Metareview: Guitar Hero III (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii)
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Nov 2nd 2007 at 7:30PM }
- 1UP (90/100): "There's really not a whole lot to 'get' about Guitar Hero, but whatever there is, you absolutely have to get it right. If the song selection stinks, or if the note layouts are boring or don't make musical sense, or if the strum/fret timing is off...then the whole game suffers for it. These are the three critical components, and Neversoft absolutely nailed them. In fact, aside from a few misguided artistic choices and a new 'boss battle' feature, the developer transition would be virtually invisible to anyone who wasn't keeping up with the news. They 'got' Guitar Hero, and they got it good."
- Games Radar (80/100): "It's hard to argue with Guitar Hero III's place in the series canon. By going real with the songs, next-gen with the graphics and online with the gameplay, it leaves the wishlist relatively barren. At the same time, it's not delivering us much new on the gameplay front, and in fact lags a bit in terms of smart strumming mechanics. Neversoft would do well to remember that the game doesn't play itself, and we need to be challenged/satisfied with how and what we shred."
- Gamespot (80/100): "Sure, the difficulty can be vexing, but the game never loses that sense of 'just one more song' addictiveness, even at the height of its challenge level. Once you start playing, you'll be hooked for hours at a time, both online and off. It might ultimately just be more Guitar Hero, but that's hardly a bad thing--in fact, it's a great thing."
Gallery: Guitar Hero 3
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
drsashamd @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:43PM
I don't know about you guys, but I LOVE playing knights of Cydonia by The Muse... one of the best songs on the list.
How about you guys?
Oscar @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:36PM
THE muse??? THE muse???
It's muse dammit.
Einhanderkiller @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:12PM
I love Knights of Cydonia, but I would've preferred a different Muse song in Guitar Hero. Something like, say, Showbiz (although it starts off a little slow) or New Born (also starts off a little slow with the piano intro).
meledeo @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:03PM
I love that song too... now if I didn't suck so bad maybe I could make it sound the way it should.
ark_v2 @ Nov 4th 2007 1:49AM
The Muse. OMG, do you live in a cave?
Steve @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:44PM
I'd never played it before getting the Wii version. I figured it would be a decent party game and not much else. But I'm really surprised how much I enjoy it. I like deep games more, but there's a lot to be said for games where you can squeeze in five minutes of playtime before leaving for work.
The lack of Deep Purple is a serious flaw, though. But the original artist recordings of "Paint it Black" and "Welcome to the Jungle" almost make up for it.
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:46PM
Deep Purple is my favorite band since I can remember. Ritchie Blackmore rules.
gonk @ Nov 2nd 2007 8:00PM
well deep purple pretty much just has the 1 hit, and it was already in GH1
playwhutyalike @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:32PM
Try and get your meathooks into "Ted the Mechanic" from Deep Purple. The song was made about 8 or 9 years ago and the guitar solo is pretty flipping great. Ofcourse they have a different guitarist during this time period.
F. Rocker or Fernando R.? @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:45PM
It's a good game. More of the same, but it's not a bad thing.
I'm just waiting for Mario Galaxy. =(
Stupidiot @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:55PM
My main gripe with Guitar Hero 3 is the mostly awful choice of music in there. Not much of it sounds particularly interesting to play in a guitar centric game. Sure there's some good stuff in there too, but not enough to warrant a purchase for me (atleast not at that price). I just hope that modders get quick to work when the PC version comes out (if it ever does), so I can customize the tracks to something geared more towards my taste in music :)
Einhanderkiller @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:09PM
PC version comes out in 2 weeks.
