critic reviews

[lovekeiiy]

Gamespot: 8.0

An abundance of advertising, a few visual issues, some overly restrictive design decisions, weak new modes, and a major upping of the difficulty level might seem like a lot of potential hindrances for a game to overcome, and yet none of these problems are big enough to rob Guitar Hero III of the same brand of addictive fun that made the previous entries in the franchise so engaging. Certainly the fantastic track list goes a long way toward that end, but the gameplay is really what sells it. Sure, the difficulty can be vexing, but the game never loses that sense of "just one more song" addictiveness, even at the height of its challenge level. Once you start playing, you'll be hooked for hours at a time, both online and off. It might ultimately just be more Guitar Hero, but that's hardly a bad thing--in fact, it's a great thing.

IGN: 8.9

Guitar Hero 3 is a safe first entry into the franchise by Neversoft. The studio didn't rock the boat too much and stuck with the tried and true formula of previous Guitar Hero games in most situations. The soundtrack is fantastic and the new online additions are going to take the Guitar Hero community to the next level. It really is hard to argue with any facet of the gameplay. Everything outside of the game itself, though, is in need of an overhaul as the presentation is growing a bit stale. It's hard to ask that of a developer's first foray into an established franchise, but it's equally hard to look at the game and not see room for improvement.

Neversoft got it right where it counts, though, and the third entry into the Guitar Hero franchise is just as fun as ever.

TeamXbox: 8.9

The look and feel of GH3 is a mixed bag. The gameplay segments are sharper than ever, with the character models improved, but also doing a better job of looking like they’re involved in the particular song you’re playing (right down to the singer’s lip synching). However, the cutscenes between those segments are made to be more cartoony, with all dialogue replaced by gibberish or something akin to what The Sims speak. They aren’t bad clips—they’re simply a different style that seems to clash with the rest of Guitar Hero III....

The online gameplay is an interesting experiment for the game’s makers and a rewarding platform for player competition...

More importantly, we’re just a short time from Rock Band’s appearance on the scene, and it’ll be interesting to see how the competition shapes up. It’s altogether possible that the two can happily co-exist in their respective universes—and share a larger, combined audience. That’s provided they can both keep the packages moving forward and growing. It’s yet to be seen, but it should provide better games across that genre for us.

Yahoo Games: 4.5/5

Guitar Hero III won't disappoint either diehard fans or people new to the series. This is the latest step in the stairway to heaven of home rocking. So if you haven't already got a copy, click that Buy It Now button and hold your lighter aloft. And for those about to rock, we salute you, and we'll see you online.

Gametrailers.com: 8.5

Game Trailers Video

[Peench]

Wow - those are some pretty awesome scores!

[D_Litch]

Gamespy gave it a 4.5 as well. And the GH head honcho, Sluggo, gave it his thumbs up.

[blars]

I'll agree with with the upping of the difficulty. I just got done watching my wife play the

Spoilers:

devil dude

on medium. good lord! I can't imagine what hard and expert looks like.

[D_Litch]

The difficulty did seem stepped up from GHII(which I played for the first time after Playing GHIII for 2 days). Certain songs seem impossible on Expert.