Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle Reviews

• Shoddy, defective port...

  
  By A14X1BRHL55HYV on 2007-11-20
  I'm used to somewhat lackluster ports for Nintendo consoles, as a one time GameCube-only owner. It's nothing new. This one, however, has turned out to be _particularly_ bad.
  
  First, though, I'll talk about Guitar Hero 3 itself. Great game. If you liked 2, it's likely you'll more than enjoy 3. They've eased up the timing required on the notes, while at the same time seemingly ramped up the complexity on later songs. Not sure how I feel about that, but it's not too bad. You can still turn on a "precision" mode too, to tighten up the timing window...but you'd best have robotic hands before trying it!
  
  The setlist is good. There were only about 3 or 4 songs that I didn't particularly enjoy, and a couple of those were still fun to play (just lackluster musically). It's not hard to track down a full list, I'll leave it to you to decide how you feel.
  
  I'm not a fan of the boss battle system. I'll not go into detail, I'll just say that in general it's not particularly fun. Battle mode against another human is a bit more interesting, but against he AI it just doesn't do it for me. Fortunately, with the exception of (I believe) the final battle with Lou you can simply wuss out...lose three times and they'll let you move on regardless.
  
  Okay, now on to Wii-specific issues. First, two minor ones. The graphics are horrid; it appears, at least to me, to be a straight PS2 port even though the Wii can do better. Not a huge deal, though, since I don't play this for the graphics...plus, I've heard of some sporadic slowdown issues on the 360/PS3 versions, and on a rhythm game a solid framerate is _much_ more important than how it looks. The only other minor issue is paying essentially the same for a guitar that is actually a "shell." No transmitter. At first I thought the Wii version was $10 less because of this, but then I remembered that PS3/360 games MSRP for $10 more in general ($60 over $50). So I guess we'll see if/when the standalone guitars come out for Wii. I hope they don't think they can charge the same as the "fully functional" wireless ones for other systems.
  
  Now, the major ones. First up, and a huge one: no stereo sound. The in-game music/sound is mono-only. It says Dolby Surround on the box,and apparently one of the intro videos is (the rest are not), but when you're playing, it's a flashback to the 1930's with brilliant single-channel audio. The developers have yet to acknowledge the existence of this problem, let alone announce any plans to fix it; write them, and they'll give you the runaround trying to get you to fiddle with your amplifier/decoder settings or Wii audio settings. As I know perfectly well what I'm doing in this regard, I had already tried all of this...it appears that their goal is to get you to output this mono channel through both speakers, which is good enough to fool at least some people. It's still mono, put on headphones and you will be able to tell _easily_. Pay attention to the music and you can tell without headphones.
  
  So, considering that music has been released in stereo for decades and consoles have been in stereo for decades as well (since SNES/Genesis), and that the audio on all three other consoles is stereo/surround as well (including PS2), this is pretty unforgivable. Lying and attempting to deceive the customer by trying to get them to set their audio up in a way that might fool them is as well. Failing to simply acknowledge the problem, announce a plan to fix it, and make it happen is pretty bad as well. In short, this version (Wii) is defective, and if you own any other console I'd avoid it. Even if you don't, I'd hold off until the problem is acknowledged and fixed.
  
  The only other major problem on the Wii is the lack of downloadable content. Could be due to limited storage space, I don't know. But the point is that the Wii (along with the PS2) versions leave you with the songs included on the disc...you're not getting any more. I noted somebody in another review (and it's a common one) complaining that the boss battle songs were only playable in battle mode; well, on PS3 and 360 this has been fixed, and those songs have been released for normal play as downloadable content. Regardless of the reason this wasn't done for the Wii, it does somewhat cripple the game compared to the other "online" consoles.
  
  Overall, if you're a huge Guitar Hero fan and only own a Wii (or perhaps want to play online and only own a Wii/PS2) I guess this is the version you're stuck with. I'd _highly_ recommend waiting, however, until there is some official word on the sound issue. I can't imagine they won't fix it (especially since it claims surround on the box...false advertising and all) at some point, and I'd hope they'd replace existing copies. However, the former could be solved by removing the surround logo, and even if they do fix it the latter is not guaranteed.
  
  Seriously, hold off on buying this.
  
  EDIT: As of this edit, both DLC for Wii and (finally!) the intent to fix the issue and replace discs have been announced by Activision. I will do a complete re-write of this review shortly.
  
  

• Rocks So Hard It May Hurt Itself!!

  
  By ATN4J5VS8Q0YM on 2007-10-28
  I've never played the previous games in this series but this game is addictive! The Wii remote is easy to tuck into the guitar and the tutorial is pretty easy. Instead of strings you have a bar you push corresponding to how fast the notes move. I've never strummed guitar, my husband has. And I'm thrashing him at this game!
  
  You work you're way up from a garage band, earning money along the way that you can spend in the games store for goodies like new outfits, real songs from around the world, and extra characters.Your current playlist is good with songs everybody knows even if their a poptart. You may even get asked to do an encore! My one gripe is their aren't that many chick songs, at least not on the levels I've played.
  
  If you can find a second guitar remote you can rock head to head, which I plan to do with the spouse. I'll need to find a pink faceplate though. The makers said they'd have alternate fronts, so here's hoping. The guitar/remote is about the size of a eukalalie but still manages to make you feel very boss and you'll suddenly find yourself moving with attitude to the rhythm.
  
