GameCrew Reviews

Reviews

Guitar Hero 3 Review

7/11/07 | Marcus Ting (mting91)

Will Guitar Hero 3 rock us for the third time?

The third installment in the ever growing Guitar Hero series. This installment, Legends of rock promises to follow all that was done in the past and more. With an all-new wireless guitar for all platforms can it continue to carry the hype?

The biggest difference in guitar hero three is that the game is not developed by Red Octane anymore. It has been handed over to Neversoft, you know the company famous for the Tony Hawk series and the eyeball with a stake through it (look it up in google). The company has a lot on their shoulders if they’re going to replicated the amazing gameplay of the first and the second.

The verdict is in and well Neversoft have done it but only to a certain degree. You get the lightning fast smooth gameplay that is great, yet it feels different, and that’s a good thing. There are quite a few additions to the actual game. More customization to the characters and also more guitar is always a good thing. The game has over 70 tracks but don’t let that fool you as only 42 of them are in the set list the rest are from smaller bands and some extras. Players will be able to play on 8 different locations, which are quite interesting as they follow the newly added story line. In between gameplay will be cut scenes, which are done in 2d in the form of a cartoon. This is interesting but doesn’t stay true to the series and is poorly executed, as the characters don’t follow entirely to the style of the game. Another issue with the game is that that the characters and stages are not based on the quirky stylized designs from before. Instead they’ve decided to make the game’s characters more realistic but still having a stylized look to it. It seems good on paper but comes to a weird mix of cartoonist characters with realistic movements of the mouth. Ok I’m just going to say it the singer is creepy. Another big addition is the Battle mode where you are able to face off against famous guitarist such as Slash and Tommy Morello, well that’s basically it. There are only two of them and they come too early in the game, it’s a great concept and i hope Neversoft improves it further in later games but so far it’s not big addition. Apart from the Neversoft has pretty much followed close to the Guitar Hero formula is which in my opinion is not a bad thing all.

Gameplay wise, gamers of previous versions will realize that to achieve star power the number of notes you have to hit has increased. Making it more of a challenge. Another thing that has changed is the difficulty. The speed has increased for all the game difficulty modes and is now easy, medium, hard and expert. I for one am an expert player and trust me it’s a lot faster, the same applies to all the other modes. What does this mean to the newcomers nothing? They’ll be able to get their rock training at a higher level and be able to thwart all GH1 and GH2 players. One of my pet peeves though is that the difficulty of the set list overall is all over the place. Songs like my Name is Jonas is a harder than a song like Rock You Like a Hurricane yet the latter is higher up on the list. It’s a small issue but it is an issue. Don’t get me wrong towards the end the difficulty does pick up as it should, it’s just everything in the middle. Also for people who are looking for a more shred like set list as in the 1st and 2nd will not see as much of it here. As most of the songs in this game are about bashing your strum bar to a bunch of cords really fast. It may be a good thing to some but it’s not my cup of tea.

Now with that out of the way, one of the best things about Guitar Hero 3. The guitar controller. Perfection. The guitar that you get with the game that’s if you even bothered, is amazing and justifies the extra cash. I highly recommend getting the new game with the guitar. If you already have the guitar for 1 and 2 keep it. Use it for when friends come over, that’s only if you have any friends. The guitar is not only wireless but also accommodates key features in previous guitar controllers. The fret’s have been rounded off at the bottom for a better feel and overall are less noisy compared to previous versions. The strum bar has been elongated and are also less noisy, those of you know what I mean when it comes to the annoying rattle of the strum bar going up and down. The whammy bar has been adjusted so it stays in place, other changes are small but useful such as larger buttons and being able to choose where to place the strap. One of the biggest changes is the that the neck of the guitar can be separated from the body and made to be more compact. Great for when you need to take it to a friend’s house to serve them up a can of whopass.

Speaking of playing with other people, online multiplayer has been added. I’m here to tell you that I am at awe it is amazing. Just being able to search online and battle it is a great thing. On top of that the latency issues (lag) is very good and I’ve experienced little to no lag in the multiplayer games that I’ve played.

Overall Neversoft have stayed close to the formula of the game, game a tad too close in my opinion. The game is fun but not as exciting and fun as the 1st and 2nd games were. The gameplay is great as always with an added challenge for long time players, new guitar controller is fantastic and with the addition of a great multiplayer service and all the little things in between. Guitar Hero 3 is definitely worth your purchase.

All in All

Sound:

(Great as always a lot of your favorite tracks)

Story:

(They’ve actually attempted at a story, but who needs one it's Guitar Hero)

Graphics:

(Nothing special in that department, the singer is really creepy)

Gameplay:

(Same award winning gameplay with a bit more of a challenge)

OVERALL:

(Despite having some flaws the good overweights the bad in this battle of rock)

	What is your favourite console?
	Nintendo Wii
	Xbox 360
	Playstation 3