Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

In 1993, frontman Rob Halford left legendary metal group Judas Priest and was replaced with Tim “Ripper” Owens, who was at the time lead singer of a Judas Priest cover band. Priest fans were hesitant to accept this addition to their favorite group, and skeptical of the band’s future. A similar situation faced Guitar Hero fans last year when it was announced that series creator Harmonix would be leaving the series, with development of the third installment being done by Neversoft, known primarily for the Tony Hawk games. Fans everywhere were doubtful of Neversoft’s ability to create a worthy successor to the incredibly popular series. Fortunately, there was no need to worry, as Neversoft has delivered Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which, some minor flaws aside, is arguably the best Guitar Hero yet.

The series’ core gameplay remains unchanged: players must hold down colored fret buttons while strumming at the correct times in order to “play” guitar in an increasingly-difficult series of songs, ranging from punk and metal to indie and classic rock. Star Power, accrued by successfully hitting every note in specially-designated sections and activated by an upright tilt of the guitar, still doubles the point value of every note hit and is the quickest way to go from sucking to rocking when a show’s going badly. Beating all of the songs at a given gig still allows you to perform an encore, which unlocks the next group of songs at a different location. Also returning are GH2’s Practice mode, which allows you to play any specific section of a given song slowed down, and Co-op play, which sees one player playing lead guitar and the other playing either bass or rhythm guitar.

 
Concert locations are, if anything, bigger and more spectacular.

Which is not to say that Neversoft hasn’t changed things up. First and foremost, they’ve increased the overall difficulty. Although Easy mode remains a good entry-level difficulty for series beginners, Hard mode is now approximately as difficult as GH2’s Expert, and Expert is guaranteed to be a challenge for even the most hardcore series fans. To balance out this increase in difficulty, Neversoft has increased the window of opportunity for players to play any given note; that is, you’ve got slightly more time before and after each note during which the game will accept you strumming as “correct.” This, combined with easier-to-accomplish hammer-ons and pull-offs (all but required to succeed at even somewhat fast solos) means that the game is challenging, but not impossible, even on the hardest songs. Neversoft has also expanded the game’s Career mode, with the addition of awesome traditional animation cinematics that chronicle your band’s rise to fame. For the first time, your bandmates have personalities, and there is an actual storyline, which follows your band from their first gig playing a backyard party, to signing a record deal, to touring Japan, and finishing with a twist I’ll not ruin here.

Neversoft’s biggest addition to the formula, however, is Battle mode. At set points during your career, famous guitarists, like Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine and Slash of Guns N’ Roses, take the stage and challenge you to a rock showdown. What follows is essentially a guitar fight, as the guitarists take turns trading licks back and forth. During battles, instead of Star Power, completing specific riffs perfectly nets you attacks that you can send your opponent’s way. These attacks include Amp Overload (the incoming notes blink in and out of view, making it much more difficult to see them), Broken String (one fret button “breaks”, and can’t be used before fixing it by pressing it quickly), and Difficulty Up (increases your difficulty setting, such as from Hard to Expert, for a set amount of time). Players must keep their own rock meter as high as possible, while attacking their opponent and trying to mess them up; the first to deplete their opponent’s rock meter wins. Battles during Career mode act as boss battles, forcing you to best legendary guitarists before continuing on to the next set of songs. Battle mode is also selectable as a multiplayer mode, allowing you to go head-to-head with your buddies. While a fun mode to try at a party, the relatively quick sessions (the battle ends as soon as one player’s rock meter depletes; I’ve seen battles over in less than ten seconds) mean that this new mode doesn’t have much longevity.

