Bits and Bytes: GH3 will strum it's way into your heart
For the Xbox 360
Yes, I'm still a little bitter about “Guitar Hero Rocks the 80s” only being released for the PS2. And yes, I'm still pissed about “Guitar Hero 2's” lack of “GH1” tracks, such as Pantera's “Cowboys From Hell” or Helmet's “Unsung.” I'm still kind of miffed about “GH3's” expensive downloadable bundles that came out ONE WEEK after the game was released. Why weren't these included? You know that the Foo Fighter and Velvet Revolver songs were done!! Ok…time to quit the bitching because with all those instances of anger, “GH3” really shines.
Ok..if you've played any of the Guitar Hero games, there's nothing for me to say about the game play mechanics that you already don't know. However, there are a few slight changes that you may and may not be pleased with.
First off, the pull-off and hammer-on techniques (where you can hit multiple notes in a row just with one strum) has been improved. The downside to that is the game's difficulty has spiked and you'll need an easier way of hitting multiple notes in order to pass (or like me) get 100 per cent on the songs.
Let's just say the ‘easy' level still uses only the three notes, but it can get into “GH2's” medium level patterns. The same can be said for the rest of the difficulties…medium seems like hard half way through and on expert, well, let's just say that expert this time around is going to separate the shredders from the pop/rock listeners.
An example? How about playing Slayer's “Reign In Blood,” Metallica's “One,” or Dragonforce's “Through the Fire and the Flames?” Good luck noobies!
The main thing that I really love about “GH3” is that I can play people online and kick their asses. Face-off has you playing and your opponent taking turns on one song (with a best out of one, three, five and seven options) and trying to get the highest score. Face-off Pro is basically the same except you play the whole song against another person. Lastly, you can engage in a “Battle” where you play the song against someone but you get power-ups that help make your opponent mess up. Give them a broken string, a higher difficulty, a whammy bar that's stuck and more. Combine this crazy stuff with the communicator headset and you're in for many nights of fun.
The track listing this year has more original tracks than ever before and I find it's a much more satisfying list than any previous edition. Some other favourites than the ones mentioned above include Weezer's “My Name Is Jonas,” Smashing Pumpkins' “Cherub Rock,” Dead Kennedy's “Holiday in Cambodia” and (the awesome) “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour.