  Stop reading and go play one!!!
  
  
  
  

• Some flaws, but overall a great game

  
  By A2HVC1IXR56PPS on 2007-11-11
  I come to Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii having played Guitar Hero 2 on the PS2 at Expert difficulty. Sometimes formula can be a bad thing, other times it's not. This is one of those "not" times.
  
  The game plays basically the same as its predecessor, and on top of that it's got a better set list. After reaching 5-star level on nearly all the songs at Expert difficulty in Guitar Hero 2, I found that the list of songs that I actually just enjoyed playing was very short. That's not so much the case with Guitar Hero 3, which has a larger collection of songs that are both fun to play and to listen to.
  
  There are flaws, though. It seems to me that the new developers decided that they needed to tweak the Hammer On/Pull Off controls a little, and the result of this tweaking was that there were many times throughout the game where I instinctively didn't strum because two notes were close together, but one of the notes inexplicably required you to strum. Although this increases the difficulty, it feels awkward and forced (you could, after all, just do away with HOPOs altogether rather than making them unworkable at seemingly random times).
  
  I'm not a big fan of the boss battles, either. The battle mode seems a good idea for balancing multiplayer Guitar Hero, because Guitar Hero 2 suffered significantly from the fact that an Expert player could hardly help beating anyone playing on Medium in the Face-off mode, at least not without putting down the guitar, which isn't exactly fun. However, the battle mode really has no place in the single-player career mode, where all I'm looking to do is play some songs.
  
  It doesn't help that the boss battles are not very well executed. The final boss battle had me stuck for quite some time, simply because the battle power-ups that I was getting weren't very useful against the opponent. When I finally got the right power-up, defeating him was trivially easy. That means the battle was far too dependent on randomness, which isn't really fun in a game that's good precisely because it depends completely on skill.
  
  Add on top of this the fact that, for no obvious reason, the songs that you play in the boss battles can't be accessed away from those battles. That means there's no way to just play these songs. You've always got to be worried about defeating an opponent who's messing up your ability to play. Along the same lines, certain songs are only unlockable by playing multiplayer mode. I wouldn't call that a good idea in any case, but it's especially annoying on the Wii version, because there currently is no guitar available for separate purchase, which means you must find someone else who owns both a Wii and Guitar Hero 3, and most people I know who have the game have it for PS2 or XBox 360.
  
  The game is still lots of fun even with these flaws. There are some good new features to balance things out, such as the ability to play the game online (though again it seems that more often than not when I go looking for an online game, there aren't any available). I think I like the Wii guitar controller better than the PS2 controllers for Guitar Hero 2, in part because they seem more responsive. A number of times when using the PS2 controller and strumming very rapidly while attempting to deploy Star Power, I have had the controller frustratingly not register my movement despite holding the controller vertically. I haven't noticed such problems on the Wii.
  
  As far as difficulty goes, if you played Guitar Hero 2 on Expert, then it won't take you long to get through Guitar Hero 3 on Expert, either. Some of the songs are still difficult (and some will cramp your hand), but because the gameplay mechanics are the same (and that is a good thing), if you're good at Guitar Hero you're good at Guitar Hero. You won't have too much trouble with the vast majority of the songs in the game.
  
  All in all, if you liked Guitar Hero 2, you'll probably like Guitar Hero 3. If you didn't, why are you reading this?
  
  

• GH III totally rocks on the Wii!!!!!!

  
  By A2NX6MFZP8TM6S on 2007-10-28
  I won't bore you with a long, drawn-out review. Guitar Hero III for the Wii is AMAZING! The rumbling guitar is awesome. Haven't tried online game play, but I'm sure that'll be sweet, too. Glad I reserved this game and got it on the day it came out!!! Highly recommended for Wii owners!! And I can't wait for the additional controllers to come out!! Rock on Wii Nation!!!
  
  

• Actually a 4.5 because two-player gameplay is tough to come by

  
  By A3NQ9RB9JFHF04 on 2007-10-31
  I love the Wii version of GH III. I love the PS2 version, too! (I have both.) "Why?" you may be asking.
  
  I love the Wii version because of the cool, new, wireless guitar controller. It's so shiny and pristine white and works well with no glitches in play no matter what direction I am pointing. I love the online function.
  
  What I don't like is that it's tough (right now at least) to find a good online partner (or stranger) to play. I am the only person I know who has the Wii version. Wii guitar controllers only come in the GH III bundle, and reports are that these solo controllers won't be available until early 2008. (Are you kidding me???)
  
  So I have to play co-op and battle mode with my PS2... which is fine, but that means I have to complete the levels twice on two different systems. I'm a GH nut, so I don't mind doing that...
  
  All in all, I love the Wii version. It's just so fresh and new with the new controller and the online play. But it's still untapped fun (until we can buy a second controller and can download other songs online).
  
  
• Life in Mono
  By A33LM30J987Q65 on 2007-11-30
  Guitar Hero 3 is great, however there are some problems with this particular version.
  First, let me point out the obvious. This is the first and only Guitar Hero game for any Nintendo system. Currently only Rock Band Special Edition has been released for Wii, there are no plans for any of the three other Guitar Hero games will come to Wii. In other words this is the only game in town for GH on the Wii and sadly the game plays songs only in Mono. This means if you have a fancy surround system, the music would only come out of the center speaker. You can rig it up so that the same mono sound comes out of other speakers, but that is not even an approximation of Dolby Pro Logic II. This is a negative, but shouldn't really prevent anyone from picking this game up.
  
