The sequel to one of the biggest hits of recent years is finally out — Guitar Hero III, for practically every current-gen system (sorry, PSP!). Does it rock out loud, or does it whimper like an Emo kid? Read on to find out.

For review purposes, I’ll be talking about the XBox 360 version. Each version is essentially the same, aside from a couple of character changes and a lack of downloadable content for the PS2 and Wii (for the foreseeable future).

Story - Minimal, but no big surprise, ‘eh? You’re the guitarist in an up-and-coming band. You start humbly, playing at a backyard show, but as you rock the house, you begin to get noticed. You eventually move on to bigger venues and greater fame, but at what cost?

I was actually surprised to see GHIII incorporating a storyline for your band. It’s a nice little extra, but ultimately unimportant to the core gameplay.

Graphics - There’s a noticeable increase in detail and overall design — which there should be, considering that this is the first in the series built with the “next-gen” duo of 360 and PS3 in mind. Character models are suitably cartoonish, and move very realistically (save the drummer, who moves with all the human grace of a 1960’s robot). Each character also has an alternate costume and color schemes that can be purchased through in-game earnings. Between song sets, there are short animated scenes that further on the story of your band’s rise to fame. While nice to watch, these scenes don’t feature your selected guitarist, so it doesn’t really feel like “your” band.

Gameplay - It’s the same as Guitar Heroes I & II — hit the notes on your chart and finish the song with the highest score you can get. It may take a little bit of practice for beginners, but the combination of hitting the frets and strum bar at the same time become second nature. Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs are much easier to perform, thanks to easier to identify notes on the screen. By hitting specially-shaped star notes, you build Star Power. When you’ve got enough collected, tilt your guitar (or hit the back/select button) to double your score multiplier.

To progress through the game, you’ll play a set of four songs and an encore song (Easy and Normal difficulties only require that you pass three songs to get the encore song). Upon completion of each song, you’ll earn cash based on your performance. After completing the set’s encore, you’ll earn sponsorship money. You can use this cash in the game’s story, where you can buy new songs, guitars, characters, and other items to enhance your rocking experience.

New to the game is the Boss Battles. At certain points in the game, you’ll be challenged by Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), Slash (Guns ‘n’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), and a final boss that will bring your journey to a fitting conclusion. Battles play out like a strange Mario Kart style face off, where you try and sabotage your opponent’s performance by using power-ups.

If you’ve played Guitar Hero II, you’ll notice a big change in the difficulty levels. Easy, while still offering simple patterns and only three fret buttons, is a step above II’s Easy. Medium’s difficulty is dramatically ramped up — challenging, but not impossible. Hard difficulty is nearly identical to II’s Expert. And as for Expert — the title is very appropriate this time around.

Sound - The song list peaks at just over seventy songs — plenty to keep you rocking until the downloadable content rolls out (for the 360 and PS3, anyways). GHIII offers more master recordings of songs this time around. The covers’ quality have improved, as well (GHII had some awful covers).

Some of the in-game sound effects can be distracting. For example, when you hit a note streak (50 and on up), a graphic will pop up on screen accompanied by an annoying whooooosh!

Multiplayer - The standard offline two-player is back. This time, you and your friend can compete in Co-op Career Mode. You can also battle against each other in Battle Mode. GHIII also offers online multiplayer for the first time. You can face off in Battles, or you can play co-op with a friend.

Intangibles - The difficulty, even on Easy, may be frustrating for brand new players. My lovely wife Brandi has just started playing, and has found the Easy mode on Guitar Hero II to be much more accommodating. But if you’re experienced, expect a challenge on whatever level you’re used to.

- GHIII ships with a new, wireless guitar. There’s been quite a few complaints already about damaged or faulty guitars, so be careful. Even on mine, the red fret button sticks a bit. While the wireless may appeal to the majority of people, I prefer the previous wired version. Also, the wireless runs on two AA batteries. Unfortunately, if you own a battery pack for your standard 360 controller (sorry, I don’t know if this applies to other platforms), you can’t use it for your guitar. Start saving those pennies for some rechargeable batteries and a charger, kids. Lastly, on the wireless guitar, your “back” button is placed right by your strum bar, where your palm typically rests. While this was designed to make activating your Star Power easier, it’s also easier to activate it accidentally.

- The Boss Battles during career mode are frustrating. While I can understand adding this feature to online play against others, there’s no reason to include it in single player. For those of us who just want to play music, having these battles really gets in the way.

- The bonus songs that you can purchase with in-game cash are really good this time around — I’ve actually heard of some of these bands! While playing through, there were several songs that I felt deserved to be on the main set list, replacing some of the stinkers there.

- The next point will contain a spoiler, so skip it if you don’t want anything ruined.

- The final Boss Battle features “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” against… the devil. The song, redone with electric guitars instead of a fiddle (don’t dare call it a violin), sounds awesome. Since it’s a battle, though, there will be missed notes and screw-ups aplenty on both sides, really ruining a great song.

- A lot of songs on the main set list feature long riffs where you continuously play the same note over and over and over again. Not too fun.

- Some of the achievements (for the 360) look downright impossible to get. You can see the full list of them here.

- Prepare for some high-priced downloadable songs in the future. Too bad that Guitar Hero II songs can’t be ported to GHIII.

The Bottom Line - Overall, this is a worthy follow-up to the near-perfect Guitar Hero II. In the long run, when it comes to just pure fun, II is a better game with a slightly better track list and a more-balanced difficulty level. But I like the direction that III is taking, especially with the online multiplayer. If they would drop the Battles from the game proper, and take a bit more consideration into what songs make the main playlist, GHIV should be a killer game. Until then, though, Guitar Hero III should offer plenty of fun for your hard earned buck.

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1. The Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Review
2. Dave Navarro Promotes Guitar Hero
3. The Rock Band 2 Review
4. Guitar Hero, Commodore 64 Style
5. The Rock Band Review

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