Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Cover for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, with Slash shown in the center, along with fictional guitarists Judy Nails on the left and Lars Ümlaüt on the right
Developer(s)Neversoft
Aspyr Media (PC & Mac)
Vicarious Visions (Wii)
Budcat Creations (PS2)
Publisher(s)Activision
Platform(s)Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, Mac
ReleaseUnited States October 28, 2007
Australia November 7, 2007
European Union November 23, 2007 (Console Versions)
United States November 12, 2007 (PC & Mac)
Genre(s)Music video game
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game and the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series (the fourth title overall). The game is published by Activision and RedOctane, with Neversoft as the developer for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles, and Aspyr Media as the developer for the PC and Macintosh computers. Due to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision, Harmonix Music Systems is no longer involved in developing titles in the Guitar Hero series (instead, the company is currently developing the competing game Rock Band).

As with the previous Guitar Hero games, the player uses a guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music by playing notes as they scroll in-time with the music. Guitar Hero III is available both individually and in bundles packaged with wireless controllers. Previous Guitar Hero controllers are compatible with this title. Guitar Hero III is the first game in the series to feature online play, in addition to existing game modes.

Furthermore, the game includes Slash (of Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver), Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave), and Bret Michaels (Poison) as in-game characters.

Development history

In May 2006, RedOctane, the publisher of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, was purchased by Activision.[1] Several months later, in September 2006, MTV purchased Harmonix Music Systems, the developer behind the earlier titles.[2] As a result of both purchases, Guitar Hero III was instead published by Activision, with development responsibilities shifting from Harmonix to Neversoft Entertainment.[3] Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that his company was asked to perform the development work based on a humorous conversation that Jewett had with RedOctane's founders Kai and Charles Huang at the 2006 E3 Convention, describing how Guitar Hero helped to reduce the stress in the Neversoft offices during their development of Tony Hawk's Project 8; months later, Jewett was contacted by the Huangs, requesting them to work on Guitar Hero III.[4]

Activision initially stated that the game was planned for release in the fiscal year of 2008, which stretches from March 2007 to March 2008.[5] On April 9 2007, RedOctane clarified this by unofficially stating on their website that "Guitar Hero 3 for the PlayStation 2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii are currently scheduled for release in the United States in Fall of 2007".[6][7] On April 16, 2007, RedOctane founder Kai Huang revealed that all versions of the game will feature wireless controllers as well as online multiplayer and downloadable content.[8]

Guitar Hero III was officially announced by Activision and RedOctane on May 23 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The fall 2007 release date was reconfirmed. New wireless controllers shaped like a Gibson Les Paul (PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Kramer (PlayStation 2) models were also confirmed, along with removable faceplates that will allow players to personalize their guitar. Activision also avoided all mention of the title "Guitar Hero III", instead referring to the game as "the next Guitar Hero".[9] Also promised by Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, are "new online and multi-player game play modes", and that "many of the top bands and songs we've tried to get in the past are now on board, and we've definitely got some giant aces in the hole to say the least".[10] The online play feature will also extend to the Wii version, as announced by Nintendo at the 2007 E3 conference.[11] A week later, IGN revealed the wireless Les Paul controller, which will feature a removable neck for travel purposes. Additionally, new gameplay videos and screenshots were revealed.[12][13][14][15]

Guitar Hero III introduced three new characters modeled after real-life life musicians. Slash is one of the "bosses" and an unlockable playable character in the game. Slash did motion capture with RedOctane to record his movements for the game, and by beating him in a one-on-one competition (playing an original composition of his),[16] he will be unlocked as a playable character. Beating him in this challenge will result in the player and Slash playing the master track of "Welcome to the Jungle" as an encore song.[17] Similarly, Tom Morello is also a boss and unlockable character within the game. Bret Michaels appears as non-playable vocalist for certain songs, providing his voice for these master tracks.

A demo of Guitar Hero III appeared in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for the Xbox 360, as well as being available as both a Xbox Live Marketplace download[18] and a ISO image that could be created through a PC to use on the Xbox 360.[19] The demo features five songs ("Lay Down", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Even Flow", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", and "The Metal") played within the Desert Rock Tour venue.[20].