  The game itself is still as good as Guitar Hero 2 Bundle with Guitar or Guitar Hero (Game Only). In fact I would say that generally on the same difficulty level this game is a bit harder that the others. The set list, like the others, is a combination of classic and modern music. This is an online game, so you can play against people online and they claim that at some point additional songs will be available to purchase (not likely).
  The new feature for this one is the battle mode. In these special boards you will face off with Slash, Tom Morello, etc... and instead of star power you get attacks to use against your opponent. It is well done, but since it is only a few songs it doesn't play a major part in the game.
  The Gibson branded guitar looks great and the Wii-mote actually plugging into it allows for better tilt functions. Also it rumbles and sound comes out of the controller, though it is rarely used (rumble for star power and speaker mostly for missed notes) it does put this version over the other guitars.
  The big negative is the mono sound from the game. Even though the packaging clearly says Dolby Pro Logic 2, it is only in that sound format for the menus and whatnot. [On 12/6/07 Activision acknowledged this bug and offers a disk exchange.]
  
  Since this is a music game, the mono sound is a negative, but really it shouldn't prevent anyone from picking this up. There will be a disk exchange coming in the future [I totally called that one], in the meantime, rock on.
  
  EDIT: Here is the press release from Activision spokeswoman Rhy-Ming Poon:
  "We recently became aware that some consumers have not been able to enjoy the full audio output in the Nintendo Wii version of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. We are currently working with Nintendo and are planning to issue an improved audio experience in future versions of the game. We expect to have re-mastered discs available by early 2008 and we will be offering consumers replacement discs at no cost once they become available. We thank all of our customers for their support and patience."
  
  
• My First GH, My First Day in what looks to be An Addictive Experience (Bring GH2 out 4 the Wii)
  By A1CXNTLATG1HVE on 2007-10-28
  I got GH3 the day it was released. This is the first time I've ever played the game, so I played it on easy. With watching the tutorial, taking breaks to eat or whatever, it took me a little less then 7 hours to beat it on easy.
  
  I was tired becuase I got it at midnight and I wanted to stop but it's very addictive, you want to play one more song or beat one more boss, yes bosses! There are three boss battles in the main game against Rage Agains the Machine's Guitar player, against Slash from G n'R, and against Lou (The Devil).
  
  Basically you pick a character, from six availible, and you join a rock band and progress through their career. Basically you play three songs and then the crowd demands an encore, and you can refuse to play and leave but I never did, and you can play a four song after which you'll see a cut scene. The cut scenes are really good animation but they are very short which is probably fine but I wouldn't have minded more of a story and some voice acting may have made it better but that wasn't necessary.
  
  To play a song you push one of five bottons which are your five strings and push the pick lever and you'll hit the note. On easy you only use three strings, or three bottons. With the Wii version unlike the other two you actually insert your Wiimote controller into the back of your guitar and you can see and touch the front of the Wiimote from the front of the guitar, which probably saved the manufactures money on making the device wireless but it also has a fuction, when you miss a note, during a song, or play when there just isn't a target there you hear a missed string sound come from the speaker on your Wiimote controller, which is kind of cool I guess (I don't believe any other versions have a speaker on their guitars).
  
  The game isn't really hard on easy, which makes sense, but for new players it's probably where you'll have to begin. I believe I beat every or almost every song I played on my first try. The boss battles are a little more difficult but not a lot with it taking three tries for each of them. The battles which can also be played verses another player or online verses other human opponents may be fun for a while but the gimmicks you use to battle with don't seem like they will have much lasting appeal. Basically in the battles the screen is split in two with each player having a side and instead of getting Star power, which is a power up in the one player mode, you get attacks like upping the difficulty for example from easy to medium which adds a string/buttom, or flipping the oppents color buttoms/strings on screen upside down, or making the notes flash making them easy to miss, another you have to shake your Whammy bar, and broken string where you must puss the string bottom repeatedly to repair the string, oh and there is a death blow too which kills your opponent I guess.
  
  The lasting appeal is that you can get better scores, beat it on different difficulties (with all the buttons/strings used), and unlock new characters or guitars or songs to play in the freeplay mode. Personally I wish they would have taken the 30ish songs you can buy with cash you earn in the game from playing gigs and instead of just having a buch of songs that can just be played for fun, they would have instead made the game longer. After beating the career mode even on easy there is a minor loss of coolness to it all, but only minor, I'm still going to be playing this thing for a long long time.
  
  Oh I wanted to mention the graphics too, on the Wii the graphics are amazing, possibly even to amazing because on some of the levels they are so beautiful and bright and there is so much to look at you can become distracted, especially for example during songs like Santana's Black Magic Woman where you hold notes for a really long time and in the backgroud your band is rocking out at their desert gig reminisent of Burning Man. I'm not saying it's a coplaint, I'm sure I'll get used to it but people who have played other guitar heroes might think there is too much going on in the backgroud, I don't know.
  
  Finally I am annoyed that the songs with words someone somewhere deems inappropriate are censored, I've never been a fan of art being censored and despite their wanting a Teen rating I still feel it's a undesirable practice. It's not that I wish to hear those words, it's that I believe Art should be experienced the way the Artists created it to be experienced.
  
