counterparts look very much like them.
Guitar Hero 3 has a well-made soundtrack. From the Killers to Dragonforce, and Santana to Metallica, the songs are fun to play and listen to at the same time. To complete some songs(who am I kidding, this only applies to Dragonforce), you will definitely need a friend to help you complete it. Most of the songs people wanted in this game made it in. One thing I liked about GH is that people will discover songs by artist they haven't heard of, making some people check out the artist. I've done it, and a few of my friends have too. I've never heard of Priestess(artist of Lay Down) or of Eric Johnson(artist of Cliffs of Dover), but after hearing their songs, I'm looking more more songs from them.
Nothing has really changed from the core gameplay. You use the frets and the strum bar on the guitar controller to hit the notes that appear. The amplifier on the right keeps check of how you're doing. If you're in the green, you're doing fine, while in yellow, you're doing alright, but in red, you're in danger of failing the song. The amp on the left keeps track of the notes you hit, which increases the multiplier. One of the new feature is the co-op career mode. If you want all the songs in the game, you will go through this mode, along with the single player career mode. In it, the tiers are changed to add one or two songs(like Bulls on Parade being in the first tier in the co-op, while it's in the second in single player).
Another new feature are battle modes. Unlike the Pro-faceoff in GH2, you are trying to make your opponent lose before the end of the song. In the single player career mode, you do this against bosses. Instead of getting Star Power, it is changed to battle, and with it, you try to mess your opponent with it. Some will be aces in the holes(like lefty flip, which causes the other player to play left handed), while others will be the ones to slightly mess the up(like Hard, which makes the opponent play the song like it was on hard mode, which will work if you're playing on easy or medium). I really like this new feature the most. It makes both players stay on their toes.
This game is really good, and ends my worries on Neversoft messing it up. The career is short, but trying to get all the achievements(especially the one for Through the Fires and Flames) will have you coming back at another run at being a rock legend.
Gameplay- 10
Graphics- 9
Sound- 10
Value- 8
Tilt- 8