Neversoft has also overhauled the game’s graphics. Gone are Harmonix’s relatively cartoony characters, replaced by a more realistic look (ironically, this game’s cut scenes are very cartoony, as is the storyline itself). This graphical style was clearly designed with the next-gen consoles in mind, as the PS2 version’s characters look blocky and low-detailed, obviously scaled-down from the superior systems. The new art direction is also something I take issue with; several characters have entirely new looks of questionable merit (Judy Nails, for instance, went from edgy alterna-rocker to some sort of trashy, “Queen of the Dead” look). The HUD has been redone as well; a series of stage-style lightbulbs replace the Star Power meter, for instance. I actually prefer this new look, and there are a few pieces of information present in the display that weren’t available before (a running tally of your current streak being the biggest addition).

 
Seriously, what’s up with Judy Nails’ new look?

Obviously, the most important aspect of any Guitar Hero title is sound, and I’m happy to report that in this respect Guitar Hero III not only meets the standard set by the previous games, but surpasses it. The game’s setlist is the series’ most diverse, with true classics of rock like Heart’s “Barracuda” and the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” (a personal favorite) sitting right next to modern classics like The Killers’ “When We Were Young” and Weezer’s “My Name Is Jonas.” More radio hits have been included than in past Guitar Hero titles, leading to a more instantly recognizable track list. Also, more original recordings have been used; 51 of the game’s 71 songs use the original band’s master recording (The Sex Pistols actually re-recorded a new version of “Anarchy In The UK” specifically for the game, as did Living Colour with “Cult Of Personality”). All of this adds up to the best audio quality in a Guitar Hero yet, and I would argue, the best song selection as well.

The game’s not perfect — aside from my aforementioned problems with the new art style, minor flaws do present themselves from time to time. One flaw (more of an oversight, really) is that, if you restart a song, you have to sit through the eight-to-ten second load time again; in previous Guitar Hero titles, the song would restart instantly. More troubling is the fact that each song must be unlocked on each difficulty setting separately; for instance, if I’ve beaten the game on Hard, and I want to play multiplayer with a friend who plays on Medium, I’d have to unlock the song separately on Medium, even though I’ve unlocked it on a harder difficulty setting. While it’s nothing crippling, it was a bit of an annoyance.

 
Now that they’ve got personalities, your bandmates play a bigger role than ever before.

I must admit, I was one of those Guitar Hero fans who, prior to release, was very skeptical about Neversoft’s ability to do my favorite series justice. As a Harmonix fan from way back, I didn’t think anyone else could deliver a game as well as them. Well, I’m the first to admit when I’m wrong: Guitar Hero III delivers in almost every way imaginable. Despite a few minor issues, Neversoft has stepped up to the challenge admirably. Harmonix, consider the bar raised.

Gameplay: 9.4
Some will complain that it’s too hard; those people just aren’t good enough. Guitar Hero III perfects the series’ gameplay, and while not all of its additions shine, this is still the best playing Guitar Hero yet.

Graphics: 7.9
Environments look great. Cutscenes are awesome. Characters are…not as good. A new art style combined with low-polygon count character models makes for a band that doesn’t look quite as good as in games past.

Sound: 9.6
More original recordings bring a much higher level of quality and authenticity to the game. Also, the covers are much higher quality, so much so that in several cases I was convinced that it wasn’t a cover (case in point: “Barracuda”). Audio is definitely the most important aspect of a game like this, and Guitar Hero III knocks it out of the park.

Difficulty: Hard
While anybody can still pick up the game and jam on Easy or Medium difficulties, Hard mode truly is, and Expert is incredibly challenging. That said, the game is never unfair, and if you’re doing poorly, it’s your own fault.

Concept: 8.3
Some of the new ideas brought to the table in this installment might not be absolute winners, but a game that lets you experience the thrills of fronting an amazing rock band is still among the greatest game concepts of all time.

Multiplayer: 8.5
PS2 owners don’t get to play the game online like their next-gen brethren, but going head-to-head against your buddies, or teaming up with them to tour on the road (did I mention there’s a completely separate co-op career mode, complete with mode-exclusive songs?) is just as much of a blast as it’s always been.

Overall: 9.3
The best song selection yet combined with unparalleled playability and a challenge for anyone from beginner to master makes this PS2’s definitive music game. A must-have for anyone who plays video games to have fun.