In the mean time, play Frets on Fire, a Guitar Hero clone.
gonk @ Nov 2nd 2007 7:59PM
the main problem is the faulty guitars, the connectors between the 2 pieces are causing missed notes randomly to pretty much everyone who has this game
if they'd just kept it as one solid guitar it would've been great
and I love the tracklist for the most part, it's my favorite of the GH games so far (and better than rock band too)
Jeff @ Nov 3rd 2007 3:51AM
I have no idea what you're talking about. My guitar works perfectly (I have the Wii version). People on ScoreHero aren't complaining about constant missed notes, as far as I can tell, either, and, frankly, if no one is complaining about it there, it isn't happening, because some of those people are complaining about every little change Neversoft made to the system, and I'm sure faulty guitars would be at the top of their list. Maybe you should try it with a different guitar?
jayeffaar @ Nov 3rd 2007 10:11AM
I think you mean the 2 pieces are causing missed notes randomly to pretty much everyone who complains about missing notes ramdomly.
Those of us who are having no problems at all with their guitars spend more time playing than explaining we have nothing to complain about. It's hard to get an idea of how many of us there are...
Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME) @ Nov 3rd 2007 2:21PM
Either you're crazy or I have a magical guitar, 'cuz I'm still getting the occasional perfect score, and when I don't it's either 'cuz I'm drunk or playing on expert.
pyro.danny @ Nov 2nd 2007 8:19PM
I haven't had any issues with the controllers so far, my only disappointment is that I couldn't buy more wireless controllers without buying a bundle. Also, I pretty much hate Holiday In Cambodia right now.
Lemmiwinks @ Nov 3rd 2007 3:24PM
If you'd care to join me in a pro face-off, I'm sure I can help you hate it more. ;)
baby sea tuna @ Nov 5th 2007 8:45AM
Well, blame the rest of the Dead Kennedys for being greedy fucking pricks.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 2nd 2007 8:41PM
I have GH3 for the PS3, and I have to disagree with this review. If you ask me, GH3 plays like a copy of GH, instead of like the real thing.
I appreciate the short load times and such, and I like the cartoons between the levels. But it just feels like Neversoft doesn't know as much about making a rhythm game as Harmonix does.
I'm betting Rock Band feels a lot more like GH2 than GH3 does.
I figured the one thing they could get right is the guitars, but nope, they are poorly made, my friend's green button doesn't work because of the poor design of the detachable neck.
obo @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:07PM
You may get short load times, but having to sit through a loading screen when restarting within songs is a pretty miserable regression.
And man, that missing co-op quickplay option is horrible, especially on the poor old PS2. I hope the Gameshark community finds out how to unlock it, because there are some awesome songs missing from the co-op career list.
Speaking of the track list, it's a mixed bag, but thank god Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn are back. I don't know why the blues got so shafted in GH 2. Still disappointed at the lack of Hendrix since GH 1, though.
skunkworks @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:09PM
boss battles ruin it for me. I hate em. they aren't fun.
I hope rockband is better
Shagittarius @ Nov 2nd 2007 9:24PM
GH3 stinks compared to 2. Many songs don't deserve to be on this game.
Often times while playing along I ask myself, Is this a keyboard part, or a turntable, or a frequency generator that I'm pretending to play guitar to?
Out of all the great music that actually has real rock guitar on it they put many shitty synth and other songs on here. Obviously a case of someone who shouldn't have been picking the list doing so.
Also it seems like there are some notations that are just plain off.
I give this version a 65 out of 100. 90s and 80s are only there cause the magazines know its gonna be a hit seller reguardless.
ColossalHat @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:21PM
"Often times while playing along I ask myself, Is this a keyboard part, or a turntable, or a frequency generator that I'm pretending to play guitar to?"
Often? There's only one song I ask that about and I already know it's a keyboard, I'm looking at you Trhough the Fire and Flames intro...
Probot @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:07PM
Battles are a horrible idea. It's like having the controller unplugged every 15 seconds. They are more annoying than anything and they shouldn't be part of the main game.
And the difficulty jumps up incredibly fast. I had no problems with any of the songs, until I got to Cult of Personality. I hear the next tier is more of the same.
I don't care for most of the bonus songs. And overall, I'm not that impressed with anything in the store.
