So the Internet fairy brought me Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock this evening, and I loaded it up and played through the first two tiers plus a few bonus songs. If there's one thing Patel knows, it's fucking music games--I've beaten GH1+2 on Expert, Ouendan 1+2 + EBA on the highest difficulty, Gitaroo Man on Master Mode, etc. etc. Therefore, my word is law.
Overall: B+
This game is good, sometimes very good, but not great. As a friend of mine who's had significant time with both said, "Guitar Hero III is very good--but compared to Rock Band it's a full generation behind." I'll believe it. GHIII doesn't mess with a winning formula, and while it's still an excellent formula, it's starting to wear a little thin.
Music: Music selection is better so far than GHII by a fair bit. More master tracks of classic, poppy rock tracks. less angry German umlaut-rock.
Patterns: Patterns are decent (I only play on Expert, of course). Some are good, a few have inspired moments, but none of the main tracks have really "clicked" with me yet the way GH classics like Strutter and More than a Feeling just make your fingers dance.
Graphics: PS2 version is weirdly ugly. Animations are stiff (esp. on ancillary members) and characters no longer have special animations for star power (wtf). Crowd is also bizarrely faker and suffers from the awkward animation sync of large groups. All in all, a bizarre step backwards from GHII. My theory is that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions probably look great, and the PS2 version was farmed out to the intern team, or the Swedes, or the Swedish interns.
UI: Buttons are now "glossier." The multiplier has been updated with a note counter, which is great for people who can play several hundred notes in a row without making plebian mistakes (me). The rock meter and especially the star power meter are bizarrely hard to read. The star power meter is now shown as a series of vacuum tubes?!
Boss battles: KILL THE PERSON WHO THOUGHT OF THIS IDEA. This is the worst, least fun, most awful anti-music-game thing I have ever seen. Britney's Dance Beat is a better balanced vs. music game that this (and I should know, I cleared it!) These aren't even SONGS--you just hit random notes as generated by the machine and pray you randomly get the "good" power-ups so you can kill your opponent before he kills you. It's unmusical and completely random--two cardinal sins for any game. Fuck this bullshit. To add insult to injury, once you defeat a "legend of rock" you get to play an encore with him. Great! So now the camera is focusing on an awkwardly modeled Tom Morello (who?) instead of my character.
Complaint: Having to play every song in every tier to unlock the next is stupid bullshit. Please stop this bullshit in your next game. Fuck you, let me play the songs I want to play. If I buy a box set of music I don't have to listen to all the fucking tracks in order, what the hell.
Extras: More guitars and colors than ever, multiple palette swaps per outfit, anime sequences in between venues (?!), great bonus songs from real bands like Stone Roses and Kaiser Chiefs ("She Bangs the Drum" is easily the best song I've played in the game so far.) Definitely the best GH so far in terms of auxillary content.
Conclusion: It's Guitar Hero III. The changes to the formula (like the boss battles) are fucking distinguished mentally-challenged. Fortunately, 95% of the game is exactly according to the formula of GHII because Activision has lost the people who knew what they were doing and is afraid of killing this gift horse. Way better than this year's early 80s misstep and a good addition to the Guitar Hero series. Still, the formula is getting a bit long in the tooth, and I have absolutely no doubt that Rock Band is going to deliver the ultimate music game experience later this year!
PATEL OUT.
