- A Bit DisappointingI received Guitar Hero II as a gift a few months after it came out and quickly realized I couldn't stop playing it. I loved it for its arcade-style gameplay and its big-hit setlist of songs that were available to play. Now, I own Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. When I bought it, I couldn't wait to open it up and rock out to more great songs and get addicted to this new game.
I started playing it and I soon realized that this game (number three) is a flawed attempt to build off of what was an incredibly well-executed and eye-catching game (number two). That's why I give this game four stars overall--while it is dissapointing from a consumer standpoint, I realize that it's incredibly hard to follow up a great game.
On the bright side, this game looks absolutely superb graphically. The characters have a whole new look to them, and the gameplay graphics look much better than Guitar Hero II. Activision did a great job cleaning up the cartoonish appearance of the characters and venues of number two to make the venues look more like the host of a legitimate rock show. The button-pressing is great as well; there are much more difficult sequences of buttons to press on EXPERT, which is great for someone like me who's mastered most of the songs on the previous game.
Now, for the downsides of the game. The first thing that I noticed was the faultiness of the "Kramer Striker" wireless guitar controller. Not only is the controller larger and more awkward to use than the SG controller, but the sensor also doesn't recognize when the guitar is lifted vertically for Star Power. Thankfully, a friend of mine who also owns the game informed me that Star Power can also be utilized by hitting the SELECT button just below the whammy bar. I had to put my hand in a new position for this, as the button arrangement on the head of the guitar isn't as user-intuitive as the arrangement on the cherry-red SG. My second issue is the setlist. While there are many more songs this time around, and the bonus songs are cheaper to buy, the main setlist is full of songs that probably wouldn't have made the cut in number two. There are more obscure tracks (like "Black Sunshine" by White Zombie), and not-as-guitar-heavy tracks (like "When You Were Young" by the Killers), and many of the bonus tracks are sung in languages that I don't understand. I also found it amusing that they chose to use as many original-recording tracks as they could and still place cover versions of more popular songs on the game (this makes the fakeness of the covers more noticeable). Finally, the Battles, which are a new feature, aren't interesting either. In essence, they are just like playing very short songs in which Star Power unleashes a five-second attack on the level's boss. They are fun for a short time, but they get very repetitive.
To sum up, I realize that Activision was likely under intense pressure to make another masterpiece, and I take this into account. Just be aware that it pales in comparison to the masterpiece that was Guitar Hero II.
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