Review: Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock (360)

For those of us too old or lazy to learn a real instrument, the Guitar Hero series has been a blessing. No other game has made us feel like a rock star, and we admit at jumping around the place while jamming to Freebird. Now, though, the Guitar Hero series has competition - Harmonix have done a runner and gone to create Rock Band, leaving the Tony Hawk developers NeverSoft to fill their shoes.

It was clear from the behind the scenes footage that Harmonix were rock fans first and game developers second, and their love for the musical genre showed in their work. The problem with changing developers is that this same dedication to music is not so apparent with NeverSoft. Not everyone will share Gamestyle's musical taste, of course, but with a few notable exceptions, the track listing in Legends of Rock isn't as strong as that of the previous game. It sort of peaks halfway through, leaving the latter stages of the game clogged up with rubbish like Slipknot. Our new developers have also decided to segregate the song listings, because now some songs, like Sabotage (can this really be classed as rock?), are only unlocked through co-operative play. Finally, there doesn't seem to be a track in the list quite as epic and as fun to play as Freebird. Where's the Stairway?

With that out of the way, it's time to concentrate on the main workings of Guitar Hero III. Gamestyle will assume you've already either played the previous GH game or read our review of the PS2 version, so we won't go into too much detail. Simply put, notes fall from the sky and you strum along to each note whilst the corresponding coloured button is held down, earning 'star power' when you hit important streaks. The newest addition that has been heavily publicised (and criticised) is the inclusion of boss battles. Probably the most pointless thing to ever include in a game, three boss battles are found in the career, each one as pain-inducing as the last. As good as it feels to have a guitar battle with Slash, the execution is poor. Instead of star power, you get 'battle power', which unleashes an attack on your opponent (these range from a broken string to increasing the difficulty). Once beaten, you won't venture back to these bosses.

Of course, the heart of the game is still as good as it always was. It's fun and you still feel like you're a rock god when you finally manage to nail a song on Expert. However, one slight complaint is that the difficulty is less consistent, particularly for those trained in Normal. For example, the Muse song has a difficult section that wouldn't be out of place in Hard. Understandably, it must be a difficult process to fit simpler note patterns around complex songs, but it's a skill that Harmonix had honed quite well in the past and it's not achieved so gracefully here.

Guitar Hero III has another new addition in the way of its bundled peripheral, the new wireless Les Paul controller. This may have been a way of conning the mass market into buying yet another guitar, but it's hard to resist. Complete with detachable neck, the new guitar does look better than the last one, with new faceplates to appear later, but it does have a few problems. The strum bar is now more central and, for lefty players, this, plus trying to avoid the whammy bar, make it less comfortable than the one that came in with GHII. Also, it's more common to miss notes or have the long ones cut out, seemingly without reason, which is infuriating when it happens. Still, it's good value for the extra money you pay and it means you get a second guitar to play with people in the same room, which has always been to be more fun (crate of beer optional). That said, if you're unable to get a group together, you'll be well catered for with the new online mode. Even the slightest trace of lag could have made this a disaster, but thankfully there's none to be found and it plays like a dream.

Gamestyle would like to say NeverSoft have done the series proud, but the truth is everything that's great about this game has simply been taken from Harmonix's template, and the new stuff that has been added almost saps the enjoyment back out of it. Hopefully Guitar Hero IV will see NeverSoft get back to basics, with none of this ridiculous boss nonsense, and make the ultimate Guitar Hero. Until then, Rock Band will satisfy our needs.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver