Most people are familiar with Guitar Hero by now, but if you're not then the good news is that the game is remarkably easy to pick up. The game comes bundled with a wireless guitar peripheral for a larger than normal recommended retail price. In-game, the player is presented with a vertically scrolling bar with five grooves, featuring coloured markers which move down the screen as the music plays. Each of these coloured markers represents one of the different coloured fret buttons on the guitar peripheral. By holding the appropriate coloured fret button and hammering the strummer at the right time, you strum a note. Mess up the timing, and you're given a mangled, out-of-tune note in return. Single notes are shown with just a solitary marker, while long notes have a trail behind them, indicating that the appropriate fret button must be held for that length of time. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well it is, after a few hours on easy mode when you're only using three coloured fret buttons - then you'll move onto four and those that want a real challenge will use five coloured fret buttons.
Hot.
Things get even more difficult when chords are introduced and you have to hold two buttons at once and strum. If you miss these notes, then the 'rock meter' on the bottom right corner of the screen will go down. If the rock meter goes too far down then it's game over and you'll have to start the song again. However, if you hit many notes in a row then you'll start a combo - by hitting combos you'll earn multipliers which increase your score. There are also special star-shaped notes littered throughout each of the songs. Hit all the notes in these sequences and you’ll fill up your ‘Star Power’ meter, which once full enough, allows you to instantly double your multiplier by holding your guitar vertically. This is obviously the key to gaining the high scores, but can also come in handy for getting out of trouble during the more difficult parts of songs.
The main reason Guitar Hero has really taken off is because it's just a heck of a lot of fun. The series has been a huge success commercially, and the fact that the guitar peripheral is always in somebody's hand at your local games shop is a testament to the mass appeal of the game. Guitar Hero is also the type of game just about anyone can play - your dad will be able to pick up the guitar, your mates will enjoy it and, if you find an appropriate song, your grandma may get involved. Possibly. The other appeal of Guitar Hero is that the game pushes the player to try and achieve perfection, as at the end of every song you're given a score and a star rating, and most players will consistently try and and beat their own scores.
Given the greatness of the previous releases in the series, the task put upon Neversoft and Vicarious Visions was not an easy one. But Legends of Rock isn't just an expansion, it's a full blown sequel. There is more of everything and a few things have changed.
While the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Legends of Rock were developed by Neversoft (of Tony Hawk fame) the Wii version was developed by Vicarious Visions, whose recent development portfolio includes Spider-Man 3. Before you even start the game up there are changes - the guitar has finally gone wireless, which is sure to appeal to those who have been rocking out and tripped over the chord, only to end up looking like more of a dud than a rock star. The guitar for the Wii version is a little bit different as well - you'll need to assemble the guitar by literally clicking two pieces together, and it includes a dock for a Wii Remote.
Feel the energy.
Inserting a Wii Remote into the guitar does change things a little - activating star power is still done by holding the guitar upwards, but as the game uses the Wii remote to sense when the guitar is being held up, it feels a little more accurate. We lost track of the amount of times we held the guitar up in Guitar Hero II without star power activating properly. The Wii remote also features sound, so when you miss a note you'll hear it locally, which is great.
Obviously the main difference with Legends of Rock is the track-list, which is one of the best yet. Activision certainly went to a lot of effort to add some variety, with over four decades of music covered. The Sex Pistols re-entered the studio for the first time in 30 years to re-record "Anarchy in the UK" and there are more licensed tracks than ever before, with bands such as Metallica, Muse, the Rolling Stones and Rage Against the Machine all featured in the game.
The single player campaign in Legends of Rock works much in the same way as the previous games. There is a tiered unlocking system, so you need to complete a certain number of songs to move onto the next tier. The game does include some animated cutscenes, but they aren't exactly memorable and add nothing to the game at all. While beginners won't notice, the game is actually a little less forgiving on the expert difficulty this time. Expert players will likely appreciate this, until they actually play through a song on expert, which is a heck of a challenge. Despite this, the game is still remarkably simple for players to get into - the easy mode was picked up by Guitar Hero amateurs in less than half an hour in an impromptu straw poll in our office - but expert mode really is a challenge.
Legends of Rock also features a two player battle mode. Battle mode is a little bit different, as if you hit a string of notes correctly you'll earn a power-up which can be used against your opponent. Power-ups include things like increasing the difficulty for your opponent, or doubling the number of notes your opponent will need to hit. The battle mode is enjoyable, but we preferred the face-off modes, which are back again. The battle mode actually does make it into the career mode, where players will have to face off against a few celebrity bosses such as Slash and Tom Morello. The boss battles don't really add anything to the game and your enjoyment of them will depend on whether the battle mode appeals to your or not.
Some of the places you'll play at are great.
Guitar Hero has always been best with a friend and Legends of Rock is no different. Obviously players can just play in one-off battles, but there is also a co-op option which will appeal to those who would rather play along with friends, rather than humiliate them. The Wii version also includes support for the Nintendo WiFi connection. Friend codes are unfortunately back with a vengeance, but pleasingly there are several online options. Ranked matches allow players to play face-off, pro face-off and battle. There are also unranked player matches for those who are less competitive. The Wii version of Guitar Hero III does not at this point offer support for downloadable content, and we're not sure whether it will actually be coming or not.
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a great addition to the franchise and well worth adding to your collection. The Wii version doesn't support downloadable content right now, but with a huge track list, a solid mix of songs, and the trusty Guitar Hero formula basically untouched, Legends of Rock is well recommended. Even with the change of developer, Guitar Hero is still a great franchise and one that deserves to be played by all.
Please note the images provided are not representative of the Wii version and are Xbox 360 screenshots.
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