Sugarrae - Never Mess With a Woman Who Can Pull Rank

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to me on Twitter, which is updated on a more frequent - and more meaningless - basis.

I had been waiting for months for Guitar Hero III to come out. And on the day it was released Devo and rmay snagged me a copy. I literally pounced on the box, opened it and found Slash’s guitar (the GH3 guitar was modeled after the famous rocker’s) in all of its wireless glory. I took care in putting on the stickers that fit my liking and finding a comfortable position for the shoulder strap (I highly doubt anyone reading an seo blog should be calling *me* a geek for this). Then it was time to play…

Unfortunately, between the kids and work, I didn’t have time to sit down and have a proper “junk out” with it. But, this week I was finally able to sit down and rock out. Additionally, I was also let down.

Now don’t get me wrong… the graphics are way better. The characters (along with the ability to style them) is way cooler. The wireless guitar, once you figure out how to sync it (hit the small white button on the front of the X-box and once the green lights starts rotating, turn on your guitar with the power button and THEN hit the small black button near where the shoulder strap snaps on at the bottom of the guitar) is fucking awesome. The sets are better. Presentation wise, this thing kicks Guitar Hero II’s ass.

But, play wise, it was a huge let down… to me. First, don’t get me wrong, some of the songs kick ass. Being able to rock out to Guns and Roses, the Stones and many more was great. But, I was able to five star almost every single song on the first try. Now, I play on medium, but I played Guitar Hero II on medium as well and there is *still* one song I can’t hit five stars on in that damn thing (it’s Psychobilly Freakout if you must know).

The “known” songs on GH three are better than those on GH two, but there were a ton of songs I didn’t particularly care for (and that is likely a taste thing)… but bottom line is that when I can ace a song with five stars on medium that I’ve never heard before on level seven, we have an issue with the “challenge” involved in the game.

Upon beating it on medium, the game gives you a cryptic message at the end letting you know you’ll find more songs if you play the game on hard. Well, I don’t have twelve hours a day to devote to learning the hard mode (98% on a song first shot in medium vs. not being able to get through the same song after 15 tries in hard mode is a big difference - I’m don’t want easy [which is what these songs were] and I don’t want hard - per the whole “medium” designation). I suspect this game is aimed at those playing on hard or expert level and not those of us who simply enjoy a good junk out session.

Another annoyance is that there are different encores in co-op career mode vs. regular career mode. So if you want to get the Beastie Boys (and others), you’ll need to go through the entire game in co-op mode to get access to them (of course, when the songs are that easy on medium, once could argue that it isn’t a huge deal). Co-op career mode of course requires two guitars, so if you don’t have any friends who plunked down the cash for the game, you’ll have to plunk down the cash for an x-box live membership to find someone else in the same predicament to play with.

Apparently, playing guitar and rocking out - the thing that made the first two games so successful, wasn’t enough, so they also added “bosses” this time. You have to beat the boss in battle mode. I think it’s fucking stupid, but it isn’t hard and then you get to play an encore of one of the boss’s songs (and yes, Slash is a boss). But, one thing about the bosses annoyed the hell out of me.

One of the songs I was most excited about was The Devil Went Down to Georgia. I couldn’t WAIT to get to the song. The song is the song you battle to with the last boss, the Devil (on medium anyway). Fine, I battle him and I win. I head back to the song list so that I can play my favorite song on the game without the interference of the battle crap (since it fucks up your play no matter what throughout the song, even if you do extremely well).

To my horror, you cannot. The only way to play The Devil Went Down to Georgia - on medium - is to do it as a battle. No score, no stars (though it does give a percentage at the end), no ability to play the song free and clear of the stupid battle shit. And for that Red Octane, regardless of anything else, fuck you. Fuck. You.