Home Games Guitar Hero 3

Guitar Hero 3

Rhythm
Releases: 10.28.07
RedOctane
Neversoft Ent.
ESRB: Teen

Guitar Hero 3

Get shredding with the latest installment of the rockin' series.

by Sarah Schutz

As an original Guitar Hero groupie, I was looking forward to the third installment to assuage my frustration with the second. Playing a whole bunch of songs I didn’t know didn’t prove to be too much fun and Guitar Hero III promised more songs, all playable on Xbox Live (with a fancy schmancy wireless controller). The single player campaign also demands boss battles with the likes of Tom Morello and Slash, allowing for variety in shredding.

Guitar Hero III does, in fact, rock. The visuals are downright amazing – not typical for the Guitar Hero games, though you’ll only really get to see the details if you’re not the one who’s playing (gotta maintain focus). The characters have all gotten makeovers, though I hesitate to claim this as an improvement. My steady companion, Pandora, has been nixed in favor for sexing up Judy Nails, Casey Lynch and introducing Asian rock school-girl Midori. Their graphical upgrades include a lot more skin, which unfortunately (for Pandora) wasn’t part of her appeal. Alas, they do rock as hard as the boys, so I picked Midori for her cute puffball costume upgrade and got shredding.

Overall the songs are light years better than 2. Granted, there are a few sections that make me grit my teeth, not for the difficulty, but for the fact that I have to listen to these annoying songs while playing them (usually several times to get it right). Guitar Hero III now features many original tracks, so you won’t have to endure as many screwy covers that make Kurt Cobain sound vaguely Hank Williams-esque. Battle Mode is downright annoying. The battles against these “Legends of Rock” really have nothing to do with your Guitar Hero prowess, but more to do with how fast you can trip up your opponent with Broken Strings, Amp Overloads or Whammys . . . to name a few. I find the purer form of Guitar Hero to be much more gratifying and prefer my Guitar Hero victories to be served up in face-offs. Multiplayer mode allows for Battles, Face-offs, Pro Face-offs and Co-op. I am ecstatic to report that Guitar Hero III has a Co-op career mode, though it’s much shorter than its single player counterpart. Playing on Xbox Live gives you the added bonus of realizing how much time hardcore Guitar Hero junkies have on their hands. Playing Medium in ranked matches kicked my ass every time because Medium in ranked matches seems to mean, “I’m perfect and I never miss a note” which means that I will never win. And watch out for annoying little pissants who sneak their levels to Easy while you’re on Hard, so they can rack up victorious achievemnt points. After several suicidal ranked matches, I concluded I enjoy player matches where I can converse with fellow Guitar Hero admirers while playing a game that allows me to dance around with my smokin’ Les Paul Wireless controller.

The combination of a strong community on Xbox Live with a solid Guitar Hero fan base and additional song download packs gives Guitar Hero III extended playability that will keep you shredding until Guitar Hero IV. I will, however, be advocating for Pandora’s comeback.

Better graphics, better music and rockin’ online play

Less clothing, annoying Battle Mode, no Pandora

gh3 rules

i love gh3 especialy for slash and tom morrello!

#1 - evan - 03/03/2008 - 16:58

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