Firstly I'll admit that whilst I'm a huge fan of the Guitar Hero series, not owning either a PS2 or an Xbox 360, my exposure has been somewhat limited. In fact most of my experience of Guitar Hero II comes from extensively "testing" it, before I wrapped it up as a Christmas present for my brother last year, but I've had the odd refresher course when I visited him over the year as well.

If you're new to the series here's a brief run down: Guitar Hero is essentially a "rhythm" game (think Dance Dance Revolution, etc). Using the supplied guitar-shaped controller, you must press and hold one of five coloured fret buttons with your left hand and "strum" a large switch with your right as that coloured note reaches the bottom of the screen. Doing so results in the lead part of the current song being heard and a general sense of well being. Miss the note and you don't hear the lead guitar part of the song and your friends mock you. Miss too many notes in a row and you are booed off the stage.

There are 4 difficulty levels, the easiest only uses 3 colours and the notes are generally well spaced, out allowing even the most uncoordinated to belt out a rock ballad. Medium has 4 notes and requires a bit more coordination but most people can get through a song at this level on their first try. Hard uses all 5 colours and most songs require a few "practice" sessions to get through. (The jump between Medium and Hard difficulty is quite large due to the use of the fifth button, which means you have to move your left hand, something that takes a lot of getting used to.) I'm convinced Expert mode is included as either a torture device or so that the developers can get a kick out of watching people being booed off stage within the first 3 bars of a song.


This third instalment in the Guitar Hero franchise has seen lots of changes behind the scenes. Guitar Hero II publisher Red Octane was bought out by Activision, at the same time as the game's developer, Harmonix, was bought out by MTV Networks. The end result was that Activision retained the rights to the Guitar Hero series, but could not use the same developer. This version of Guitar Hero was then developed by Neversoft, best known for producing the Tony Hawk skate boarding series. Fans of the series that had concerns about this change can breathe a sigh of relief though, the game is essentially the same as previous instalments.

There are a few small changes to the HUD and layout from Guitar Hero II. Some new additions include a note streak counter and a message appearing on the screen as you reach 50, 100, 200 note streaks during a song. The star power meter has also had a cosmetic change - now a series of valves instead of 1 long one, but it's still used the same way.

There are two main gameplay changes introduced in Guitar Hero III. The first is a change to the way Hammer On and Pull Offs are used. In Guitar Hero II, almost any note sequence could be played using a Hammer On/Pull Off as long as the notes were close enough together. In GH3 this is no longer the case, only notes that have a glowing centre circle can be played this way. The result is that notes in fast sections that you might have previously landed just by hitting the fret button in time won't count any more, you will need to actively strum, instead. Conversely, you don't have to use a Hammer On/Pull Off to hit highlighted notes - you can still strum as with any normal note. However, there is one small bug with this new feature - the game sometimes records a "miss" on these highlighted notes due to detecting a Hammer On just before you strum. This means you've essentially hit the note twice, so the second hit is counted as a miss. For this reason it's a good idea to not strum these highlighted notes and instead use a Hammer On/Pull Off as the developers intended.

The second change is for those playing Career Mode. Not only has a small story been introduced (short, simple and humorous, with the cut scenes providing a good break between sets), but there are also now "Boss" battles at the end of every second stage. Boss battles are similar to the original Face Off mode, each player takes turns playing a phrase of a song. The difference is, instead of collecting star power, you collect Battle Power from successfully playing a sequence of notes marked as Battle Gems. You then use these Battle Powers on the Boss in order to force him to make mistakes. Getting the Boss booed off stage for too many mistakes is how you win the match. There are a variety different battle powers with varied effects such as increased difficulty, and broken string (where you must repeatedly push the one button until that string is back in "tune"). Unfortunately playing a Boss fight against the computer is very, very easy. Simply save your Battle Power for use when the computer is about to get one himself and you will win. Head-to-head multiplayer it's a lot more challenging, but more on that later.

Another small difference, perhaps only noticeable for players of the previous Guitar Hero games, is that the window in which you can hit a note successfully has been changed. It now allows slightly longer after the note has reached the bar for you to strum. For new users this makes the game a bit easier, but for veterans it will take some getting used to, especially if going from a recent bout with an earlier version of the game.


There are 46 songs in this version, with a wide variety of new and old tracks. However, some songs are only unlocked in co-op mode which is annoying if you only have the one guitar and lack of access to online multiplayer. A large number of indie songs are available for purchase in the in-game store as well, along with the usual outfits, guitars and characters you can buy. There are also four behind-the-scenes videos with Slash, Tom Morello, Bret Michaels and The Sex Pistols which you can pay for and download. They give a little bit of insight in too how their avatars were created for the game and the recording process for their songs featured in the game.

The Guitar Hero controller has had some changes as well. Overall the guitar feels heavier than its previous revisions, but is still only two-thirds the size of a standard guitar and will give you cramps after extended hours of play if you're used to a full-size guitar like me. The guitar neck is now detachable for easy carrying and storage; however there are already a number of reports of issues with this. The neck uses spring-loaded contact pins and exposed printed circuit board contacts to make the connection to the guitar body. If the guitar neck is moved out of alignment, which inevitably happens whilst playing, the contacts can be separated resulting in missed notes and more mocking by your friends. A number of innovative solutions to this problem by the Guitar Hero community have cropped up already, ranging from creative use of rubber bands, to pulling the neck apart and moving the contacts closer together. Personally, while we had issues with one of the PS3 controllers we were given, a replacement had much less of a problem. Your mileage will vary and I highly recommend you take the controller back to the store for a replacement if you find the connection loose.

I picked up the Wii version recently to compare, and the contact between the neck and the body is a lot more solid than the PS3 versions and I've encountered no trouble in my extensive testing of it so far. Another great thing about the Wii controller is that the "miss" noise comes from the Wii remote itself and the guitar vibrates during Star Power use, very cool if a little disturbing the first time it happens.

Graphically the game is using the same engine as the previous versions. The polygon count on the band members looks like it has been slightly increased, the sets are a little more animated, but overall it looks almost identical to Guitar Hero II. Compared to the PS3 version, however - the Wii version is running at a noticeably lower polygon count. There are only three character models for the crowd, set animations are choppy and infrequent and the Star Power animations for the characters are missing entirely. That said, the graphics (or lack thereof) do not distract from the core game play. There are also reports that the Wii version is not presenting Dolby II sound correctly, though this appears to be a bug and not due to hardware limitations. Hopefully that gets fixed soon.


Multiplayer mode is back, allowing you to play co-op, versus (Face Off) and Battle Mode. Like playing against the AI, Battle Mode really comes down to who ever gets the first power up. Co-op mode lets each player pick a difficulty level, with one player playing the lead and the second playing bass/rhythm. I found the bass guitar parts to be very easy, still a heap of fun though and where the games re-playability really shines.

Overall the game is great fun, particularly in multiplayer mode and has been ported well to both the PS3 and the Wii. If you're a fan of the series you won't be disappointed with this instalment. Newcomers will be able to pick it up very quickly as well, due to the note hit detection changes. On both platforms I give the game a 9/10, with the Wii's extra controller functions making up for its lack of graphics.