Disappointing first try from Neversoft
Neversoft is not Harmonix. That is obvious. However, this does not mean Neversoft can not make a great music game. I mean, even veterans like Harmonix had to start somewhere.
That being said, Guitar Hero III is not a encouraging first effort from the rhythm virgins at Neversoft. While all the key components seem there: decent songs, notes, and a good guitar controller. The problem is that the game just falls apart after that.
The timing window of the game is botched: while some complain about the easy nature of the Rock Band guitar note charts, the timing window on GHIII makes should be impossible solos a breeze for Guitar Hero veterans like me. Neversoft attempts to balance this out with an overflow of three button chords and awkward charts. This does not work to the songs benefit. Songs like Before I forget and 3s & 7s are completely misrepresented in the game and this type of charting make songs that should be enjoyable, not much harder, but completely awkward and just plain frustrating to play.
Even the easier songs like Barracuda and Sunshine of Your Love are just plain dull to play. This is probably just song selection, but even the easiest songs to play in Guitar Hero II were a blast. From tier one through eight, Guitar Hero II was fun to play, no matter how much you actually enjoyed the song... and while GHIII ditches some lame covers, the pure joy of playing a toy guitar is nearly sucked away from the game, and replaced with five tiers that are a bore to play and the final three tiers of mostly poorly charted songs and missed opportunities. The entire soundtrack isnt a failure though. Songs like My Name is Jonas, Cult of Personality, and One capture the joy of the Guitar Hero gameplay we know and love which is to far and in between in the game.
The failures of the game isn't all in the guitar gameplay: Boss battles are a horrendous and bland entry into the series. While playing against Slash and Tom Morello sounds like a good idea, the Battle Mode used in these battles are not fun experiences, but awkward and pointless events in which you save a "weapon" for the guitar foe's hardest solo.
The art design also leaves a lot to be desired. Characters that were goofy fun in the first two Guitar Hero games mostly come off as disturbing attempts to make fun cartoon characters realistic or "sexy" much like that weird artist that draws real life pictures of Homer Simpson and Mario.
All in all, GHIII is a discouraging attempt by Neversoft to bottle the series flame when it was already carried by the original developers to "the other music game". I really hope Neversoft can recapture the series' former strengths, because the strong brand that was Guitar Hero is diminishing quickly over time
