I understand that this blog is a little late, but I wanted to experience everything about the game. Overall, it's a verygood game anddefinitely worth the purchase. The core formula remains essentially the same but with only a few tweaks.
First of all, this game easily has one of the greatest songlists on any guitar hero game, ever.Almost every song is a blast to play, and although there are a few blemishes here and there, the overall list is superb.In addition to the songs being better, most of them areharder. Easy and medium difficulties were slightly harder than the songs in Guitar Hero II, but once I reached theend of the hard andexpert careers, things changed. Many of thefinal songs on hard were harder than most songs in Guitar Hero II ever were andexpert mode is absolutely ridiculous once you reach the 6-7th tiers. There's still not enough money in the game to allow you to buy everything in the store, whichis still annoying.
Sadly, battle mode is not all it could have been. While facing off against real guitar heros and using powerups sounds like a great idea, it really does notwell simply because too much of it is basedon chance. Battle mode essentially boils down to getting lefty flip or an amp overload, and using it on your opponent while they are doing a solo. It'stoo difficult to hit notes during these powerups, andit really makes the entire mode unfair. Beatingan opponent at a guitar battle should bethrough superior guitar skills, not unbalanced powerups.The bosses in career modehit 100% of the notes unless you use a powerup, and they getmany more of them than you do.The only positive thing from battle mode is that the guitarists recorded original tracks for the battles, and I play them just to hear the song.
Online play can be fun, but it depends on which modes you play. Battle mode isn't much different from career, and battles are over in less than a minute most of the time. Face off mode is bad because all people play on easy. I understand not all people can play expert mode, but when you play easy just to win, it really runis the game. Face off mode is won based on which player gets the longest note streak.I usually play expert (or maybe hard for some of the more difficult songs) and can 5 star most songs, but I do make mistakes and never have very long note streaks. People playing on easy can get 100% on the song, but the people that challenge themselves lose to someone who is lazy and probably going for the online achievements. Pro face off mode however, is much better. There is a set dufficulty for both players, and you play the entire song instead of little parts in face off mode. This mode feels the most balanced and is pretty fun.
The biggest change though, is the presentation. The game has gotten an enormous facelift over the PS2 graphics on Guitar Hero II, and it looks fabulous. The cartoony menus are still there, as is the band humor in loading screens. The career mode has short cartoony cutscenes about your band which are pretty shallow, but they are also funny and show your rise to stardom. All the venues look good and there are a variety of places to play. Many of the same characters are still around, but they look a little bit different. Loading times are lightning fast, andthe only problem with the graphics are a few framerate issues every once in a while in which the game slows down and then speeds up again.
In conclusion, Guitar Hero is still rockin and kicking ass. Not all of the additions are great, it's a lot harder this time around,but it's still guitar hero through and through, and still a hell of a lot offun.
And Through the fire and flames is impossible (Draqq is a god!!!!). I have no hope of completing the song and can only do about this good in practice mode. That song is Jordan on crack and steroids at the same time!!!!
~James
Log in to comment