Games I'm playing.....Part 2

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock
Damn I love to air guitar. I've been doing it since my shower voice turned out to be crap, so it's been ages. In fact my air guitar marathons are right up there with some of the best things I'm able to do.
I got into the Guitar Hero franchise when I saw the guitar from GH2 at a Hi-Fi Corp store about a year and a bit ago. Yeah of course I'd heard about it but I'd never actually seen it in action. I was sold immediately, or at least a copy of the game was when I picked up one second hand on our local Xbox 360 forum [http://www.xbox-360.co.za/forum]. I've been jamming on and off since I got the game. That is the great thing about Guitar Hero, its replayability. I mean even if you clocked it, got all the achievements, you'll still come back to solo a couple of the rock anthems over and over again. This is a series that can keep itself fresh through enough DLC.

As soon as I heard GH3 was available locally I made plans to get it. The planning was centrally about how to raise the money. It's expensive at anything from R750 - R850, but totally worth it - it comes with the coolest game peripheral known to man - The Les Paul Guitar - and it's wireless to boot! The guitar comes with a couple of stickers so you can personalise the bad boy to your liking too. I used all the stickers barring one. The glaring differences between the Les Paul guitar and GH2 guitar go beyond the look to the feel. The Les Paul's whammy bar is longer and the fret buttons feel like they are spaced slightly further apart (they aren't) and the strum bar is longer. Generally the Les Paul feels less like a toy.

I started off on easy as I had learnt very quickly playing GH2 that my ring and my small finger belong to somebody else as soon as I give them orders. They persist in either working at the same time or not at all - I am hoping this sorts itself out with enough practise. The game really eases you into it with the first couple of songs. The notes don't come to quickly and before long you will be thrashing away like a spaced-out rocker, or maybe that's just me. There are some great songs to play, my favourites so far has been Cherub Rock by the Smashing Pumpkins and Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones. Given that I am only half way through (about 26 songs) the easy campaign, there's a lot more of that coolness coming. If you feel like practising you can select Quick Play which will let you sharpen up without advancing through the campaign. You can also play your downloaded songs there which is obviously a great feature. New song packs are available online from the Xbox Marketplace - a song pack consists of 3 songs and will set you back 500 points. Single songs cost 200 points, so the value is definitely with the 3 song packs. At this stage there is no word on DLC for the PS3 version of the game but I can't see them taking their time with this.


One thing I didn't get a chance to do when GH2 was still in vogue was to try out the multi-player. Now that I have two guitars (the GH2 edition is fully compatible) I am going to be battling it out with my wor... I mean better half. (I'm so gonna get my ass kicked!) I have managed to come across the battle portion of the game during my single player campaign and it is fantastic. The screen has two scrolling channels next to each other, one yours and one for you opponent. In battle mode the notes contain 'attacks' which if you hit can be used on your opponent to make them mess up. The challenge is hitting your notes and then tilting your controlling sending your attack to your opponent - you've got to make him fail the song to be declared the winner.

This game is seriously addictive. Once you start playing it is so hard to stop, especially once you've mastered the basics - and you will - in no time you'll be showing off to all and sundry. It's such a simple yet amazingly gratifying concept, cracking a hard song for the first time will see you jumping with glee (don't let the frowns of your onlookers put you off). Just keep yourself in check, although smashing your guitar looks cool, you haven't really sold the CD's to replace your Les Paul at whim!

-RE: Gamer