Guitar Hero III
Some of us are die hard Guitar Hero fans, so it wasn't any surprise that when we learnt Guitar Hero III was heading to the Wii, excitement filled the air. We asked one of our plucking gurus to give the game his famous once over, and DDR was only too happy to oblige.
First impressions ...
The slight change in graphics is taking a while to get used to. I think it's a good change, and it's certainly something that's growing on me. But what on earth have they done to the lead singer? The facial design looks embarrassingly bad, and with proper lip synching, the camera focuses on the singer almost as much as your chosen Hero - not good. The better news is that Heroes (and the huge amount of unlockable stuff for them) are very well designed. Thumbs up!
I really like the innovation for the arena designs, but the whole point of GH to me is that I want to be that guy rocking out on stage, and rocking out to an erm, video set, really didn't do it for me. Some of the arenas, like the British one, are brilliantly done.
Careers n' battles?
The career mode is much more interesting than before, and the storyline that accompanies it is quite amusing. Love the animated cut scenes ...
The song list
Ok now this is the showstopper. This makes and breaks a GH game. I've played through the 42 career mode songs and to be honest, I've not been bowled over. I can't really recall more than 10 songs I'd play often. For a game entitled 'Legends of Rock' I find myself scratching my head and thinking 'where's Queen? Thin Lizzy? Fleetwood Mac? Motorhead? Deep Purple?' There are some serious gaps.
Battle mode seems quite pointless, to be honest. My first boss battle lasted to the end of the song simply because I timed using the power ups badly, and I beat Slash in under 45 seconds simply because I nailed the parts required to get two power ups and they knocked him right out. Doesn't really seem to be balanced, and I can't see me using it too often. I want to play whole songs, not get part way through a screeching solo and find myself or my opponent unable to continue, have to stop the
song and start again.
In addition, I feel that while they've nailed the band choice, the songs have not been the right one. Having said this, of the songs that I do like, I REALLY like them. The final set is the greatest (IMO) set of songs in a Guitar Hero game EVER. Slayer, Metallica and Maiden in one set? Awesome stuff. However there is a problem - difficulty.
Playing hard?
I found the game pretty easy in comparison to GH1, 2 and 80s. I've spent about 6 hours on it and I'm on the final set list on hard, with only one 3 star rating and mainly 5s to date. I do not consider myself to be a GH legend (no pun intended), but I'm halfway through GH2 and 80s on Expert. Hangar 18 still frightens me a little on Hard. I hate hammer ons going down the neck.
But despite this, GH3 posed no problem. Until the final two set lists,that is! The penultimate set is tricky, like playing the first couple of sets on GH2 on Expert. So I struggle through a couple of them and reach the final, aforementioned amazing set. Iron Maiden on GH. I've been waiting a long time for this!
So, I fire it up. Bang! Song failed - about 40% done. I try Metallica. Same story; barely miss a note going through, hit the solo and even with Star Power, the song is failed. The final set on Hard difficulty makes Freebird on Expert look easy.
So, well done Neversoft for making the game a bit more tricky, but in doing so I feel they will frustrate all those who enjoy picking GH up for a bit of light relief and not a hardcore finger breaking session. I ended up turning it off in sheer frustration at making some of my favourite tracks in the game almost unplayably difficult.
So the final verdict? Right now, I'm a little disappointed. I do think the game will grow on me but I'm already itching to fire up Holy Diver on GH80's...
4/4 Kim Kaze
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