Score
Gameplay:	9
Graphics:	9
Sound:	9
FunFactor:	9
PlasmaFactor:	10
Overall:	9.2

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
April 3, 2008 by Jereme Puik

Music is all around us and it affects our culture in every way. Everyone has his or her own taste in music and no one is ever wrong in that taste. Whatever music you listen too is your own personal likeness and opinion. No one can tell you otherwise. Those lucky individuals that have the talent to take their love for music to the next level, whether it is in a band or orchestra, have an exceptional skill. Rock and Roll has been around for decades and has greatly influenced our culture like no other genre. Much like video games have changed our entertainment culture. Music and video games have come together as one in Activision's Guitar Hero III. Guitar Hero has taken the gaming world by storm and with its 3rd serious installment; it still brings us top quality gameplay. Take that guitar and head on stage, you’re about to take on the world.

Rock the World 

Guitar Hero is one series that has remained consistent in its attempt to bring you the most satisfying rock experience possible. To be able to nail the right notes and get your band through its career without failure takes you about 6-8 hours depending on the difficulty setting. Guitar Hero III’s career mode lets you create a band and take them on the tour of their lives. No matter what the difficulty is set to, you are sticking with the same track list and must be able to master each track to move on to the next.

 

Each section of tracks is contained to one venue that you are signed to play in and get paid for. As the songs move on, they get harder so you must be able to keep up. Although the past Guitar Hero games have a different track list, the songs here might be a bit more recognizable to the general crowd and rock lovers. You’re only chance at playing the full list of songs is to venture through career mode on any difficulty and work your way through it. You have no other reason to go back to career mode afterwards, except for the achievements for beating each difficulty if you’re hardcore about it. 

Is it That Hard? 

As opposed to the previous versions, Guitar Hero III brings in a bit harder shredding this time around. Easy and Medium modes are a pretty decent start for anyone willing to give the game a try. Hard and Expert are obviously for the hardcore crowd, Expert even more so.  You should make sure to get some hand warmers because you could be up all night if you keep hearing those scrapes of the miss-note.

 

The interface has had a mild upgrade. You can now see your note-streak, meaning how many notes you have been hitting correctly in a row. It is unfortunate that the achievements for hitting certain number groups are gone, but it is still satisfying seeing that you have performed a song perfectly.  

Something New? 

Boss battles in Guitar Hero you say?  Red Octane signed a few artists like Slash from Gun's N' Roses and Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morrello as your boss battles. These boss battles will give you a challenge after you complete a tier or two in career mode. If you liked them that much and would like to compete against them again, you can buy their respective battles on the Xbox marketplace for a small fee.

 

If multiplayer’s your game, than Guitar Hero has you covered. As mentioned earlier you can start up a band with a friend and hit up career mode, but you can also shred it out on single tracks. There is also something new called the battle mode. Here you can face off against other players and to knock the other player out of the match, while still finishing your song. 

There’s a First Time for Everything 

Yes, there’s always a first time for everything. Finally the Guitar Hero series takes it to the world and shreds its way online. For the first time, gamers can shred with their friends in all of the offline modes. The Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III is the best version in this regard. You can play against friends with the use of your fiends list and start your shredding in career mode. 

Anything Else?

Guitar Hero III has a large amount of downloadable content. Track packs are continually being made and uploaded to the Xbox marketplace for everyone to enjoy, from classic songs to great hits from today. If you have any of the previous games, you don’t have to fret about getting a new guitar. You can stick with the previous guitar hero controller, since it is compatible with Guitar Hero III.

 

With the cash you earn from running through your gigs in career mode, you can hit the store in the game. Here you can unlock different characters, outfits and more. This just adds a whole other layer onto this already feature packed game. 

It’s got a sharp bite 

If you’ve played the previous titles in the series you will notice a big change in art style and characters. Environments have also been improved to HD quality visuals. The character models have new animations and are certainly different. There is a variety of venues that each have their own flair depending on the song you are playing. The crowd is active and gives you the feel of being at a real concert. 

Sounds Bites! 

All tracks are true to form and are mastered in Dolby surround sound. So, turn up that volume and shred those tracks as hard as you can! What is interesting to note is that some artists didn’t just use previous songs to fill the list requested by the developer. Artists like Slash and even Tom Morrello created original songs for the game, which gamers and fans can enjoy.

 

Crowd noise is adequate and not too distracting while your tunes blast through the speakers. If you’re playing co-op you might notice a slight volume difference between that of the guitar and bass, but that’s a pretty obvious fact. This does not deter from the overall gameplay experience, but does take some getting used to. 

Plasma Factor 

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock is one great party game. Although the difficulty has been kicked up a slight notch, it is still a blast to play with your friends. Neversoft have taken something that is fun and made it even better by making it even more multiplayer friendly. 

Closing Comments 

If you haven’t tried Guitar Hero yet, I highly recommend that Guitar Hero III be your first game in the series to play. Guitar Hero is well worth the price and is sure to provide hours of fun. The downloadable content on the Xbox marketplace further provides more replayability to this game. Guitar Hero III is truly a rockstar in the video game world.