 Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero 3 |
| Review Date: March 22, 2008 |
| Reviewer: trashcanman, Hanford, CA United States |
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2BO4KHRZ336TH Length: --:-- Mins
So which to buy, Rock Band or "Guitar Hero III: Myths of Rock"? The huge money is on both, but which of the two is the best? That all depends on what you want out of YOUR kicka$z rock simulator. Both have flaws and can be painfully trying, both are insanely fun to play, both are fantastic party games, both cost an arm and a leg and both ROCK THE MUTHA@#%*ING HOUSE! The wireless guitar controller for GH3 works wonderfully with RB, but there is no such like for GH3 if you buy the RB guitar. If you don't want to drum (singing can be done in a pinch with your xbox live headset), then buying the GH3 bundle is a no brainer as the gameplay, song feature, and presentation is far superior than RB's. Plus, after you're done beating it up with GH3 you can get the RB game for a mere $60 (or cheaper) and delight in it's very customizable font and super-assorted song choice using the GH guitar. Also in GH3's favor is a new translation of "Anarchy in the UK" recorded by the Sex Pistols just for this game. Slash, Tom Morello, and Brett Michaels also make appearances in-game which is sweet. Score one for the Myths of Rock.
But, the fun of playing drums in RB should not be underestimated. It's pricey, but if you've got the dough and a small bit of rhythm and aren't tone-deaf (like me) than RB is like 3 games in one: guitar/bass, karaoke, and drums. Plus there is an incredible and ever-growing choice of downloadable songs (priced about $2 each) from bands like The Police, Grateful Dead, The Clash, and Metallica. So for a few extra bucks you can increase the game's replayability even more. Not a huge fan of the "nickel-and-diming", but to play "Complete Control" and "Synchronicity II", it's worth it. Plus, did anyone say "essential party game?" My friends and family aren't gamers so I don't get to indulge the multiplayer nearly as often as I'd like (though the wife does delight in singing on reason and this marks the first time she's loved a videogame not named "Tetris") but I can assure you that the Band World Tour career mode is outstanding and much better than the lonelioness of the Solo Tour. GH3 also features downloadable songs, but they aren't particularly enticing to me even though the game itself features the most rockin' pool of songs humanly doable: thrash, hardcore punk, blues, avant-garde different rock, and much more. I've also gotten 4 songs ("Dream On" and 3 Dropkick Murphy jams) for free by keeping an eye on xbox live so hurray for Activision on that one.
Now the terrible. It's harsh to have to beat every single song to progress on solo modein RB. I've been stuck on the insanely long and trying "Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws on drums and I don't really have time to do a 10-minute song over and over. GH3 let's you skip a song on each difficulty level if you choose and is easily the more challenging game when it comes to the guitar. The notes come quick and hard even on normal difficulty and the final run of songs will make you head spin and fingers hurt if you're not one of those inhuman gamers who can do this stuff blindfolded. And if you are, I'd like to eat your brain and gain your powers like Sylar because I've got only slightly more talent for this than I do real guitar playing -which is much simpler than playing expert difficulty on GH3. I play these games to relax, not to go all Pete Townshend on my gaming equipment. Normal difficulty on RB is absolute cake after playing GH3, and the timing on notes often isn't right either, but when you go into hard difficulty the game goes from slightly challenging to impracticable for me about middle owing to the solo career mode. At least GH3 ramps up the difficulty slowly. There is no such problem on Band World Tour mode, by the way. YOu can pretty much pick and choose what you want to do and what songs to play. RB's flaws and a very cool, over-the-top style make GH3 the king of guitar games. But, again, if you want to drum or sing RB is the only game in town. Unless you get American Idol , that is. And if you do, you suck. Majorly. And still can't drum.
The bottom line is this: if you like rock music, save up whatever you can and buy both. Even if you have to buy them piece-by-piece like I did, both games are awe-inspiring for rock music fans. If you're into the hard stuff like Slayer and Dead Kennedys and do most of your gaming singleplayer than go for GH3; the game's song choice adn challenge is unrivalled. If you prefer more mainstream different music like Radiohead and REM than RB is your ticket. While GH3's guitar battle mode is very cool, RB certainly gets the win on the multiplayer aspect. If you've got 3 friends or family members who are into it, there is no better way to delight in some fantastic music together than with RB. There is some song overlap as both games figure "Sabotage", "When You Were Young" and others which is harsh and there should never, ever, EVER be a rock game -much less two- with no Jimi, no AC/DC, and no Van Halen. It's just not right. But all is forgiven because these are two killer gaming franchises that will keep us busy (and broke!) for years to come. Rock on!
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Fantastic Music, Fantastic Solo Play, Fantastic Group Play
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| Review Date: October 29, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Lisa Shea, |
I adore the Guitar Hero series. It is incredibly fun, can be played co-op, and exposes players to all sorts of fantastic music. Guitar Hero III ups the ante with even more fantastic songs plus a new battle mode for fun head to head gameplay!
Once again you're a small time band starting off in your garage - or make that, your back yard. As you play owing to songs on your guitar controller, your career starts to take off. You make videos, play larger arenas, and earn money. The money lets you buy yourself new outfits and guitars. As you battle special players, you unlock their font - like Slash from Guns 'N Roses.
