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Developer: Neversoft Entertainment
Publisher: RedOctane
Genre: Music
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 28 Oct 07
User Rating
8 (1 vote) -
- Music games are almost always be a hit, and this one takes the cake with rocking tunes and challenging gameplay.
Overview
It would be hard to imagine ten years ago that some of the biggest games of the holiday season would be music titles. For those of you who don't know, although music has always had a place in video games, it has never been to the magnitude of what we see in todays marketplace. Today we are checking out one of the new gems that has taken the world by storm, its Guitar Hero, and it's back with already its third game titled Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the Xbox 360. So does the game improve enough to warrant a new purchase? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
There is one universal truth when it comes to any music title, and that is in order to like the game, you have to love the music in the game. For Legends of Rock, you can see that there has been a distinct effort to going into a much diverse lineup of tunes. You can see the progression of the franchise over the last few outings, and the series continues to improve the track list every time. You're going to see even more well known rockers on the list, as well as a few you may not know of. All in all, I for one was very happy with the tunes to choose from. They work not only because they are good songs, but also because the diversity in the lineup really manages to keep things interesting.
Now that development duties for Guitar Hero III have been given over to Neversoft, there have been some changes to the game. The first and most influential change is that of the window, in which you have to hit the notes which has been opened up a bit. Doesn't sound like that big of a change? Well it actually plays a huge role and actually makes the game just a bit less difficult, even on expert. So on the easier songs, veterans to the franchise are going to have no problem getting through them. However when you get later in the game, the songs will ramp up some crazy combinations, which makes for a very, very difficult challenge, even for the most experienced.
The game doesn't change much in terms of the career mode, which is still just picking a legend (only a few) or a pre-made character. There is still no create-a-character feature in the game, which I find to be a bit disheartening. This is something that I think would help not online but just in general to make the experience more personal. The career mode hasn't changed much either, this is still a game of completing tracks to move down to the next tier. There are some poor excuses for a story in the game, this mostly was just thrown in to say there was a story but the actual execution was rather disappointing to say the least. There are so many ways you could take the career mode that the fact they continue to stay with the same approach is disheartening.
The big additions to Guitar Hero III can be found in the battle mode, which is a bit of a shift away from hardcore rocking out to more of a light hearted experience. You have some battles in single player but mostly this is a multiplayer mode. There is also the co-op career mode, which is good except for the fact that you have to re-open up songs that you have done by yourself. There is literally like an invisible wall between the co-op portion of the game and the solo that just don't talk.
We all have been wanting some true Xbox Live support for Guitar Hero, and Guitar Hero III is where it all happens. The online support for Guitar Hero III is fantastic, the competition is fierce, and everything seems to work to plan. The online play adds that component of needing someone to play against when you don't have friends over, and it works perfectly. In the end, the gameplay is not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but it continues to improve upon a winning formula. There are things that I would have liked to have seen done better sure, but overall the experience was strong and challenging.
Graphics
Visually speaking, Guitar Hero III is getting a bit dated, and it's a shame that the developers really didn't take the series further than what we have seen in past games. Sure the Xbox 360 version has stronger visuals, brighter colors, better visualizations, but the style is the same thing from the original. This is a game that is desperately in need of a major visual overhaul, and Guitar Hero III just doesn't give us that. It's a good looking game, but still plenty of room for improvement.
Fun Factor
There is no doubt that the Guitar Hero franchise has gained a following not because of the depth, graphics, or modes, but because of the underlying idea of rocking out to some of the best rock songs of our time. Guitar Hero III just expands upon that idea and continues the dominant hold on the music market. There is no doubt in my mind that Guitar Hero III is by far the best the franchise has seen yet. It is a very complete package, at the same time there are still so many areas that the game can expand upon as well, which just gives me and I am sure other Guitar Hero fans a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Overall
Although Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360 is a great game, it didn't improve necessarily on every aspect of the game, but it did enough to make the multiplayer and online content worthwhile. Not to mention, the game features the best track list the franchise has seen yet.
- Gameplay
8.0 - Graphics
7.0 - Fun Factor
9.0 - Overall
8.0