  Which leads directly into another minor personal complint, the Dead Kennedys is my all time favorite punk band and they have a song in GH3. Or at least you're suppose to believe they do, that guy singing that song isn't Jello Biafra the lead singer of the Dead Kennedys, it's his words but not his voice, and there are probably legal reasons why it's not him, but I wont go into it.
  
  This is an amazing fun experiece, think DDR for your fingers except with rock, very addictive and cool. It's not the cheapest thing out there but you'll have hundreds of hours of fun playing through this trying to unlock and buy everything and master Expert mode.
  
  Now will the creators of Guitar Hero PLEASE RELEASE GUITAR HERO 2 on the Wii (I need more and I want to play those songs)!!
  
  
• FAKE ITEM
  By A21YYTXIXI7PP0 on 2007-11-12
  So, according to paradise_valley_n_freedom_books this is item is "FOR XBOX SYSTEM ONLY", but it is "COMPLETE NINTENDO WII GUITAR HERO SET"
  
  Last time I checked the Nintendo Wii version doesn't work on the xbox.
  
  Looks more like this is a completely fake item.
  
  
• FUN - But there is a bug in the WII version.
  By A194D5VMV2HUK6 on 2007-11-15
  This could have been a great game but Wii owners note - there is a bug in the Wii version which Activision has not addressed (and may not address) and it's a pretty major one:
  
  Apparently the Wii version of GH3 is NOT in STEREO (mono only). Has something to do with the Pro Logic II decoding problem (or maybe they thought they could just release it that way and get away with it).
  
  For a game based upon Music this is unacceptable. Please research this on your own by typing in "Wii Guitar Hero bug" or "Wii Guitar Hero Mono" into any search engine. MAJOR oversight and quality problem for Activision. Also a problem for Nintendo as I am getting sick of getting second rate games on this console. After Wii Sports, what really else is there? EA didn't even make NHL 08' for it and they had over a year to do so.
  There is no HOCKEY game for the Wii yet and it is considered a major sport behind Football, Baseball & Basketball. Come on Nintendo give some incentives to your developers to fill out your lineup with some decent games and not junk. One can only play so many mini-game gimmick titles before wanting to buy a PS3 or XBOX 360.
  
  Nintendo - these crappy titles will ultimately hurt the Wii.
  
  Also, I am dissapointed about the focus on "Satanic" songs and images in the GH3 release. They could have easily chosen another storyline for the game. I think I will pass on this one - and I had it on my list.
  
  
• For me a spectacular introduction to the series
  By A2KGCK3Q4VARC8 on 2008-03-15
  I'm someone who had never played Guitar Hero 1 or 2 before I bought Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. I can't really compare it previous versions of the game, nor can I compare it to the other systems' versions of Guitar Hero 3. What I can do is give a viewpoint to what this game is like to someone just playing this series for the first time.
  
  The sound is a big part of what this game is about, and obviously I'm talking about the sound track in large part. Of the incredibly varied list of songs, over 70 in all, I enjoyed most of them. There are a few songs in the bonus track listing that I don't even both to play because the music just isn't good, but overall still far more hits than misses. As a first time Guitar Hero player a big thumbs up for the soundtrack, though there's certainly room to improve in future versions.
  
  Now on to the gameplay. There is certainly a substatial learning curve for new players. Obviously you start with easy mode, which isn't bad as begininer song. Then on medium where three four chords are used, and hard where five are used. The practice mode is very helpful, and if you want to get good you'll have to spend a lot of time there. I haven't even gottent to expert and I've had the game for a few months. It's very much an experience that's very fun and challenging, no matter what your skill level. The controls are perfectly responsive, obeviously important for the harder difficulties.
  
  In the end I can't get enough of this game. The Wii wireless guitar works great, with the sound coming out of the Guitar and a rumble feature on star power (things apparently not available in other versions of the game. It's powered by the Wiimote inside the guitar shell, but doesn't use battery life as fast as you might fear. As a first time Guitar Hero player I have to give this my highest recomendation. Minor issues aside (not that impressive of visuals and some crappy songs) it's a great experience.
  
  
• wii guitar hero 3 is awesome
  By A3VM4L2WX1H0N7 on 2007-12-08
  I owned GH 2 on playstation, and this is even better. I love the wireless feature for the wii - highly recommend.
  
  
• Rock Out Loud
  By A3W4D8XOGLWUN5 on 2007-10-29
  When it comes to music games, Nintendo has always been a step behind the competition of Sony & Microsoft. Although they've had that opportunity with games like Dance Dance Revolution, they haven't yet been able to Rock Out Loud!!! With the success of Guitar Hero I & II for the Playstation 2, and Xbox 360, Wii gamers have been going absolutely mad, waiting for the chance to see the feeling of the guitar strings go wild for months now. Now, they finally have that opportunity with the latest sequel in one of the most electrifying music franchise games of all time, but does it really deliver or miss the mark that the other game systems caught on?
  
  Guitar Hero III for the Nintendo Wii, finally enters the latest phase in Rock n' Roll gaming. The gameplay is just like what it was with the Xbox 360, and PS2, but the gameplay is more exciting around this time. The game includes the same modes from before including co-op mode and multiplayer action, but what makes the gameplay shine now is the battle mode, where you can rock out against foes to help unlock new songs and characters to rock with. There are also a lot of great songs here this time that are truly to the hard cores of metal and hard rock that range from Rap like The Beastie Boys classic Sabatoge, Guns N' Roses classic Welcome To The Jungle and the debut of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on the game series with Suck My Kiss from Blood Sugar Sex Magik, to 70's legendary songs from Alice Cooper on School's Out and the great Santana with Black Magic Woman and the Kiss party anthem Rock & Roll All Night.
  
