As the developer and publisher of the first two games (and the 80's
expansion) were split and gobbled up by different companies, a new team
gained control of creating the enjoyable rhythm series, and the results
aren't quite what you'd hope for. There's nothing about the third
installment changed so much as to hurt the core gameplay, it just seems
every single new decision Neversoft made was a bad one. The graphics
received an overhaul, with new, shinier character models and notes on
the fretboard. The changes don't improve anything, they just completely
remove any charm the characters originally had (Judy Nails did not need
huge breasts) and I'm not sure if it's the new notes or just a slight
programming difference, but playing the songs never feels quite as
natural as it used to. Not only are the characters uglier, but Pandora,
my personal favorite, is completely missing. They took out co-op
freeplay for no reason, and the boss battles are contrary to what's
actually fun about the series, playing along to songs you know, not
twiddling on meaningless solos while being interrupted by annoying
power-ups.
In the end, what's important is the songs, and Guitar
Hero III does have quite a few good ones, like "Paint it Black" and
"Knights of Cydonia". The difficulty is ramped up if you compare it to
earlier entries, and it's to the point where the note charts are
needlessly complex for the sake of it, just to increase the challenge.
This is especially evident if you compare the difficulty of the few
songs that are in this and Rock Band
back to back; the Rock Band versions are easier because they match
closer to what it actually sounds like you should be playing. Guitar
Hero is supposed to be fun with a group of people, but as it moves
towards esoteric, excessively difficult songs, they risk alienating
that crowd and giving the party scene to Rock Band, which I think is
already happening. It's not a direction I'm too interested in.
