Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock

Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock

There were some fears over how Guitar Hero 3 was going to turn out. With the game’s original creators, Harmonix, leaving the franchise to work on forthcoming rhythm action extravaganza Rock Band, it was left to Neversoft to take charge.

With no experience of making music games, fans feared that the switch up might prove disastrous. But, as it turns out, this change around has been more akin to the introduction of a visionary new manager than the hiring of an unwelcome new lead singer. Guitar Hero 3 is unmistakeably Guitar Hero in terms of its heritage, but its widening of the series’ scope and deepening of its mechanics has been, in the main, a riotous success.

The game’s premise is straightforward. Players assume the role of lead guitarist (or bassist if you’re playing in 2-player co-op) in a fledgling band. Strap on a plastic guitar peripheral, hit the buttons in time with the music to trigger samples and create the illusion that you are playing the actual guitar lines in a hit rock track. Play well and you’ll earn money with which to buy new guitars, finishes, new characters, clothing and songs while climbing the greasy pole toward rock and roll fame and fortune.

Musical notation in the game is represented by coloured dots, which travel along a fret board. When a dot passes through a hit marker gate you’ll need to strum the guitar while holding down the corresponding fret button. At the easiest difficulty you have only three buttons to worry about while from the Hard level upward you’ll need to manage the full complement of five.

Long notes require you to continue holding the button down for the duration of the note, during which time you can use the guitar’s whammy bar to bend the pitch up and down, thus adding your own personal flourish to the music. Some notes are marked with star shapes and, if you successfully hit a consecutive row of these you’ll earn Star Power, which is activated by lifting the neck of the guitar, rock god-style. This special move is also a neat way multiply your score.

Guitar hero 3 features over 70 in-pack songs from the Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK, Muse’s Knights of Cydonia, the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage, Guns n’ Roses’ Welcome to the Jungle and The Killers’ When You Were Young. In addition to the standard play-through sections you’ll occasionally have to face off against one of the eponymous ‘legends’. These head-to-head levels are less successful requiring you to beat guitar heroes such as Tom Morello and Slash in a direct competition. As your success is entirely down to the AI’s proficiency (or rather, lack thereof) these sections can feel unfair and they are comfortably the weakest part to the game.

Online modes, while fun, haven’t been well executed either, with no lobby in which to meet friends and prepare for battles or co-op matches meaning you’ll need to resend each other invites each time you finish playing a run of songs together. The only other niggle is the steep difficulty curve once you get above Normal difficulty. The game soon ramps up the frequency and intensity of note runs and this is a far tougher game that Guitar Hero 2.

That said, with a vast range of tracks, ever expanding thank to the downloadable content, and some rock solid mechanics, the game is a joy to play. Be sure to pick up the new wireless Les Paul controller for full freedom in the front room and in no time you’ll be nailing licks like your favourite musical heroes.

4 out of 5