Something I learned today: 10/28/07 Guitar Hero III Initial Reactions

Ok. I bought Guitar Hero III today. I was actually good and productive until about 4:30 this afternoon. Then I finally broke it out. Here are some of my initial reactions to the game. This is sort of going to be a running diary since I'm playing and writing between songs:

Unlike the previous 2 games, they completely redid the animation, the venues, the change screens, etc. And, so far, all for the better.

Lars Umlaut was always my favorite character. I like how he breathes fire during his star powered solos. In this game though... He dances a little 80's glam rock fruity-ish. I'm not so sure what happened.

I fired up expert mode. I got though the first set unscathed. I even got 5/5 stars on all but one song. Even in the 2nd set, I breezed my way through. And I was thinking of being all, "Look at me! I'm so good at this game! I can sight read and still get 96% on expert!"....

Then, at the end of set #2, there's a new piece of the game called "Battle Mode". It's like dueling banjos. But with electric guitars. Your first battle is with Tom Morello of "Rage Against the Machine". Let's just say that I got my ass handed to me on a platter. And I no longer care to brag about my freakish Guitar Hero skills.

The game is best played loud. The volume will actually make you play better.

Alright - It took me about 5 tries to beat that Tom Morello battle. The best way I can explain it is to compare it to multi-player Tetris. It's not necessary how well you do. But rather how much you can mess up the other person. The greatest part? When you win, you get to play "Bulls on Parade" with him. It's little things like that that make me love this game even more.

Some Thor/Zeus type character runs the tutorial. I don't quite understand why.

Ok, seriously. The Lars Umlaut dance is beyond distracting. I find myself laughing during the song. I may have to change to Axel Steel.

I changed to "Midori". I think she's a new character. That could be fun.

One song later - Midori's a terrible choice. She's all cutsie Japanese anime looking. That's not quite the "rock out" lead guitarist I wanted. Axel Steel it is.

This is nothing new. But the game has continued to give me an appreciation for bands that I otherwise don't find appealing. One, in particular, is "The Rolling Stones". I've never been a fan. I always thought that Mick Jagger's looks was the appeal. But playing some of the difficult rhythms has helped me understand why some people consider them one of the greatest bands ever.

The storyline in "Career Mode" makes a whole lot more sense this time around. I won't ruin the venues and the transitions for you. But they're fun.

It can't be coincidence that the encore songs are usually the best songs. Pearl Jam's "Evenflow"! Hells yeah!

I've made it to the 2nd battle. This time's against Slash. I've been bitched off stage 3 times already. The screen says "Man, is Slash taking advantage of you? Do you need a hug? Maybe you should stick to playing bass..." And it goes on taunting me.

With that, I'll end my GH3 review. And I'll move onto being more productive with my time.

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My old high school physics partner, Jeremy send the "Don't Tase Me, Bro" weekend presented by 95.1 WILL Rock. My apologies for posting this at the very, very end of the weekend.

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Do you play too much World of Warcraft?