  The game also comes with a specialty guitar that is wireless and works great for Wii gamers who've played the earlier ones for PS2 or Xbox 360, but what makes this one shine so bright is the multiplayer action. The game works well even more to the Wii fanatic, as now you can battle against gamers online through Nintendo Wi-FI connection which works flawlessly. My only gripe though about the game is that I wish they could've made it a little less expensive, consider Guitar Hero is finally on the Wii.
  
  All in all, it has been about time Guitar Hero has finally made its way onto the Wii, and this edition makes a great grand entry to new gamers young and old alike. I absolutely think you'll definitely rock out loud to this latest edition of Guitar Hero III, and young and old want to party everyday.
  
  Graphics: B+
  
  Sound: A-
  
  Control: B+
  
  Fun & Enjoyment: B+ for solo; A 1/2- for multiplayer action
  
  Overall: B+
  
  
• Buy this one if you only own a Wii
  By A38ZZ5M2KJX22O on 2007-11-02
  Like pretty much every rhythm game, Guitar Hero can be insanely addictive. There's always that sense of "oh, just one more song. Oh, just one more song. Oh, just one more song."
  
  The song list is incredibly deep and will keep you occupied for a nice long time. The difficulty level is a little off, though. The Medium was just a bit too easy to get through. There's definitely room to go back to top your score, but just blowing through the stages to get to the end was a bit too easy. Hard difficulty, on the other hand, lives up to it's name.
  
  An extremely nice feature is Practice Mode, which will let you take sections of any song and slow them down. I would have preferred a slider to control how much I wanted to alter the speed, as opposed to just full speed, slow, slower, and slowest, but it works well enough.
  
  An obvious thumbs down for the Wii version is the lack of downloadable content. Don't get me wrong - mastering every included song will take you awhile, but the fact that there's a definite ceiling to the number of songs you'll have access to takes away a lot from the Wii version.
  
  This is one game where one of my first concerns was simply whether or not it was lefty friendly. I think, for the most part, a left-handed person might have a bit of an advantage when it came to Guitar Hero because the "picking" doesn't need to be nearly as precise as when you're actually playing a guitar. Alas, I have the misfortune of actually playing the guitar, and I'm left-handed.
  
  The lefty flip option is simple enough, and the guitar strap is set up so you can easily play the guitar upside down. The only two issues I have with it are a) the whammy bar is a bit more difficult to use, so trying to actually bend notes can actually lead you to screw up, and b) the '-' button is out of reach. While tilting the guitar up activates the power-up, there are times where I'd really prefer to be able to hit the button with a free finger.
  
  While this is definitely a solid purchase, I'd only recommend it if the Wii is the only console you own. If you own an Xbox 360, then I would highly recommend going with that version.
  
  
• Defective product... Pro Logic II audio is only in mono
  By A2VARB7XLFUDG6 on 2007-11-10
  I was very excited to receive this game, and I couldn't wait to "rock-out" in Dolby Pro Logic II as advertised on the back of the game's box! However, I was quickly disappointed to find out that the game's Dolby Pro Logic II only routes mono audio to the center channel. I have found this to be a widely reported defect of the Wii version of the game, so beware!
  
  
• Turn it up to 11
  By A1VMRQS8TTYGVD on 2007-10-29
  This game rocks. No doubt about it. Anyone who has played the previous games will already know this. But this game rocks extra hard on the Wii.
  
  The controller fits nice and snug in the guitar. What is nice about this setup is the wiimote will vibrate or use the built in speaker all the time. Whenever you mess up and don't hit a note, that annoying sound isn't really loud on your speakers. And if you're like me you'll play this game with the volume way up on a nice system. So for the missed note "ching" noise to be only on the wiimote is very nice. Also, whenever you use the star power the wiimote vibrates. It's just a little extra to make this game great.
  
  The graphics are good, but who cares. This game is all about fun play style and the music! This game is so fun and addicting! The first night I had it I had a BBQ at my place and everyone loved it. The music is awesome for the most part. There are a few songs that I don't really care for, but the majority of the songs rock.
  
  If you're having second thoughts about buying this, don't. Trust me, this game is actually worth the $80 price tag.
  
  
• Fun, but outputs in mono sound
  By A1A018F333RAGX on 2007-11-13
  As pointed out, the game at this time does not output sound in stereo or Dolby Pro Logic II. Also, there is no Co-op Quickplay.
  
  Both these features were in Guitar Hero 2, so it seems the game has taken a step down in certain areas. Otherwise, it's what you would expect. Lots of fun if you can ignore the mono sound, but I would wait for Activision to release a fixed version before buying this.
  
  
• Great Game but Horrible Sound on Wii
  By A3FJC3NG8JG9C2 on 2007-11-27
  The gameplay is similar to previous Guitar Hero's. They've added a "Battle" mode which you either love or hate.. I personally could do without it. The online play is awesome since it's always an adrenaline rush playing complete strangers. It can be very rewarding or humbling depending on how good you are. Having the botched notes come from your wii-mote is a nice touch too.
  
