Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock (PS2)

I'd been waiting for this game since it was announced. I just had to have it - they way they were already selling it with their promises of boss battles, new face-offs and a shiny new career mode, it was THE game of the century.

I finally got it today (that would be Christmas Day). I have to say, I am a little disappointed.

The song selection is definitely one of the best, with classics such as School's Out by Alce Cooper, modern legends like The Metal by Tenacious D and cool unlockable songs (an example of which being Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs) to keep you entertained for weeks. I quite enjoyed finally being able to play Rock You Like A Hurricane (The Scorpions). And don't worry about controllers; as you would expect, PS2 GH/GHII controllers are compatible with PS2 GHII. (Just as well, since I also received GHII with the SG controller today.)

However, if you're new to the GH series, do NOT start off with this one. Gameplay was hinted to be somewhat easier, but it turns out that isn't so. Even Easy mode is tricky, The Metal being a good example of this.

Although, the boss battles are a welcome distraction to the ordinary gameplay. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine) is your first challenger. To win, you must stop the opponent's guitar from working, so instead of star power, you're awarded weapons (my favourites being Broken String and Amp Overload) to throw at your opponent's fretboard.

Slash (Guns 'N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) is pretty similar to Tom Morello in the way of the battle, but his challenge theme is obviously different and it would seem Slash is a little sneakier (or maybe I was a bit slower; while Morello didn't get any weapons on my guitar, Slash broke my string AND lefty-flipped my fretboard). Incidentally, there is another boss, but with the game being as difficult as it is and my hands as tired as they are, I can't be bothered having a look.

After battling these "legends", you play an encore with them (Slash's encore is Welcome To The Jungle). That is, assuming you beat them.

Also, that annoying fretboard shake when you miss a note or hit a wrong note etc is gone! No more distracting "YOU IDIOT!" type shaking! This definitely makes gameplay a lot easier on you, without you looking and going "Oh yeah... WAIT! Stop! ARGH!" and getting distracted.

So there are good points to the game, with the new battles being fun and it being kind of cool to face-off against Slash of Guns N Roses fame, but there are quite a few bad points as well.

The graphics aren't quite as good as I anticipated. They look a little less sharp, which is what I suppose they were going for, but the characters are now a little stiff looking. One or two characters you may have noticed are missing; Pandora was dropped and replaced by an updated Judy Nails (they insist Judy is now Pandora and old Judy merged together), Eddie Knox is missing... and my favourite, Izzy Sparks, seems to have been replaced by the bizarre lovechild of Pete Burns and Russell Brand. This has annoyed me to no end, really. Plus, the complete new wardrobe of each character (Izzy's suits are Rockstar and Peacock with many different styles) seems to have taken up the space the team required for the once fluid movements of each character. Having only played Midori and Izzy properly, I'm disappointed that Izzy's lost his bounce, except when he jumps up and down after winning/finishing a song (looking like a camp Charlie of Busted fame).

A lot does seem to have been sacrificed for the song's sakes, and the fact that Bret Michaels is available only in, well, every other version of the game except the PS2 version as a singer... it's very annoying. There's no reason for that.

And there's no reason for half the characters to have suffered bounce deficiency and appearance problems. (Johnny Napalm looks a bit like a punk rock Alan Rickman to me now.) All for the sake of a couple of good looking "real rock star" characters and a few new fretboard designs? Not worth it really.

Overall, the gameplay is still fun and the battles are entertaining; face-offs against friends and family are still a riot and the song list is impressive, a definite must for hardcore fans of the GH series, or even just fans of RATM and Velvet Revolver, really.. But if you're a first time GHer (or you appreciate aesthetic character value), this isn't the game for you.