Campaign

The storyline is the exact same as the previous Guitar Hero games. You start out as a small band, and work your way up to the top of the charts. The only thing that they have really added is a few cutscenes after each tier, but the cutscenes really aren't that great. They're maybe 30 seconds with something like your band being featured on the news or something like that.

Something which they have added that I like is the boss battles. There is three battles, one against Tom Morello, one against Slash, and the final against the devil. Instead of star power, you get battle power. Each time you hit a series of notes with spikes on them, you can use the battle power to do things like make the enemy play with lefty flip, or double the amount of notes. I found it extremely fun, and it is very challenging on expert.

Overall, the campaigns story is pretty mediocre, but still fun to play through.

Graphics

Well, they aren't much better than the previous Guitar Hero games. The art style is quite unique, and cartoonish. Obviously, this game's graphics are nothing compared to most next-generation games, but when you consider that the visuals in this game are one of the least important factors, then they are actually pretty good.

Sound

Well, now we have gone from least important, to most important. The soundtrack in this game is excellent, and in my opinion the best in the series. There is over 70 tracks (plus downloadable content) to choose from. With big hitters like "Welcome to the Jungle", "Cult of Personality", and "One", it is considered by most the best Guitar Hero soundtrack of them all. The crowds cheers and special effects are pretty well done too.

Gameplay

If you've played Guitar Hero before, you know it's extremely fun. But they have added even more features this time around. There's the boss battles, which I explained earlier, and a co-op campaign, which you actually must play through to unlock certain songs (i.e. "Helicopter"). And this is the first Guitar Hero to finally feature online (which will be detailed in the online section).

Not only have they added new features, but they have made it much harder for veterans of the series aswell. So if you found Guitar Hero 2 a little to easy, Guitar Hero 3 will most-likely be a different story.

As in previous Guitar Hero games, you can purchase new guitars, bonus songs, and more from a store using in-game money you've earned from concerts.

Overall, the gameplay of Guitar Hero 3 is still great, and very fun to rock out to your favorite songs.

Online

This is the first Guitar Hero game to finally feature online, and it does a great job of doing it successfully. There is quite a few modes, including: Battle, which is the same as in campaign, Face-off, where you and the opponent take turns playing different parts of the song, and Pro-face off, where the two players just play through the entire song, and the one with the most points at the end wins.

The online is very well done, and adds a lot of replayability to the game. It makes it even more addicting than Guitar Hero 1 and 2 were.

Guitar Hero 3 Vs. Rock Band

Now, the only problem that Guitar Hero has this year, is that it has some competition. And I must say, Rock Band is a much better music game than Guitar Hero 3. Not only does the guitar play much better, but on top of that you can play drums, and sing in Rock Band. Rock Band offers character customization, and also online just like Guitar Hero 3. Only it does the online even better than Guitar Hero, as you can play in a band using your created characters, or 1 on 1 using any of the instruments.

Closing Comments

While Guitar Hero 3 is no longer the king of music games, it is still a fun experience. If you aren't willing to shell out $170 for Rock Band, then Guitar Hero 3 will still give you a very good music game experience.