  The one major category this game fails to shine is in the sound. It's not in the advertised "Dolby Pro Logic II" that's stamped on the box nor is it in Stereo. WHO MAKES A GAME BASED ON MUSIC IN MONO!?!?! Deploying your star power makes the game sound very muffled.
  
  I would give this game 5 stars but I have to give it 3 for the awful sound.
  
  
• No Sound?
  By A3CMBQHEAEYME1 on 2007-12-26
  First of all, this game sells for $89.99, so don't pay more than that. We bought GH3 for my daughter's Wii, and were surprised and saddened that there was no sound at all. The sound was fine in other games, just not GH3. After doing some research on line, it turns out that the maker of the game, Activision, is being sued for false advertising. It turns out that while it advertises that it handles Dolby Surround sound stereo, it actually only does that for the other platforms. For the Wii, it only spits out mono. Activision has no time frame as to when they'll be coming out with a patch. Even then the patch might only be available for download if you connect your Wii to the internet. We decided to return GH3 and get something else.
  
  
• The Game is a Blast, But the Impossible to find Second Controller Ruins it
  By AHIQLTOK5F4XB on 2007-11-08
  The game is a blast to play, but the biggest fault I can find with it is it is impossible to find a second controller! You can search Amazon, or any website and there is no way to buy a second guitar. How are you supposed to enjoy co-op mode with family & friends if you can't get a second guitar hooked up? What's the deal with that?
  
  I would like to see some of the songs from the earlier guitar Hero's that aren't available on the Wii show up as well, while this song selection is fun there are some great ones on the earlier games that the Wii platform didn't get to enjoy.
  
  The online content is interesting but so far have been unable to get it to find any other players.
  
  
• Don't buy unless you want to play alone
  By ALDN3IXEV36IE on 2007-11-29
  The game is great, but I really wish I had NOT purchased the Wii version. The lack of extra guitars is just ridiculous. Why bother to include a co-op mode if you aren't going sell extra guitars? I'm selling my copy and getting one for PS2 or maybe see if I end up with an Xbox 360 this year. As with most Wii games, the graphics are fairly weak, but that is to be expected.
  
  
• Don't buy this for more than $90!!!
  By A2BT58XZRRJTMW on 2007-12-17
  Don't buy it for such a high price. I don't know if any other reviews mention this, but it seems like Activision is not releasing more until January. This is probably because they finally acknowledged the mono/stereo problem and will be shipping (and replacing) the fixed discs to stores next month.
  
  Oh, and this game is great. I have all three for PS2 but like this one the most because of both the song list and online play.
  
  
• Great game lousy guitar
  By A16MA9LYJ4ANP4 on 2007-12-23
  Note: I didn't get this game through amazon, but that is not the issue.
  
  I purchased this game for my two sons because they begged me so much. Lucky me I found it. We all enjoyed the game and the music. I've only played GH1 before and found this a great improvement. Some people listed a problem with no Stereo Sound, I couldn't tell since I'm using this on an old TV but through those speakers, the sounds was reasonable.
  
  Now for the bad news. Unfortunately, a few days after purchasing the game, I found myself missing some notes. Those fret buttons didn't respond correctly and I kept on wondering until I read a forum about GH3 that listed hardware interface problems between the neck and head of the guitar due to the 2 piece nature of the guitar. I tried the simple fixes that were described and I got the guitar partially functional until a week later when the same thing happened. I tried fixing it again but it wouldn't work so I returned it (one of 3 that was returned that day).
  
  I'm going to wait until Activision fixes the problem with these guitars before I decide to buy this game. My rating will stay at 1 star until they fix it. It's too much of a hassle to deal with a retailer due to shoddy merchandise. I suggest you all do the same, unless you like the hassle.
  
  
• Slightly different from previous versions
  By APRQ5UKX3RJYX on 2007-10-29
  This review is going to focus on differences between previous versions, most because I don't really know how to describe the experience. The original Guitar Hero is what convinced me to buy a PS2. Beyond that, it's a rhythm game that uses rock music (and full songs!) instead of ... what you find in DDR. I highly encourage you to check out the song list to see if the music is your cup of tea; if it isn't, you just aren't going to enjoy playing the game. Personally, I like the songs better than in GH2, but honestly that doesn't really say much. I should probably also mention here that 22 of the 40 licensed tracks (i.e., non-bonus tracks) are performed by the original artists (i.e., not a cover band). For me, this is a big plus because some of the covers in GH2 (and even in GH3) are quite bad.
  
  First, the hardware. The neck is detachable. When I first heard about this, I was concerned about flex in the controller, so I'm happy to say that these concerns were warrantless. The controller is very solid. Buttons are a bit nicer. The Wii guitars are particularly nice because they leverage all the features of the "wiimote": speaker, accelerometers, rumble, and wireless. It means the bundle is a bit cheaper and even does more than the other versions. In particular, wireless (no dongles, even!) is nice to have.
  
  As for graphics (although, graphics aren't exactly important in a game like this), it looks like they either animated the characters by hand (poorly) or their motion capture is truly awful. In any case, it's worse than before. On the plus side, I have not noticed any of the framerate slowdowns that were common (at least on my PS2) in the 2 previous games. Also, hammer-ons/pull-offs are much, much easier to see now.
  