ColossalHat @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:26PM
I agree with you about the bonus songs, all that I've played thus far have sucked. But the battles are very easy once you know how to deal with them. Just save up a pair of power ups and hit the other guy twice in a row. Unless it's against the last one, then you've got to counter every one of his power ups or you're done.
Probot @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:06PM
It's not just the bosses. They are annoying too, but there are only three of them. I just mean the battles in general aren't fun.
Y @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:29PM
The change in developer is definitely noticable even if you haven't been paying attention. The visual style is a lot different for one (worse, IMO, but to each their own).
Another thing is the battle mode/boss battles are a step in the wrong direction. When I'd first heard of battle mode it sounded like a fun little mode to mess around with a couple of times before ignoring, but that fact that it's forced on you in career is awful. Not being able to play the songs outside of battle is a big misstep as well. Putting real guitarists in the game just doesn't feel right. It takes the focus off of the player and part of the appeal is that the player is the star. Having Slash or Tom Morello steal the spotlight plays against that.
The venues don't feel nearly as creative or interesting and all of the ads make it even worse. I realize that the other games had ads too, but they were WAY more subtle. I couldn't help but feel turned off when I first saw the Axe body spray guitar. And the go-go dancers feel EXTREMELY out of place. Same goes for Judy Nails' new look (and bounce). There's no need to sexualize a game like guitar hero. It doesn't help and, in fact may even hurt. A lot of people play guitar hero (you'd be surprised to find out how many house wives and young girls play) and that kind of thing might steer them away.
I also don't care for the way they try to nickel and dime you. Havign to buy the soundtrack for 3 extra songs. The overpriced DLC. THe guitar lockout, etc. Of course all of this would happen (and has with GH2 360) with or without Harmonix; RedOctane and Activision are to blame, not Neversoft.
There's also some things that Harmonix changed going from GH1 to GH2 that Neversoft reverted. For example, getting 5 stars on every song on expert doesn't give you enough money to buy everything in the store. Meaning that you have to either play every difficulty or play through multiple careers to unlock everything. Either way it's pointlessly annoying. Then there's also the high score charts. In GH1 playing career didn't affect the high score charts at all. In GH2 they fixed that by automatically applying scores in teh career mode to the high sore list. In GH3 they reverted back to career mode NOT affecting the list. And, probably the worst reversion, is the lack of co-op quickplay. I realize they released a patch for the 360 version, but the other versions are still SOL for the time being. It boggles the mind that they'd leave out what is probably the most popular mode.
The songlist also isn't very good. I know it has a lot of songs that are good to listen to, but that doesn't neccesarily make them fun to play. And there's not a lot of variety in the setlist compared to the firs two games. It's especially noticable in the bonus songs. I remember quite a few intervews right before GH2 came out when the guys from Harmonix mentioned that they were trying to fit as many genres as possible into the setlist and it definitely shows.
But most of that stuff is nitpicking that doesn't affect the actual gameplay too much, if at all. The real problems come in the form of noticable differences in when actually playing the game. The hammer-ons are ridiculously easier to the point where it almost feels like cheating. Not to mention there are a lot of hammer-ons that just don't make sense, gameplaywise, like RY -> Y. You don't even need to let go of the fret buttons or strum. It's ridiculous.
And there are a lot of segments that, under Harmonix, would be a string of hammer-ons, but Neversoft felt the need to add notes that need to be strummed in the middle. Signs point to them doing thing to be more accurate to the way the song is actually played ona real guitar, but exchanging realism for fun is bad form. Cliffs of Dover is great fun, but it'd be 10x MORE fun if you didn't need to strum every other note.
And the note charts definitely feel different from the other games. I can only speak of expert because that's the level I play, but there's a huge over reliance on three note chords. Now, I don't have a probem with a couple of songs having lots of three-notes (I'm one of the few people that seems to actually like playing What I Like About You in 80's), but when half the songs are like that it just gets tiresome.
