First Impressions: Guitar Hero 3 (Xbox 360)

I strolled right into my local GameStop yesterday and picked up Guitar Hero 3 (game only) for the Xbox 360. (Also grabbed the Orange Box, but resisted Halo 3 for now.)

Using my trusty band THAC0, I’d estimate I’ve played through about half of the game on Medium, maybe a little more. I still don’t have my 360 wired for online play, so I can’t tell you how that plays. I also only bought the game, so I’m still using my GH2 controller. (I’m planning on getting the guitar that comes with Rock Band.)

The basic gameplay is the same as before, as expected. The notes are easier to hit, which I began to notice as I scored a lot more 5’s the first go through than I did on GH2. The design of the “star power” changed, and it’s harder to tell how much you’ve built up. There’s also a meter that tells you how many notes you’ve hit in a row, and at certain intervals, a big distracting message pops up at the top to tell you how many. And your unlocked achievements pop up while playing too, which has caused me to screw up a few notes while reading it.

In between each new venue, you’re treated to a section of the story (with no dialogue, just expressive sounds.) The character you choose only appears in the first one, because every time after it only shows the rest of your fake band. The storyline is kind of a neat touch, but on the other hand, a little bizarre. It stretches the “theme” of Guitar Hero a little thin, as we’re expected to believe that a cover band is making its own music video and headlining shows and whatnot. (Also, we’re expected to believe the lead singer can sound just like both Jack Black and Keith Richards?)

The art direction is worse in this game than previous games. A lot of the charm is gone, the loading screen being a moving annoying mess (with less clever tidbits too.) During game play, the characters are much more highly rendered than previous versions, which is neither here nor there. The “star power” effects are much more lame, as are the victory animations. And the crowds are pretty horrendous at times: one of the venues is a jail, and the entire audience is the same figure, just with two or three different animations (and not spaced out.) The different venues, however, are imaginative and fun. They wisely decided not to repeat the same styles as the previous game.

I’ve gotten two boss battles so far: Tom Morrello and Slash. Both are hard, the hardest levels in the game so far. Instead of trying to outplay them, you’re more trying to screw them up so they fail, as they win automatically if you don’t cause them to fail by the end of the song. You screw them up by gaining attacks (in the same way you gain star power) then tilting your guitar at the appropriate time to use it on them. Timing these attacks, and making sure you grab every power up, seem to be the keys to beating the bosses. Afterwards, you get to play an encore with the boss, though the only difference is that they appear on stage with you. (I never feel like I’m playing WITH them.) Afterwards, the bosses can be bought from the store to become your character. The other two characters in the store to be bought are the Grim Ripper and The God of Rock. (If only it were Valhalen!)

The song selection, so far, has been a bit disappointing. You can check out the entire set list to judge for yourself. While there are some songs on there that are no-brainers (Paint it Black, for one), I haven’t been all that excited about each set revealed. My favorite so far has been “The Metal” by Tenacious D, though even that seems like it should have been more hardcore.

Overall? It’s enjoyable, and was the next logical step after beating everything on Medium in GH2. I want to try online play and co-op play to get the most value. However, there’s nothing here so far that revolutionizes Guitar Hero, and may only have a limited replay value. My hope is that the tweak in difficulty makes it possible to play on Hard. Other than that, you’ll have to judge for yourself if a $60 game (more if you need a Guitar) is worth what GH3 gives you.