DigitalBattle.com

Unfortunately, I’ve grown extremely tired of waiting for Rock Band, in order to have at least an opportunity to gauge Guitar Hero 3 against its main competition. That will have to be left to a future article, likely sometime in the New Year. Therefore, it looks like Guitar Hero 3 will be judged mostly on its own merits, with only its predecessors as a point of comparison.

We’ve all grown well aware of the cultural phenomenon that is Guitar Hero. Only a year ago you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who had really heard about the series, but then it simply blew up and took off running with the release of Guitar Hero 2 on the PS2 and then later in March 2007 on the 360. Guitar Hero 2 simply was on of the best games available in 2006/2007, but oddly enough, the novelty wore a bit thin in such a short amount of time.

Guitar Hero 3 is still loads of fun, if not more so then its previous iteration, and it really should be better in order to justify a purchase. But, with the bar set so high, something is absent in the recent release; That sense of wonderment and newness (something that is almost solely reserved to the Wii in the industry at the moment), where a peripheral device really defines a game. The video game market is rapidly changing, and its moving into a surprising direction where peripheral devices and software are able to sell, and sell by the boat load at that.

Starting off on that note, the Guitar included with Guitar Hero 3 is an improvement. It’s a major improvement at that. Going wireless, it feels like a solid, less plastic piece of hardware that really is the go to standard for guitar based games. Despite whatever improvements Activision may make on their next guitar release, it will probably be more aesthetic than practical. The Guitar Hero 3 controller is one that I expect to hold on to for several years, despite whatever changes they make in the future, because they really are a quality product that should hold out.

While the guitar is worthy of an upgrade, I would recommend trading your old ones in without a second thought, the game itself is slightly less convincing. Everything is there. A great set list, tons of new content, multiplayer modes, and Activision even managed to maintain most of the feel of its predecessors while lacking the original source code. But with all that added content, we are left asking why we are forced and likely will be forced to buy a new Guitar Hero game every single year.

Well, naturally we know the answer to that question is money. The fact of the matter is, we will continue to buy Guitar Hero not for the new bells and whistles, but simply for the songs. With the trends pointing to downloadable content, it would be a better for the consumers to see cheaper and more thought out downloadable content rather than focusing on churning out a new game every year. Why re-invent the wheel to a great game, when all we really are after is that new set list.

I have one more negative aspect of Guitar Hero 3 to touch on, and this is something I will compare to the competitor who seems to have gotten it right. The downloadable content for GH3 has been lacking. It’s overpriced, it’s sporadically released and unfortunately it seems unlikely they will deliver on the lofty goals. We have gotten updates, including two awesome freebies, but with Rock Band delivering so far at least 3 songs a week without fail, and looking at full downloadable albums in the New Year, Guitar Hero needs to play catch up.

The game itself still retains all the classic Guitar Hero feeling, albeit at a higher level of difficulty. Medium is within realm of mastering, but the learning curve isn’t quite smooth, as Hard take quite a leap, comparing to Expert in GH2. The new boss battles and guitar battles are interesting, a bit gimmicky, but definitely a fun improvement.

Most importantly, with the added exposure, the sound track for the game is awesome, and has really hit some big named bands. It’s all a matter of preference though, having at least had an opportunity to listen to both soundtracks including Rock Band, I have to give the advantage to Rock Band. While Guitar Hero really represents the best of the best in guitar solos, Rock Band presents an overall more rounded song appealing to more than just instrument, which makes the sound list slightly more enjoyable to those who don’t love listening to five minute guitar solos.

Is Guitar Hero 3 a game you should buy? You likely already know the answer, but incase you don’t: Absolutely and positively yes, everyone should dive into Guitar Hero. The songs are great, and you’ll love the franchise all over again. However, apart from a new sound list and a few cool features, it’s still the same game we’ve grown to love. Guitar Hero is a weird franchise, because we aren’t really after new features, but new songs, and hopefully instead of milking yearly updates (which has already been confirmed) Activision smartens up and offers a better method of getting us what we want, more tunes to rock out to, instead of minor improvements and another 60-dollar price tag. With this whole new wave of Blue Ocean games really taking off, Guitar Hero is the poster child, and it’s the type of thing that can’t be manhandled in the same way many of our other franchises are. Hopefully Activision comes to realize that before they drive it into the ground.

Final Score: 87/100