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and annoyance, Slash from
Guns and Roses came forward in
an attempt to upstage me at my
own concert.
I gritted my teeth, steeled my
nerve, and accepted his challenge.
I knew my career could
not continue unless I bested this
legend, and to do it, I would have
to play dirty
“Guitar Hero 3” is the first of
the series to be produced without
“RedOctane”. With this loss
came several changes.
The basic controls remain the
same, requiring Nintendo thumbs
and Atari fingers to compensate
for rampant stupid hands. Hammer
drops and pull-offs (changing
notes by adding or removing
fingers on a single strum, making
the game a little closer to actually
playing the guitar) continue to be
necessary for certain songs, but
seem more random than in previous
versions.
On higher difficulty levels,
songs appear to be artificially
harder by seemingly random uses
of these techniques, and adding
fast notes where none exist in the
song.
The song list remains impressive
and engaging, while sets are
put together with very appropriate
backgrounds. Cartoon-like
segments between sets create a
loose storyline that is light and
amusing, with a definite similarity
to Gorillaz video styling.
The biggest difference between
this incarnation of the game and
previous versions are the introduction
of boss battles, in which
single players are pitted against
well-known musicians in a new
battle mode. Power-ups are used
in conjunction with standard
game play to allow players to interrupt
the other.
It feels more like playing Mario
Kart than air guitar on crack.
These battles throw off game play
and seem ill fitted with a franchise
that had done so well on making
players feel like guitar heroes.
A slightly smaller difference
is the inclusion of online
multiplayer gaming. This feature
simply allows the multiplayer
modes to be extended over your
next gen system’s online network.
You’ll find yourself playing
against people with both remarkable
and “so unremarkable as to
be remarkable” skills, as well as
the possibility of being able to
beat the developers at their own
game.
Overall, I give “Guitar Hero 3”
a 7 out of 10. It’s amusing and fun,
but really, it’s just a time killer
until “Rock Band” comes out.
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