My darling husband knew I was wanting another guitar controller for Rock Band, and after doing some research, we found that the Guitar Hero III controller will work with Rock Band (but not vice versa, unfortunately). He brought me home Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360, assuming I'd play it while waiting for a Rock Band replacement disk that got scratched. Too bad this Activision replacement pales in comparison.
::: Basic Guitar :::
For those unfamiliar with Guitar Hero games, Guitar Hero III offers you the chance to pretend to be a rock hero. The game can be purchased separately, or with the required controller. With Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360, the controller is a wireless Fender guitar controller. The controller features a strap, five color-coded buttons, as well as the usual Xbox controller buttons for setting up the game so you don't have to use separate controllers for play and set-up. The set also comes with included batteries for the controller, stickers to accent it (you can also buy new faceplates separately), and the game itself.
Set-up is easy, and the console recognizes the controller quickly. From there, you have the option of playing single songs, doing a "tour" in career mode (single or dual, with dual having one player playing bass and the other lead guitar for each song), multiplayer (with face-offs, pro face-offs, and "battles"). Like most games, levelling up unlocks songs, characters, costumes, and guitars that you can "purchase" in the shop with money you "earn" playing gigs.
::: Graphics and Music :::
The graphics are decent, with the "notes" to be played easy to see. Additional graphics are bare-bones, at best; crowd scenes are very obviously populated with only two or three computer-generated characters all doing EXACTLY the same movements. Interstitial animations between rounds are slow and unnecessary, and often repetitive as well.
The sound is decent, and song choices give a wide range for music fans. I'd be willing to bet that even those who don't like rock music will recognize at leas a few songs, and career mode allows you to choose one song you don't have to play in order to advance. The guitar line, however, is often hard to hear over other instruments in the mixes, making it more difficult to play along, especially on easy levels, where there may be more breaks between notes to play.
::: A Pale Cousin :::
I may be biased considering I never played any Guitar Hero before Rock Band, but Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360 is just not as much fun. For starters, while the Rock Band controller has a smaller set of buttons to play, making it easier for little hands (that is, kids and girls with short fingers like me) to play, Guitar Hero ignores smaller fans. You get the big fat buttons up at the end of the neck and that's it. Problem number two is also the awful controller; the whammy bar and strap buttons are designed ONLY for right-handed players. Sure, the game will let you flip the game play (putting the color-coded images you need to correspond to the buttons in reverse), but the controller is awkward for lefties, especially when trying to use the whammy bar, which ends up above the "strumming" function and off to the left. You could conceivably play without using the whammy bar and sacrifice the point bonuses if you didn't NEED it for any battles, bringing us to the next issue.
Game play has four levels: easy, medium, hard, and expert. Since I'm still new to the game, I tend to stick to easy, levelling up on a few to medium while I try to master the controller issues mentioned above. However, if you want to play in "career" mode, you are required to "battle" computer characters (to start off with, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Slash from Velvet Revolver and formerly GNR, and then surprise guest Lou the devil) every few gigs. During battle mode, you (and your opponent) win power-ups that you can use against your opponent, one of which involves (you guessed it) repeatedly using the whammy bar so that you can get back to playing the song. I can make it through the entire career on easy until Lou, the toughest opponent, but then the awfulness of left-handed playing hobbles me every time.
On single-song modes, Guitar Hero III for Xbox 360 is enjoyable enough, but for $100, I expect WAY more out of a game and a required controller. My advice for any lefty rock god wannabes is to save your money for Rock Band. It's worth the extra money, and you can get singers and drummers to play along, too.
Recommended:
No
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