And the biggest problem is the difficulty. The difficulty curve is WAY too steep. The first six tiers are very easy and then the seventh tier ramps up the difficulty A LOT and then the 8th shoots it through the roof. The first two games did a good job of settling you in and gradual increasing the difficulty (the first game did this the best, IMO) but GH3 does a terrible job at it. And don't think I am against challenging songs; a good challenge is pretty much the only thing that draws me to Guitar Hero. The problem is that GH3's challenging sections aren't good. They're pretty much difficult just for the sake of being difficult. They don't make sense musically (i.e. adding extra notes; making whammied sustains trills, etc) and they're also not very interesting or fun to play.
Overall, I'd say it's just a bit better than Rock the 80's (which was pretty terrible other than the last tier), pales in comparision to the first two games. That's not to say that it's a bad game. I like the new guitar better than any of the others before it (I haven't had any hardware problems), though, having used the rock band guitar on the demo I do prefer that, if only because it's bigger. They've got The Who and Santana in there; two of my favorites (though I would've prefered Europa rather than Black Magic Woman) and even if it's not AS fun as GH2 it's still lots of fun.
halcyon @ Nov 2nd 2007 10:34PM
too long man.
Jonny @ Nov 2nd 2007 11:43PM
Whoa! We didn't ask for your life story, unless of course somebody did, in which case your post was totally appropriate.
gonk @ Nov 3rd 2007 1:13AM
"oh no cleavage is ruining guitar hero!"
Matt @ Nov 3rd 2007 11:37AM
Hey, the spirit moved him, and no bad thing. It was an excellent review.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Nov 3rd 2007 1:30PM
I agree about the go-go dancers. They are completely out of place. Does Rage Against the Machine seem like a go-go dancer exploitation band to you? Not to me.
A friend pointed out the first two boss battles would make far more sense in reverse. Slash goes with go-go girls just fine and Rage Against the Machine is the kind of band that would play a gig at Shanker's Island.
But honestly, I'd rather have them gone anyway. The battles just aren't fun.
And what's up with the guitar choices now? They seem a bit more limited, well except the basses, which are FAR more limited. There are 5 basses, 1 of which is a product-placement and another of which is a fake bass that looks like a dog.
I also find the Judy Nails change ridiculous, far over the top. And Casey Lynch looks like a supermodel now, not a musician.
The lack of multiplayer quick play is just bizarre. Did they never watch anyone play the game in groups before?
It's not terrible, but it's overrated in these reviews. And I really hope Rock Band is a lot better.
It just kinda feels like the project was taken away from the people who nurtured it and cared about it and was put with a combination of people who just were in it for the money or meant well but didn't really know what to do to make it good.
Dragod @ Nov 3rd 2007 12:08AM
I just wish the songs were better... Honestly, I'm not enjoying 3 as much as I did with 2... The Les Paul is great though.
Vexorg @ Nov 3rd 2007 12:18AM
I'd have to say after getting some time trying out the demo unit today at the local Best Buy that my money's on Rock Band. For some reason, GH3 just seems off compared to GH2, and in the 15-20 minutes I got to play Rock Band (with a couple other random people in the store to be in the store) that it's a lot more entertaining.
Vexorg @ Nov 3rd 2007 12:20AM
Ack, that last sentence just came out wrong. That should be "Random people in the store."
Flit @ Nov 3rd 2007 10:39AM
When I played 80's GH, and felt how off that was, I really started to wonder if activision was up to the Guitar Hero task. From most of the reviews, most people say it's ok, but not nearly as fun or inventive as the first 2, and probably a step in the wrong direction with in game adverts and boss battles and inconsistant difficulty.
License to ill @ Nov 3rd 2007 3:34AM
I will never be coordinated enough to beat this game on expert...
deaftly @ Nov 3rd 2007 10:31AM
GH3 is definitely the best out of the series so far, heres hoping those foo fighters songs come soon!
Joe @ Nov 3rd 2007 2:16PM
I beat Freebird and Jordan in GH2.
I failed TTFAF on my first try at 4%, which was almost impressive.
