Four years ago, the closest America got to Guitar Hero was
laughing at the arcade scene in Lost in Translation. Pseudo
tough guy wields a plastic guitar in a fluorescent, Japanese arcade.
Bill Murray watches him play along to rock songs. Culture shock, “lock
‘n’ loll,” har har har.
Since then, pseudo toughies have taken residence at Best Buy’s
fake-guitar demo stations and bought Guitar Hero games in the
millions, and that means what was once cultural obscurity is already on
track to wear out its massive popularity. Guitar Hero III follows the overblown rocker timeline perfectly, as its story is the
take-home version of Roth ditching Van Halen or Bon Scott “leaving”
AC/DC. Earlier this year, the game’s original programmers jumped ship
to make a new series (new rhythm game Rock Band), forcing the
publisher to find its Sammy Hagar to keep the GH name alive.
To be fair, the result is more Back in Black than
5150, as GH3 holds the status quo without sounding as
awful as Van Halen. The basic premise of playing along to popular
guitarists remains intact, but now friends can play the “career”
together in co-op, and a new versus mode gives opponents weird (and
mostly annoying) attacks. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same, aside
from one tweak: Button presses can be a few milliseconds off the rhythm
and still count. Twelve-year-old GH YouTube stars might spaz,
but the novice girlfriend will appreciate it. Accept the trade-off,
kids.
In spite of a few stinker songs (Slipknot, the Killers and Poison,
oh my), GH3‘s track list is the series’ most varied and
tolerable so far. Original versions of “Paint It Black,” “Welcome to
the Jungle,” Slayer’s “Reign of Fire,” and even a re-recorded version
of “Cult of Personality” provide fun patterns to play along
with—which is a good thing for the game’s replay value—but
watch out for a huge asterisk: Not every song is the original, and this
year’s scab cover band is a mighty load worse than the old one. Stevie
Ray Vaughan already blows, but fake SRV’s voice and tinny production
make me want to perform an eight-minute peeing solo on Vaughan’s
grave.
If you’re eager for a rhythm game revolution, wait for Rock
Band and its $170 guitar/drums/microphone kit later this month. If
you want the same ol’ thing—and online modes on Xbox 360, Wii,
and PS3—GH3 will shake your low expectations all night
long. 