  Battle mode is new ... and it's awful. Easily the worst part of the game for me. Fortunately, it's easily avoided if you don't like it. If you *do* like them, well, they're there for you. It looked pretty doable in medium difficulty (my wife beat Tom Morello on her first try), but--for me, anyway--he was literally impossible to beat on expert. And for some reason, the boss songs (not the encores, mind you) are not in the training room, so you can't practice outside of the actual battles.
  
  One more odd change is that the "Quickplay" behaves a bit differently than before. You choose the difficulty before you choose the song. If you're playing by yourself (or with people of similar skill) this is great. While not *great* at this game, I am better than anyone else I play with (specifically, my wife), so I find it annoying. Also, I can't play all songs on expert, so it's nice to be able to tone it down to hard when I need to. I still can, but it's just more annoying to do it now.
  
  I give it five stars because of the improved track list, graphics (stable framerate), and hardware. Oh, and one last thing: there's online play if that's your thing (quite rare for a Nintendo platform). No downloadable songs, but looking at their pricing on the 360, I don't think I'm missing much.
  
  UPDATE: After playing with it some time, I have to mark it down a star. It appears that Neversoft (who developed the title) did not take many of the assets from the first two games, and so there are a lot of odd little changes that don't make much sense.
  
  In particular, while the addition of a co-op career mode is great, there isn't a co-op quickplay mode (when you go to "multiplayer", it's just face-off and pro face-off). This is a glaring oversite. Another irritating "feature" is that the co-op encores are unique for the mode. Yay more songs! but you can only unlock them in co-op career mode! Here's where I would have used the online play, but I'm foiled again by the fact that you can't play through the co-op career online. Basically, to play the songs at all, I needed to go through the entire 6 sets playing on the remote while my wife used the guitar (at the time of writing, stand-alone guitars aren't for sale). Using the wiimote feels more like "flautist hero"; suffice it to say that it's more fun with the guitar controller.
  
  Other nitpicks include the fact that bonus tracks are kept on a separate screen (and button press) from normal tracks for reasons that are beyond me. The boss battles, as far as I can tell (admittedly, I haven't checked much), aren't playable outside of ... well, doing a boss battle. I didn't like the battles to begin with (they weren't "fun" to me), so this isn't a big loss.
  
  Basically, I give them +1 for including a co-op career mode, and -2 for implementation.
  
  
• Best In Series
  By A1IGSFQL5MXCD9 on 2007-11-17
  Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the 4th and best game in the Guitar Hero Series. For those of you who don't know, Guitar Hero comes with a plastic guitar with five buttons instead of frets, a strum button, and a whammy bar. The object is to hit notes scrolling towards you by pressing the buttons and the strum button in time with the music. If you miss to many notes, you will get "booed" off the stages. However, if you hit every note, you are rewarded with "Star Power", which increases your score. You can also use the Whammy bar on extended notes.
  
  In a game like Guitar Hero, The game lives and dies on its soundtrack. Guitar hero III delivers on the soundtrack. For fans of Classic rock, there is The Who, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Heart, and Foghat. For Fans of Hard Rock, there's Mountain, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Guns n' Roses, and Black Sabbath. For Punk fans there are the Sex Pistols, Social Distortion, and The Dead Kennedys. 90's Rock Fans will enjoy Pearl Jam, Weezer, Rage Against the Machine, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Metal Fans will like Slipknot, Metallica, and Slayer. Also, Jazz makes its long-overdue debut in GHIII, with Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover, which is my favorite song in the game. There really is something for every rock fan. However, there is no Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, or Van Halen, so there is room for improvement.
  
  The Graphics are not very good in this game. Though the Guitarists and Venues look nice, The backing band looks bad (The drummer seriously has right angles for elbows). However, when playing, you are too busy concentrating on the upcoming notes to care about the graphics.
  
  There are a few new features in Guitar Hero III, some good and some bad. A good feature is the Online Play via The Nintendo WFC. If a friend of yours has the game and a home network, you can play multiplayer online together. It works the same as the local multiplayer and there is no lag. A Not-so-good new feature is the battle mode. In the career mode, you will face off against famous guitarists like Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Slash from Guns and Roses. In this mode, you receive power-ups that screw up your opponent. Your opponents can fire back and easily end your game. The Final guitarist you face is very cheap and difficult to beat.
  
  Overall, this is a great game that you will play for weeks on end. This game is great for kids of all ages (The Teen Rating is unwarranted as there are very few songs that swear)because of the difficulty levels. This is the best game in the series and I highly recommend it.
  
  
• Great Game but a few Satanic references
  By A24RCBRDXRXR0Y on 2008-01-20
  I have never played any of the other guitar heroes games and I know everyone is talking about how much fun this game is so I decided to try it out. I was frustrated th first few times I played and just couldnt figure it out. I didnt give up though and figured the controls out it just took me a couple of times looking and sounding really bad. Has a lot of songs but a lot of them i have never heard of before. I had heard of some of the artists but they where theit lesser known songs(guess they didnt want to pay the big bucks for the good songs). The game follow you from a garage band to playing big venues. It does have some rather demonic things in the game you play a guy with horns named Lou(as in lucifer) and other references to you becoming a rock god. But it is still an addictive game but some of the demonic imagery and references could have been left out of the game they just werent needed.
  
  
• age appropriate games
  By A3AVZAYW3NGK3T on 2008-10-06
  I ordered this game for my granddaughter who was turning 10. When I got the box and looked at it I decided that it really seemed inappropriate for her age. The tatooed, pierced singers on the box and the warning - at that point - that the words were sexually explicit were more than I could deal with for a just turning 10 year old. I wish there had been some sort of heads up in the description. I couldn't really say how much fun the game was because I didn't give it to her.
  