But I also got an insta-fail glitch on Knights of Cydonia where I failed it at 96%.
The Wii version is just disgusting. The graphics are god-awful, though the Les Paul is nice. My money is also on Rock Band, due to the heaping pile of problems with GH3.
Lemmiwinks @ Nov 3rd 2007 3:33PM
So, has anyone (including Activision) figured out what the hell is going on with online tournaments yet?
Shadow @ Nov 4th 2007 2:22PM
I think the reason the song selection isn't as good as GH2 is because most people will be playing the game on the 360, or the PS3. They probably figured that they should just vamp up the graphics and the like, and let people download the songs they want later.
Thing is, they did a horrible job with this. Okay so the crowd doesn't look like a mob of clones, and Judy nails has a little more "bounce." I don't care about that. Sure a game should look good, but After a certain point, I don't care anymore. I don't care about stage effects because when I'm playing TTFAF, I AM NOT LOOKING AT ANYTHING other than the fretboard. And as far as Judy Nails' Makeover, If I want bounce I'll play DOA. And the difficulty curve is RIDICULOUS. I personally congradulate anyone who can beat "Before I Forget, or "Striken" on expert.
I'm not saying that GH3 is a bad game. It just seems like they took all of the good stuff out in order to fix minor complaints from the first two. I love Guitar Hero(Beat bark at the moon, and Jordan. 71% on TTFAF:D) but I certainly hope that the downloadable content makes up for it. Otherwise I might have to find a new hobby.
CyberTech @ Nov 27th 2007 6:12PM
Reading thru the above comments, one thing became blatently obvious, almost everyone is speaking from an upgrade from GH point of view.
Having only been introduced to GH via the 3rd incarnation, I am VERY impressed.
Normally, games like GH (or DDR or other "match the coloured dots" type games) just dont do it for me. I'd safely say that I'm, at least, twice as old as anyone above and that might be the reason.
I didnt even touch the game for the first week after bringing it home (its actually for my teenage son) but when I finally did, I couldnt put it down. The way that the Wii remote is integrated into the guitar body is well thought out. The guitar is a good size and weight (although it wouldnt want to be much smaller) and the controls are very intuitive. Theres nothing I hate more than having to think about the controller when I just want to concentrate on the game play.
I can definately see why the reviewers are raving about GH3 but maybe the Wii version, with its subtle differences to other versions, is just that bit better . The reviewers seem to think so, as the Wii version seems to be the most commonly reviewed.
Oh, and I'd never come across Judy Nails before GH3 and didnt even know she had a name until reading the comments above. But, for the record, and bearing in mind that she is just a bunch of pixels, I must say that she's hot. Extra 'bounce', or not. More "Suicide Girls" in games cant be a bad thing.
HappyMan314 @ Dec 29th 2007 10:39PM
That was the first comment I fully agreed with. I don't think I've ever seen a better play list (though the bonus tracks are definitly lacking). Remember, its "Legends of Rock" not "Crappy techno music" (which I always feel disturbed when I hear people listen to it). Legends oif rock means exactly what they put on it. Alice Cooper, Mettalica, Rolling Stones, Muse, Scorpions, White Zombie, ZZ top, Guns 'n Roses, and they even put on newer great stuff, Slayer, Disturbed, The Killers, AFI.
One other comment really got me. Knights of Cydonia should NOT be all hammers ons, that'd make it way too easy. And the curve isn't that bad. I've never played guitar, and I started playing guitar hero about a week ago. Easy was a joke. Medium I played through once, and there were two songs I couldn't do and mostly three star preformances. I played through again (in order) and put up mostly 4 star preformances. And now they're almost all 5 star, and I'm starting on hard. I'd say that's about right.
I hate seeing people complain for the sake of complaining, of course I think the game could be better too, but why are you focusing soo much on tiny details that don't really affect the game.
Oh yeah, while I'm at it. I'd personally prefer to see a hot woman on the screen while I'm playing and not complain that they did too good a job on graphics and character design.