Guitar Hero 3 is a fine rhythm game that can be terrifyingly difficult at times.
The Guitar Hero series got its start on the Playstation 2. Guitar Hero II was released on the Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 and brought online game play to the series. Now finally, Nintendo fan-boys and fan-girls can finally get their fingers on Guitar Hero III which is played with a sweet looking white, wireless Gibson guitar. If you're wondering if the game somehow takes advantage of the Wii's technology, the answer is yes, actually. In the back of the Guitar Controller is a lid that can be taken off. Inside the little space where the lid can be taken off is a little plug-in device that is similar to the plug on the nun-chuck remote. The space is the exact size of the Wii-mote. You connect your Wii-mote to the plug and sit it nicely inside the cozy little space. If you're playing a song and you're really rocking out, hitting all the notes, you may get "star power." To activate "star power" you must quickly raise and let down your guitar while holding it. There are other power ups you can obtain as well that are activated by doing this. So while it's not much, it does use the Wii-mote's sensor technology nicely. The guitar has buttons obviously. The buttons you use the most are the note buttons. Each note button is distinctive by color. There are five of them, all are the same distance between each other, and are mirrored to the notes that appear on your television screen when playing a song. On the base of the guitar you have an analog button which can be used to scroll through menus. You have a black little clicking bar button that is also used for menus and must be used to play songs. Each time you hit a note you must hit the black bar simultaneously. Then there are the plus and minus buttons. The plus button is used to pause the game, it acts as a start button. The minus button can be used for power ups you don't feel like shaking your guitar. The guitar feels very comfortable when holding in playing it. The design of the guitar itself is pretty much flawless.
Guitar Hero III has a beefy track list. There are a lot of songs that dip into different genres of rock (some more than others). Personally I am not the biggest fan of the soundtrack. I am not a huge fan of metal, 80's guitar solos, pop-rock, and songs where the singer sounds like he/she is choking on something instead of singing. There are a lot of such songs on here, and I am very peculiar when it comes to my music. However, I did find that playing these songs on a video game were a lot of fun, and even ran across some guilty pleasures along the way. So if the soundtrack seems to be in favor of your taste then good for you. To name some of the bands that are featured: Guns N Roses, Kaiser Chiefs, Rolling Stones, Dead Kennedys, Slipknot, Lacuna Coil, Weezer, Santana, Cream.....etc. As you can see the game dips into every decade where the electric guitar is the premiere instrument in the rock genre, which is the 60s-present. If you judge Guitar Hero by its looks you may be deceived. Graphics aren't impressive, but they're nice. You will play in different settings along side your band (whom you can name, but that's all the customization you can put in). In settings such as a state prison, on the beach, in Japan, on a stage with a scary giant puppet is doing things in the background. You will start off playing in places such as small beaches and prisons in front of small crowds, but will eventually move your way up to rock stardom, playing in huge stadiums in front of huge crowds. The game is divided into chapters. Each chapter contains four songs or more and in order to advance to the next chapter of songs you must complete a certain amount of songs in the current chapter. Completing a song doesn't primarily depend on how what percentage of notes you strike correctly, but also on how many notes you hit in a row, or how long you keep the crowd interested. There is a "rock meter" to the right of the screen that shows you how much the crowd is into your music. If it's in green you're surely rocking out. In yellow you could do better, but still survive through the show. If in red you are in danger of being booed off stage and failing the song. You could be on a roll hitting all the right notes, but if you mess up badly on a tricky guitar solo you could get booed off in a flash. Guitar Hero III is a very difficult game. I am not sure how difficult the previous Guitar Hero games were, as I have not played them, but this one is a challenge. You can play through career mode on easy, medium, hard, or expert difficulty settings. If you're a beginner easy is the right mode for you. Once you get the hang of things you may be ready to take the big jump to medium, and if you've become a skilled legend you may can take on hard, and if you are like the Jimi Hendrix of Guitar Hero you may be able to handle some of expert. The difference between the difficulty settings are the number of notes, the speed in which you have to hit them, and what note buttons are used. The songs also become progressively difficult on each mode as you go along. Also in the career mode you must play some boss battles in "battle mode". Battle mode can be quite annoying. You and your opponent must play guitar solos against each other. If you hit the right notes you can get an attack that can mess your opponent up. Some attacks can make the solo more difficult for your opponent, cause your opponent to have a broken string, or to completely cause his side of the screen to become unplayable. Your opponent and you will be able to recover from attacks by hitting certain buttons or moving the whammy bar. The screen will specifically tell you how to get rid of the attack. The goal is to have the rock meter on your side at the end of the song...or at least I thought that was the goal. It seems to be a bit unfair though. Against the A.I., when the song is finished, your opponent will break out into a guitar solo that is seemingly endless while you are not able to do anything at all. The only thing you can do is watch him control the stage until your meter drops to the point that you lose the battle. So really the goal to stay ahead of your opponent hitting crazy
guitar solos, and find a way to tactically use your attacks to completely mess up your opponent. It gives the computer an unfair advantage for sure.
If you have a buddy with another Guitar Controller and Wii-mote you can play through Co-op career mode or battle each other. The game does feature online, and you're able to play songs cooperatively or battle each other via Nintendo Wi-Fi. You can also play a game mode online called "face-off". In order to win the face-off, you must hit as many notes as possible, most unlikely more than your opponent, and impress the crowd with star power notes as well. Usually the person who does that wins the game. There is a rock meter in the middle of the screen in face-off mode. If you're the player on the left you will want the hand on the meter to be tilted in your favor. Whoever has the hand on the meter tilted in their direction at the end of the song, wins the match. Each game mode online can be played and decided by one song, or best of 3 songs, or best of 7 songs. You and your opponent will get to choose whatever songs you like, and each song will be played if necessary. You can create a match for strangers to come and play you, or you can randomly enter a stranger's match. As for your friends, by using friend codes you can find your friends online at any time and enter into whatever match you want to play with them. So far I have not seen the game freeze up or lag at all, so it's safe to say that online play is a fun smooth ride that. When it comes down to it Guitar Hero III is a game that anyone can have fun with regardless of music taste, how good you are with real guitar, or how biased you are against rhythm games. The game can be terrifyingly difficult on every mode except easy, especially on a console targeted towards "non-gamers." But regardless of console, if you're able to pick this one up, you should definitely give Guitar Hero III a shot.