  
• Great use of the Wii
  By A1JLDSUH44CQ3R on 2007-11-06
  I've played guitar recreationally for over 20 years and played the previous Guitar Hero versions at my local electronics store and it's no exaggeration to say GHIII for the Wii *rocks*! The songs are more technically intricate than in previous versions and the story-line is engaging. I'm also really delighted by the art, which seems more influenced by urban art and Heavy Metal comics than by your standard animation interface. I've played one easy song for two hours and enjoyed myself immensely. My band geek roommate, who never plays video games, was so intrigued she wanted to try.
  
  
• A lot of fun for the whole family
  By AYMD77ITD15PT on 2007-12-23
  Guitar Hero III is a great game for the whole family. Having a young son its hard to find some games that we all can play or he can even watch me palying, due to violence in other games. Kudo's to Activision for coming up with a game that anyone can play and is a complete blast.
  
  It takes a while to get use to playing the game but once you get down the baic controls and figure out how to move your fingers the game becomes a lot of fun. The on-line play feature is a very nice addition to a Wii game. This is the first one that has on-line playing on the Wii, that I'm aware of.
  
  If you enjoy rock music and are looking for something different to play by yourself or with your family, this is a great game...this kids love it.
  
  
  
  
• Guitar Hero Really Does ROCK!!!!!!!!
  By on 2008-01-21
  I'm going to try to make this brief. Okay, you might just think I gave this game 5 stars for the heck of it, but literally this game is a whole lot of fun, doesn't matter if you're a total beginner and have no idea what to do or you're a complete expert and can play every level with ease, it has 4 totally different levels (All the songs are the same on all levels, though.)
  Positives
  - The songs' notes go to the rhythm of the song at times, but it could rapidly be the opposite other times. Some people might put this as a Con, but I think it makes the game a whole lot better.
  - There is a huge list of songs originally (43 or something), as well as a whole bunch of other songs to buy.
  - The tutorials really are helpful, and explain everything in a matter of seconds.
  Cons
  - The guitar battles can be really frustrating, trying over and over again. It's probably the part of Guitar Hero III, I hate the most. It get's discouraging.
  - The whole things of Star Power, the Whammy Bar, etc can a bit confusing, and sometimes, overwhelming, but it adds choices to the game, I guess.
  - You have to have big hands to master all the levels. I find it quite impossible to hit all five keys randomly if you have to keep moving your hand. All five keys are only in the Hard & Expert levels, though, so you really don't have to worry about that, unless you get really good, and need more challenge, but can't go onto the next level, because you don't have a big hand.
  Overall, Guitar Hero III is probably the best of all the Guitar Heroes, but that's just my opinion, other people would disagree. It's really fun for the whole family, and I would recommend it as a Wii (or Playstation or Xbox 360) game any day.
  
  
  
  
• Wii Guitar Hero
  By A38F96T6FGDYA5 on 2008-02-29
  I bought GH3 for my xbox 360. I had just got my xbox back after getting the 3 red lights of death. I was playing for an hour and a half, and this awful noise came from my xbox, and then the game quit, and the drive opened. I pressed the close button and it kept opening up. So, off the xbox went back to McAllen to be fixed AGAIN!! Well, I saw that walmart had a bunch of the wii versions of gh3, and I knew from reading the reviews that it was in mono. I enjoy the game that much that I went out and bought it for the Wii. Well, I switched back to the 360 when I got it back, for two reasons...Mainly, i wanted to hear the game in surround stereo, but more importantly, i wanted to download extra songs.
  Well, according to wikipedia, starting sometime soon, the wii will start offering downloadable songs as well. I went to the activision website and registered for a replacement copy for my wii mono disc. Then, three days ago, in the mail, i received a large envelope. Inside this envelope was a prepaid mailer, a questionnaire, and instructions. I have from now until 28 august to send my disc in for a replacement. If you send it in after that date, then you won't even get your mono game returned. So, it says wait 3 to 4 weeks for your replacement. Thankfully, i have the 360 version.
  
  I actually like the wii guitar better. It is not as sensitive as the xbox guitar, which means, if you even move your finger just a millimeter, the sustained note will cut off. Plus, i do like how the wii mistakes actually come from your remote in the guitar instead of out of the speakers. I'll update this review once my new disc comes in and the dlc becomes available.
  
  I'd also like to say that I'm sorry that this review seems a little disjointed.
  
  8 May 2008: I want to add that I sent my disc back to get the new one, and it seemed a little machine like the manner in which activision did it. I have received the new disc and it plays great. However, imagine my surprise when I go to my mailbox, and lo and behold what do I find?? I guess Activision felt so bad about their mistake that they sent me a faceplate for my guitar. For something somewhat minor, i thought it was a damn better "oops, we messed up we're sorry" than the whole free one month of gold membership to xbox live that they've given me (twice) for my xbox getting the rings of death...
  
  

• Guitar Hero 3
• Gene Simmons Axe Guitar
• Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse: Battlefield 2142 Edition
• Digital Blue Tony Hawk Helmetcam
• Sport Series Headphones Black

• Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle
• Wii Frontman Wireless Guitar - White
• Official Nintendo Wii Wheel
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel