Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game developed by Neversoft published by Activision and RedOctane. It is the third full installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall. Guitar Hero III was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with the PlayStation 2 version developed through Budcat Creations and the Wii version through Vicarious Visions. Aspyr Media assisted in porting the game to the PC, and Mac platforms in late 2007. Due to the acquisition of RedOctane by Activision, Harmonix Music Systems is no longer involved in developing titles in the Guitar Hero series; instead, they developed the competing Rock Band.


Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock retains the same gameplay as the other games in the series. The player uses a special guitar-shaped controller to simulate the playing of rock music by playing in-time to scrolling notes on-screen. Guitar Hero III includes a new cooperative career mode and "Boss Battles" against both in-game characters and other players; the game is also the first in the series to allow for online play for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii versions. The game features over 70 total songs shipped on disk, many of which, in contrast to previous games, are master tracks. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions also feature the ability to download additional songs. Several musicians appear in Guitar Hero 3, including Tom Morello (of the bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) and Slash (of the bands Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver) as in-game characters. The PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions also include Bret Michaels (of the band Poison).

The game was well-received, though reviewers noted the difference in the feel of the game compared to the previous installments due to the change of developer. The game was the best-selling video game of 2007, both in terms of units sold and revenue earned.

Gameplay

The Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock gameplay remains unchanged from previous titles in the series; the player must hit notes as they scroll towards the bottom of the screen in time with music in order to maintain their performance and to score points. Hitting notes using the guitar controller requires strumming the strum bar while holding down the correct fret button(s). Playing with the standard controller only requires the correct button to be pressed. Notes can be sustained (in which the fret button(s) must remain held until the note is complete) and can also form a chord (two or three notes played together; however the song "Go That Far" by the Bret Michaels Band features four note chords on the rhythm guitar track on expert difficulty. It is the first song that features four note chords in the Guitar Hero series; the Joe Perry Guitar Battle in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and "Pride and Joy" in Guitar Hero: On Tour are the only other songs in the series which feature a four-note chord.). The game also simulates hammer-ons and pull-offs for sections with a rapid series of notes. Missing a note will cause a performance meter to drop; if this meter drops too low, the player will fail the song, represented in-game by the band being booed off the stage. A string of 10 consecutive correct notes earns a multiplier to increase the player's score (up until four times), and special sections, marked by starred notes, can be used to build Star Power; when released (by tilting the guitar controller up vertically or hitting a button on a standard controller), the player's multiplier is doubled, the performance meter increases faster when a correct note is hit, and there is less of a penalty for missing notes. As with the previous games in the series, Guitar Hero III contains four difficulty levels: Easy (which uses three of the fret buttons); Medium (which makes use of four of the fret buttons); Hard (which utilizes all five fret buttons); and Expert (which adds no new fret buttons, but increases the number of notes and the general difficulty).

Career Mode

As with previous Guitar Hero games, a player will progress through multiple tiers of songs, unlocking new songs along the way. The single player career mode in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock features 8 tiers with 42 songs total. The player is required to complete a number of songs in each tier, the number depending on the difficulty level, and then is offered an encore performance with one additional song. After a tier is complete, a new tier is introduced. New in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock are career mode boss battles; at three points during the career mode, the player is required to compete against a boss character: Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou the Devil, in order to progress. Each successfully completed song earns in-game money that the player can use at the game's store to unlock new characters, outfits, guitars and finishes, bonus songs, and videos. Additionally, beating a song in career mode unlocks it for play in all other game modes.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is the first game in the series to feature a storyline for the Career mode, portrayed through animated cartoon scenes in between venues. The band starts out as a neighborhood sensation, before hooking up with a record producer named Lou at one of their shows. After a successful music video hits the web, the band travels to England, and then performs at an island jail (despite Lou encouraging them to 'sell out'), which ends up boosting the band's popularity. As a result, they are invited to headline the Desert Rock Tour festival. After a botched performance in Japan (thanks to Lou) they attempt to break free of their contract with Lou, who then reveals himself to be the Devil and the contract as ownership of their souls. The band is dragged down to Lou's "Inferno", where the final showdown comes. In this final showdown, the player must defeat Lou in a boss battle to earn back the band's souls, and the title of "Rock Legend".

Co-op Career Mode

Two players using the same console can participate in Co-op Career Mode, which is arranged similarly to the single player Career mode, with one player on lead guitar and the other on bass or rhythm guitar. There are only 6 tiers of songs, with each encore song being unique to the co-op mode. There are no boss battles in this mode.

The co-op storyline portrays the vocalist and drummer looking for a guitarist and bassist. After their first performance, the drummer has the idea of making a video to make a name for the A. The video skyrockets the band's popularity, earning them a gig in Japan, but differences between the core members put the band on a three-month hiatus. In the band's comeback performance, the pyrotechnics start a fire in the neighborhood, and the members are sent to jail, where Lou bails them out as long as they perform for the inmates. As soon as the band leaves prison, though, they are sent to Lou's "Inferno", where they must find their way out by playing a live show.

Battle Mode

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock introduced Battle Mode, a competitive mode between two players either locally or over network play. The mode puts a twist on the Pro Face-off mode introduced in Guitar Hero II. Two players compete against each other, trying to make his or her opponent fail or lose by successfully playing "Battle Power" sequences (which replaces Star Power) to earn attacks that can be used against the opponent. Players can store three attacks at a time. To activate these temporary attacks, the player tilts his or her guitar upward, presses the select button (PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 releases), back button (Xbox 360 release), or minus button (Wii release). If neither player fails the song, they will face each other in a Sudden Death segment, where all further "Battle Powers" attainable are Death Drain attacks, which inevitably makes the opponent fail by draining his or her Rock Meter.

Characters

Neversoft lead developer Alan Flores revealed that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has a cast of thirteen characters. Characters returning from previous titles are Johnny Napalm, Judy Nails, Axel Steel, Izzy Sparks, Casey Lynch, Lars Ümlaüt, and Xavier Stone. Midori is an original playable character that can be selected; additionally, each system has two additional playable characters that can be unlocked: the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions include the characters of Metalhead and Elroy Budvis, while the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions include The God of Rock and The Grim Ripper.

In addition, the player can unlock the three boss characters: Tom Morello, Slash, and Lou the Devil, once they have completed their respective boss battles in career mode. While Bret Michaels appears in the game and sings specific songs, he is not a playable character in the game. Michaels is only included in the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game. However, his motion-captured movements are all done for the in-game fictional singer for all versions that resembles Anthony Kiedis, including the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions.

Development



In May 2006, RedOctane, the publisher of Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II, and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, was purchased by Activision, while MTV bought the developer of previous Guitar Hero games, Harmonix, in September of the same year. As a result of both purchases, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was instead published by Activision, with development responsibilities shifting from Harmonix to Neversoft Entertainment. Neversoft president Joel Jewett noted that his company was asked to perform the development work based on a humorous conversation that Jewett had with RedOctane's founders Kai and Charles Huang at the 2006 E3 Convention, describing how Guitar Hero helped to reduce the stress in the Neversoft offices during their development of Tony Hawk's Project 8; months later, Jewett was contacted by the Huangs, requesting them to work on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Activision initially stated that the game was planned for release in the fiscal year of 2008, which stretches from March 2007 to March 2008. On April 9, 2007, RedOctane clarified this by unofficially stating on their website that "Guitar Hero 3 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii are currently scheduled for release in the United States in Fall of 2007." On April 16, 2007, RedOctane founder Kai Huang revealed that all versions of the game would feature wireless controllers as well as online multiplayer and downloadable content.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was officially announced by Activision and RedOctane on May 23, 2007 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The fall 2007 release date was reconfirmed. New wireless controllers shaped like a Gibson Les Paul (PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360) and Kramer Striker (PlayStation 2) models were confirmed, along with removable faceplates that will allow players to personalize their guitar. Activision avoided all mention of the title "Guitar Hero III", instead referring to the game as "the next Guitar Hero". Dusty Welch, head of publishing at RedOctane, promised "new online and multi-player game play modes", and that "many of the top bands and songs we've tried to get in the past are now on board, and we've definitely got some giant aces in the hole to say the least." The online play feature will extend to the Wii version, as announced by Nintendo at the 2007 E3 conference. A week later, IGN revealed the wireless Les Paul controller, which features a removable neck for travel purposes. Additionally, new gameplay videos and screenshots were revealed.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock introduced three new characters modeled after real-life musicians. Slash is one of the "bosses" and an unlockable playable character in the game. Slash did motion capture with RedOctane to record his movements for the game, and by beating him in a one-on-one competition (playing an original composition of his), he will be unlocked as a playable character. The master track of "Welcome to the Jungle" appears as an encore song which is playable with Slash. Similarly, Tom Morello is a boss and unlockable character within the game. Bret Michaels appears as non-playable vocalist for certain songs, providing his voice for these master tracks.

A demo of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock appeared in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground for the Xbox 360, as well as being available as both a Xbox Live Marketplace download and an ISO image that could be created through a PC to use on the Xbox 360. The demo features five songs ("Lay Down", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Even Flow", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", and "The Metal") played within the Desert Rock Tour venue.

On September 11, 2007, Aspyr Media and Activision announced that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be developed for both the PC and Macintosh platforms. The PC and Mac versions of the game are expected to ship bundled together on November 12, 2007, slightly after the release of the console versions[dated info], and will include the same USB-based Gibson X-Plorer guitar controller included with the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero II. However, Windows users with the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows will be able to use the Xbox 360 Gibson Les Paul wireless guitar controller as well, though this is not supported by Aspyr Media.