In every Guitar Hero game there have been songs I've liked and other songs I haven't liked. That's going to be right pretty much no matter who you are. They try their very best to grant a wide range of music to suit all guitar tastes, and they do an brilliant job at it. Some of the songs are SUPER in this set and got me up off the couch dancing around while I played along.
The new battle mode is a ton of fun. Before, you'd get a simple encore at the end of each set. This time you irregularly have to fight a newcomer for guitar rule. In battle mode you earn "attacks" that you can then lob at your opponent. These do things like break strings, make you play double notes, make your screen shake, and much more. It is super fun. Near the end of the game when you're down in "Hades", you have to battle the devil himself playing ... Devil went down to Georgia!
There are of course the extras to unlock by doing things like playing 100 notes in a row, the skill to play against friends head to head locally, plus the new skill to play against others online! Talk about a right challenge! It was always scary enough looking at XBox Live and seeing how amazingly high some of those scores were. Presume trying to play those people live?
The graphics are fantastic. Each place is fleshed out in fantastic detail, from the flickering flames of Hades to the glowing red lanterns of your back yard. The audience always seems a small automatic, but heck, how much do you want from a guitar game?
Many of the songs are now original band-sung songs - including a Living Color song that the band re-recorded particularly for this game! There are still a pool of songs that are "in the style of" - some are excellent, some are really not so excellent. The Stevie Ray Vaughn song stands out as the not-so-excellent reproduction. Still, what can you do. Why aren't those bands giving the Guitar Hero guys consent to use their real tracks? Don't they know how immensely standard this game is?
The wireless guitar controller and it's worked pretty flawlessly so far. We've noticed a tiny amount of 'misses' with the red button, but that may be us getting used to it, we'll have to see.
Highly, highly recommended. It was so much fun that my boyfriend, a guitar player, would irregularly try to play the "real notes" rather than the Guitar Hero game notes. It really is absorbing!
Make sure you get TWO guitars to go with it, so you can play with a friend! |
Guitar Hero III is the way to go
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| Review Date: October 27, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Stufondu, Acton, MA |
| I first pre-prearranged this game a few weeks back and I was surprised to have gotten it yesterday when I plotting it didnt get realesed until the 28th. I'm about middle owing to the battle on expert which is pretty fun. The battles against Slash are pretty tough and hard to get the hang of but once your used to it it makes sense. I would definitly recommend this game, especially becasue the wireless guitar is awwwwwsome. The track list is pretty excellent and I can't wait to find out what other songs are on it. The price was a small steep but its definitly worth it. This game is sick!! |
Fantastic fun family game.
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| Review Date: December 5, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Kat aka My Single Mom Life, Sarasota, Florida |
I bought this for my teenage sons who have been begging for it, and when it came I found I loved to play it just as much.
The track list is a lot of classic rock songs, and newer rock, perfect for the kids and parents.
This is one video game where I don't mind the volume turned up all the way.
The guitar controller takes some getting used to, but once you learn, it's tons of fun rocking out and effectual your way up to rock star god!
This is one of those games where the parents can feel excellent about let kids play it. No violence, no swearing, just excellent rock n' roll fun! |
The Rock Gods have smiled upon us!
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| Review Date: October 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Scott Gibson, Mooresville, IN, USA |
For anyone who has been playing the GH series since it came out around late 2005 it's hard to look back at what music based games used to be like.
For anyone who has NOT been playing the GH series...WTF ARE YOU Coming up FOR?!
The third repayment of the Guitar Hero series is here! Guitar Hero III: Myths of Rock. I bought this game opening day around 11:30am-ish and since have played a solid 8 hours honest. Frankly...my hands hurt. *whimpers*
GH3 is absolutely Incredible! I've been playing GH from the get-go and it seems that Red Octane is going to continue to up the ante with every repayment. The gameplay is polished to a mirror sheen in this translation with the reins being extremely smooth and perfectly free of any errors or problems. (Anyone who remembers the original Guitar Hero remembers how terrible the flawed hammer-on and pull-off system was.) Just to repeat: Shiny and very excellent system. Vastly superior from all previous versons of GH. Graphics for Myths of Rock is also very huge. They new graphics (especially for the 360 and PS3 versions) are absolutely gorgeous. Half the time I find myself paying more attention to the female typeset *ahem* charms, which are perfectly rendered in 3D, more than the notes I'm playing. Call me what you will but seriously the shadow things as well as the new texture maps make the graphics nearly surrealy-realistic. Thumbs up to Red Octane!
Irrevocably...the song list...What else can be said other than..."Holy mother of all things held sacred...." If I had to sum up this track-list in one word it'd be "EPIC". These songs will be recognizable by anyone into any genre of rock. Everything from Classic rock, to modern different, classic metal, heavy metal, euro-rock, it's all there. For a more meticulous song-list there are hundreds of websites that'll give it to you if you just google "GH3 song list".
I've only found two problems with this game:
1.) Two of the promised tracks were shorted from the game. "Thunderstruck" AC/DC and "Set of steps to Heaven" Led Zepplin.
2.) The culture curve of this game pretty terrible. I could play Hard mode sections 1-7 quite well but as soon as I hit part 8 I was overwhelmed. The songs went from playable to downright insane in a split second. |
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