The Bottom Line
Pros
- Guitar Hero III is easily as fun as the last two versions
- Guitar Hero III's new gameplay modes bring much needed depth
- GH3's song list is superb
- The new wireless PS3 guitar is a welcome addition
Cons
- This game is much harder than Guitar Heroes of yore
- Jaggies, all over the place, yuck
- Limited character animations
- A dongle required for the guitar, seriously
- Same game, new twists, but the same game
Description
- Graphics: 2 Character and set design are worse that GH2 and Guitar Hero III (3) has some jaggy looking audience members
- Sound: 4.5 GH3 not only has a superb song list, the use of master tracks makes the experience much richer
- Control: 4 As long as you don't lose your dongle (ugh!) you will love the new wireless guitar, very tight and responsive
- Difficulty: 4 Guitar Hero III's normal mode made me sweat, expert mode is sheer torture... wasn't this supposed to be fun?
- Gameplay: 4.5 There's no knocking this, Guitar Hero will be one of the franchises long remembered for great gameplay
- Multiplayer: 4 GH3is the ultimate party game, the new play modes only add to the fun
- Online: 4 If you don't have two guitars, no worries, there are plenty of axe-slingers to face online
- Documentation: 4 Not that you'll need it, but it's fine... and you get two sheets of stickers!
- Rated: Teen because kids just can't handle the rock 'n' roll lifestyle
- All scores are out of 5. Final score is not an average of the individual score
Guide Review - Guitar Hero III: (3) Legends of Rock Review (PS3)
Let's do the bottom line up front this time. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a ton of fun and you will have a blast playing it. Yes, there are some issues, but this is the Halo of music games, you want it, they know you want it, and with good reason, it's fun.
Now that you know it's great, let's get to some issues the game has. NEXT GEN GAMES SHOULD LOOK GOOD! Got it? A game that is the third of a series appearing on a next gen system should look superb. Guitar Hero III looks mediocre. The cut scene animations are nice, thank you. But the crowd models look like Pitfall Harry, all jaggy and bumpy. I had to pause the game to laugh at the staircase-like fingers on one of the models, I seriously thought I was playing Guitar Hero PSone Retro Edition.
On the plus side, the boss battles and battle modes are superb. Don't listen to the other whiny reviewers. These play modes are fun, creative, and require skill. One of the toughest things about puzzle/rhythm games is adding new gameplay without breaking the system, this worked perfectly.
Finally, the music is varied and sounds superb, as you would expect. The game is much harder, so be prepared to work for your fun.