On September 11, 2007, Aspyr Media and Activision announced that Guitar Hero III will also be developed for both the PC and Macintosh platforms.[21] The PC and Mac versions of the game are expected to ship bundled together on November 12, [22] slightly after the release of the console versions, and will include the same USB-based Gibson X-Plorer Guitar included with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II.

File:Guitar-hero-iii-20070709040244434.jpg
The wireless guitar controllers for the console versions of the game: Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 (Gibson Les Paul) and PS2 (Kramer Pacer)

Gameplay

See also: Common gameplay elements in the Guitar Hero series

Guitar Hero III's gameplay remains unchanged from previous titles in the series; the player must hit notes as they scroll towards the bottom of the screen in time with music in order to maintain their performance and to score points. Hitting notes using the guitar controller requires strumming the strum bar while holding down the correct fret button(s). Playing with the standard controller only requires the correct button to be pressed. Notes can be sustained (in which the fret button(s) must remain held until the note is complete) and can also be a chord (2 or 3 notes played together). The game also simulates hammer-ons and pull-offs for sections with a rapid series of notes. Missing a note will cause a performance meter to drop; if this meter drops too low, the player will fail the song. A string of consecutive correct notes earns a multiplier to increase the player's score, and special sections, marked by starred notes, can be used to build Star Power; when released (by tilting the guitar controller up vertically or hitting a button on a standard controller), the player's multiplier is doubled, and there is less of a penalty for missing notes.

Career Mode

As with previous Guitar Hero games, a player can progress through 8 tiers, with 42 songs total, through Career Mode. There are four difficulty levels, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert. The player is required to complete a number of songs in each tier, the number depending on the difficulty level, and then is offered an encore performance with one additional song. After a tier is complete, a new tier is introduced. New in Guitar Hero III are career mode boss battles; at three points during the career mode, the player is required to compete against boss characters Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou the Devil, in order to progress; however, after three attempts, the player is given the option to skip the battle if they so choose. Each successfully completed song earns in-game money that the player can use at the game's store to unlock new characters, outfits, guitars and finishes, additional songs, and videos, and unlocks that song for quick play and other game modes regardless of difficulty.

Storyline

Additionally, this is the first Guitar Hero to feature somewhat of a storyline for the player's band, portrayed through animatic cartoon scenes in between venues. The band starts out as a neighborhood sensation, before hooking up with a record producer named Lou at one of their later shows. After a successful music video hits the web, the band travels the world until they eventually attempt to break free of their contract with Lou, who then reveals himself to be the Devil and the contract as ownership of their souls. The band is dragged down to Lou's "Inferno", where the final showdown comes and the player must defeat Lou, earning the title of "Guitar Legend".

Co-op Career Mode

Two players using the same console can participate in Co-op Career Mode, which is arranged similarly to the single player Career mode, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass or rhythm guitar. There are only 6 tiers of songs, with each encore song being unique to the co-op mode. There are no boss battles in this mode. Co-op Career mode cannot be performed through networked players.

Battle Mode

A screenshot demonstrating Battle Mode and Slash as a playable character.

Guitar Hero III introduces Battle Mode, a competitive mode between two players either locally or over network play.[23] The mode puts a twist on the Pro Face-off mode introduced in Guitar Hero II. Two players will face each other, trying to complete a song while successfully playing Star Power sequences to earn attacks that can be used against their opponents. Players will be able to store three attacks at a time and can activate them by tilting their guitars upward, but the attacks are only temporary. If neither player fails the song, they will face each other in a Sudden Death segment.

The attacks include:

  • Broken string: One fret button on the opponent's guitar will not work until it is fixed (by rapidly tapping the button).
  • Difficulty up: The opponent will play the song on an increased difficulty for a short duration of time (except for expert difficulty).
  • Amp overload: The fret board will shake and cause the notes to blink, making the scrolling notes difficult to read.
  • Whammy bar: The opponent will have to use the whammy bar repeatedly before he/she can play notes again.
  • Steal power: This will steal your opponent's power-up (this will be lost if used when the opponent has no power-up).
  • Double notes: The opponent will have to play any single note as a two-button chord, and any two-button chord as a three-button chord for a short amount of time.
  • Lefty/Righty flip: The fret board will be mirrored, requiring the attacked player to change his or her handedness.
  • Death Drain: After the players go into Sudden Death mode, all Battle Powers turn into unstoppable Death Drain attacks. When Death Drain is unleashed upon the opponent, a figure resembling a winged Grim Reaper will appear to have a constant negative influence on their opponent's rock meter. Every mistake the player makes accelerates their rock meter drain, and eventually the Grim Reaper will block the player's view of the frets and thus the player will fail, since their Rock Meter will be put past the failing red range.

Wii exclusive features

The Wii version of the game has several exclusive features, since a Wii Remote must be inserted into the guitar controller. The game utilizes the Wii Remote's wireless capabilities and accelerometer, but also makes use of the rumble feature and the internal speaker.[24] The internal speaker on the Wii Remote is used to emit an effect when wrong notes are hit. The Wii Remote's rumble feature is utilized when Star Power mode is activated. While the Wii version has online play utilizing game-specific friend codes, downloadable content will not be available initially.[25] The Wii version also uses slightly different graphics and sounds than the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, such as a different "YOU ROCK!" font, loading screen, and "screw up sounds" more akin to Guitar Hero I and II.

Character cast

File:Gh3 bret.jpg
Bret Michaels' in-game character will sing vocals while the player performs certain songs.

Neversoft lead developer Alan Flores revealed that Guitar Hero III has a cast of thirteen characters.[26] Characters returning from previous titles are Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails, Axel Steel, Izzy Sparks, Casey Lynch, Lars Ümlaüt, and Xavier Stone. Midori is an original playable character that can be selected; additionally, each system has two additional playable characters that can be unlocked: the Wii and PS2 versions include the characters of Metalhead and Elroy Budvis, while the 360 and PS3 versions include The God of Rock and The Grim Ripper.

In addition, the player can unlock the three boss characters: Tom Morello,[27] Slash,[28] and Lou the Devil,[29] once they have completed their respective boss battles in career mode. While Bret Michaels appears in the game and sings specific songs, he is not a playable character in the game.[30] Michaels is only included in the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.

Venues

ScoreHero reported the venues that are featured in the game. The venues are:

  • Backyard Bash - a suburban barbecue party-styled venue.
  • Mitch's Moose Lounge - a strip bar-like venue.
  • Video Shoot - a venue where a video of your band playing is being recorded. The background consists of a cenographic truck in front of chroma-key screens where scenes of road landscapes zoom by.
  • Ye Olde Royal Odeon - An original theater-like venue, complete with a medieval theme, located in the United Kingdom.
  • Shanker's Island - a gloomy, prison-like venue, derived from the slang word for the sharp, jail inmate-favored weapon. The island itself is reminiscent of real-life Alcatraz.
  • Desert Rock Tour - a large rock concert venue, held at night in a Death Valley-like desert canyon, seemingly in the USA.
  • Kaiju Megadome - a large arena venue located in Japan, complete with commercial posters, paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a volcano in the background.
  • Lou's Inferno - a seemingly Hell-like venue, whose name may be a homage to the first canticle of the famous Christian poem The Divine Comedy.

Soundtrack

Main article: List of songs in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock features 71 playable songs - 46 of which are "main setlist" songs, while the remaining 25 are "bonus tracks." In total, 51 of the game's songs are master recordings (the highest total of any Guitar Hero release). In addition, the career mode includes three guitar battles: one each against Slash, Tom Morello, and Lou (The Devil). Slash and Morello both wrote and recorded original battle music for the game.

The soundtrack features such songs as Kiss' "Rock and Roll All Nite", Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love", The Rolling Stones' "Paint It, Black", Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", Pearl Jam's "Even Flow", Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane", Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle", Santana's "Black Magic Woman", Muse's "Knights of Cydonia", Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast", and Metallica's "One". It also features some re-recorded songs, like Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" and The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K.".

Xbox 360 players that purchase the compact disc soundtrack (which contains select tracks from the game) will have access to a code that can be redeemed for 3 exclusive playable tracks on Xbox Live.

Guitar Hero III also supports future downloadable tracks.

Reception

Publication Score
Electronic Gaming Monthly
25.5 of 30
Game Informer
8.75 of 10
GameDaily
8 of 10
GameSpy
4.5 of 5
Hardcore Gamer
3.75 of 5
IGN (360 and PS3)
8.9 of 10
IGN (Wii)
8.6 of 10
GameSpot (360, PS3, Wii)
8 of 10
GameSpot (PS2)
7.5 of 10
Nintendo Power
9 of 10
Official PlayStation Magazine
9 of 10
Official Xbox Magazine
8 of 10
Play
9 of 10

Guitar Hero III received solid reviews upon its release. In the October issue of Game Informer, the magazine gave a full review of Guitar Hero III a month before the game's release. It rated the game a 8.75/10, with a 9.0/10 as a second opinion.[31], while Official Xbox Magazine awarded it an 8/10. The game was praised for its graphics and fun, addictive gameplay that was the staple of the Guitar Hero series. IGN.com also scored the Xbox 360 and PlayStation versions an 8.9/10, while GameSpot gave the game a 8/10 score. In addition, the Gibson Les Paul controller included with bundled version of the game received particular praise; GameSpy, in a five page review of all four console versions, praised, "GH3's new Les Paul model kicks ass in every way imaginable. It's wireless, the shape feels more comfortable, and the fret buttons and strum bar are as smooth as butter." The same review also called the Wii guitar the best of the guitar peripherals, praising the vibration option.[32] Most critics have also praised the soundtrack for its song selection and quantity of master tracks.

However, these strengths were also the basis for some of the criticisms, focusing on the lack of variety. IGN's review of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions noted, "…there's not really a whole lot new here. We understand that this was Neversoft's first take at the franchise, but it's a pretty safe effort as the basic formula remains exactly the same." The review also criticized the lack of customizable rockers.[33] GameDaily stated, "While playing through the songs—one question stayed at the forefront of our minds—what's up with the white boy soundtrack? We would have liked to see more from legends like Jimi Hendrix and Prince in the mix."[34] GameSpy criticized some of the tweaks, stating, "the Star Power phrases tend to be so long, if you have enough skill to get them you can beat the song anyways" ... "the sequences are a little too much of a trial-by-fire compared to past Guitar Hero games. From the first tier, Medium simply feels like Hard-minus-the-orange-button."[32] GameSpot criticized the "heavy dose of in-game advertising" in its reviews.[35]

Technical issues

GameSpy noted numerous technical issues with the PlayStation 3 version, noting controller issues ("...the PS3 Les Paul feels great in your hands, though the interface with the console is quite clunky. You'll use a USB dongle to attach to the PS3, and it functions on 2.4 Ghz wireless, rather than the console's built-in Bluetooth. You won't be able to use the PlayStation button to turn on your console; instead, you'll either use a Sixaxis or physically turn it on... Just like the Sixaxis, the Les Pauls will power down after a period of disuse") and the online matchmaking ("Online multiplayer for PS3 is fairly incompetent in presentation...As of the time we're reviewing this, the PS3 Quick Match option is completely broken"), though they noted that gameplay itself had no noticeable lag issues.[32]

Users of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 wireless Les Paul guitar controller have reported issues that apparently stem from the quality of the electrical connections between the pins on the guitar body and the contacts on the detachable neck. These issues include fret buttons not registering when pushed, wrong fret buttons registering, and the tilt sensor always registering tilt.[36] Cleaning the contacts and firmly re-seating the detachable neck seems to remedy these problems in some cases.[citation needed] There has been no official statement from Activision, RedOctane, or Neversoft addressing these reported issues.

Wii users have also reported that the game does not properly output in Dolby Pro Logic II. According to emails sent back from Activision, "We are looking in to right now. The time frame is still unknown at the moment we are still looking in to the problem."[2]

Since the official release of Guitar Hero III and its sister website guitarhero.com, users trying to link their game to their website account have experienced issues doing so. The official word from Neversoft is "The launch of Guitar Hero III has produced heavy amounts of traffic to the website, and this traffic has caused a number of users to have problems with linking their accounts and uploading scores. We are well aware of these issues, and we our working as fast as we can to fix both problems." [37]

See also

References

  1. ^ Graff, Kris (2006-08-09). "Activision Paid $100 mln for RedOctane". Next Generation. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  2. ^ Klepek, Patrick (2006-09-22). "MTV Buys Harmonix for $175M". 1UP.com.
  3. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (2007-01-17). "Tony Hawk's Guitar Hero?". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Faylor, Chris (2007-09-26). "How Neversoft Took Over Guitar Hero". Shacknews. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  5. ^ Thorsen, Tor (2006-08-03). "New Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, and 007 coming in 2007–8 69". Gamespot. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  6. ^ Larsen, Phil (2007-04-10). "Guitar Hero 3 US release window revealed". PALGN. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
  7. ^ Goldstein, Hilary (2007-04-09). "Guitar Hero 3 this Fall". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  8. ^ Boyes, Emma (2007-04-16). "Guitar Hero III will add online multiplayer, wireless". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  9. ^ Scalzo, John (2007-05-23). "Guitar Hero III officially announced". Gaming Target. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  10. ^ Crecente, Brian (2007-05-23). "Breaking: Tenacious D, Wireless hits next Guitar Hero". Kotaku. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  11. ^ Remo, Chris (2007-07-11). "E3 07: Mario Kart, EA Sports, Guitar Hero 3 Online on Wii". Shacknews. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  12. ^ lawl (2007-05-30). "First Videos of Guitar Hero 3!". Arrogantics. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  13. ^ "Guitar Hero III Trailer, Videos and Movies". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  14. ^ Brudvig, Erik (2007-05-30). "Guitar Hero Les Paul Controller Impressions". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  15. ^ Brudvig, Erik (2007-05-31). "Guitar Hero III Song Update". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  16. ^ "Slash To Appear In Guitar Hero III". Ultimate-Guitar.com. 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
  17. ^ RobInjection (2007-07-05). "SLASH to appear as a character in GUITAR HERO 3 video game". BlogInjection. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  18. ^ Hryb, Larry (2007-10-23). "Demo: Guitar Hero III". majornelson.com. Retrieved 2007-10-23.
  19. ^ Breckon, Nick (2007-10-19). "Guitar Hero 3 Xbox 360 Demo". Shacknews. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  20. ^ "Guitar Hero(TM) III: Legends of Rock Demo to Debut on Tony Hawk's Proving Ground" (Press release). Activision. 2008-08-23. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  21. ^ Mullen, Michael (2007-09-11). "Guitar Hero III Shocker... Coming to PC & Mac". GameDailyBiz. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  22. ^ Bergfield, Carlos (2007-10-18). "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock PC Hands-On". Shacknews. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  23. ^ Brudvig, Erik (2007-06-01). "Guitar Hero III: Battle Mode". IGN. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  24. ^ Harris, Craig (2007-08-29). "Guitar Hero III for Wii Hands-on". IGN. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Sliwinski, Alexander (2007-09-06). "Red Octane says Wii will have GHIII online play, no DLC initially". Joystiq. Retrieved 2007-09-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Stage Demo". GameSpot. 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  27. ^ "GamePro.com Video: Exclusive Guitar Hero III Preview! - GP Original Series". GamePro. 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  28. ^ "Slash Guitar Battle (E3 2007 Off Screen)". IGN. 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2007-08-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ "Lou Battle". 2007-07-13. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  30. ^ [1]
  31. ^ "Guitar Hero III review". Game Informer. 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  32. ^ a b c GameSpy Guitar Hero III' review
  33. ^ IGN Guitar Hero III review
  34. ^ GameDaily Guitar Hero III review.
  35. ^ GameSpy Guitar Hero III review (PlayStation 2)
  36. ^ Law of the Game, Guitar Hero III: Problems with the Detatchable Neck
  37. ^ http://www.guitarhero.com/forums/6599/forum_topics/1691

External links

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