Guitar Hero 3
By Will Bartos
Tuesday. Jan 08, 12:38 PM
Time to party like a rock star for the third time.

Several years ago, I was interested in a game that Konami put out called Guitar Freaks. With three buttons and a strum bar, I thought the game was awesome, and it was something different than DDR. In 2005, Red Octane released Guitar Hero, and people bought it in droves. Two years and a couple games later, Red Octane and Activision release Guitar Hero 3 on multiple platforms. It’s a great game, but it feels the same.

Guitar Hero 3’s playlist is the largest ever, boasting 71 songs. Over half of these are the original recordings or re-recordings done by the original artists, as was the case with The Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK.” There were a couple of surprises, including the studio recording of Metallica’s “One” as one of the songs. In an effort to boost international sales, several rock and metal bands’ songs are included as part of the bonus tracks. These include the now infamous “Through the Fire and Flames” by Dragonforce, a speed metal band out of London. It’s fine on easy, somewhat playable on medium, and a pain in a box on the expert setting. This song easily takes the crown away from Guitar Hero 2’s “Jordan” as the hardest song to play.

The Wii version is a little different from its 360/PS3 counterparts, aside from the obvious lack of 1080p resolution. A couple of characters, including the Grim Ripper, have been taken out. Also, the Wii doesn’t get the downloadable content that the 360 and PS3 versions are getting. This is due to the lack of mass space the Wii has. While this is a big downside, the big upside is the guitar itself. Taking advantage of the Wii remote, the Les Paul guitar is actually a shell where you stick the remote inside. The shell has an analog stick on the front to move the pointer on the Wii channel screen. It’s also the only guitar to feature rumble, as well as mistake sounds coming from the remote speaker (instead of the TV speakers).

It does have a couple of problems, though. Several of the band animations look extremely static and animated. The drummer seems to suffer the most from this, with the funkiest looking arm movements I’ve ever seen. The bassist also doesn’t move much, and reminds me of the Jim Henson puppet look-alike from The Muppet Show. There aren’t a lot of variations in the way your character moves, either. I always play as Lars, and he doesn’t breathe fire when you activate his star power, instead opting to step out like a light sumo. I also don’t like the art direction the game has taken. The animation and art style in the cartoon cinematics look like something from Full Throttle. It’s nice to keep the “story” going, but it’s not necessary.

The Wii version also has a flaw in it that will disturb audiophiles everywhere. Despite the advertised support for stereo and Dolby Pro Logic II sound, the music and sound are quite clearly mono. The issue has been addressed by Activision, and those of us early adopters can get a remastered disc at no charge next year.

Then there’s the fact that although they added a Co-op Career mode, boss battles, and internet play, there’s no way to downplay the fact that this is EXACTLY the same game we played a year ago. It just has a different interface, a number change, and a metal-loving version of Odin as your annoying tutorial instructor.

Guitar Hero 3 is a fun addition to the franchise, but it’s still the same game we started with in 2005. The interface looks better, the songs are even more awesome, and it’s still one of the best peripheral-based party games out there. But the idea is starting to wear out its welcome. I’d find it better if the game weren’t coming a year later than its previous iteration. With Rock Band out on 360/PS3, it might be best for Activision to put the Guitar Hero franchise away for a couple years and come back with an even bigger playlist and more features.

Will Bartos

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