Guitar Hero 3: The Boss Matches Suck, the Rest Rocks

[schild]

Got to the final tier of Expert on the PS2 version tonight with some friends. The boss matches, which you can skip - and totally suck ass - are the only upset. Here's a list of things improved:

1. Bigger frame window for hammer-ons/pull-offs. You can rip some shit up now and it feels perfect.
2. Animations - drummer drums with the tune perfectly, singers lips are synched, guitarists play the right shit. Crowd looks like it's out of Tony Hawk, fucking rad.
3. The tablature is so hot that it makes Harmonix look like amateurs.
4. What few covers there are, are of higher quality than Harmonix ever even REMOTELY achieved.
5. The quality of the recording is about twice as awesome sounding. Wish I was kidding. And this was the PS2 version. I can't wait to hear the uncompressed shit on blu-ray.
6. Characters are modeled at a quality Harmonix could never have achieved.
7. Stages are far more inventive.
8. The fretboard/gamescreen is cleaner, and far more accurate - that is, you're not going to misread this shit, particularly on a next-gen version.
9. Intangibles. I don't know how to say this. This game feels like it's crafted by a god. They've so vastly improved on the experience, that I don't even know how Rock Band will turn out anymore.

-



If you wanted to know which to get.

-

I'm getting the PS3 version for the following reasons:

1. I stopped caring about achievement points when I realized none of my friends were ever going to catchup or compete.
2. Hard Drive installation - this game has some pretty shitty load times on the 360 and PS2.
3. Uncompressed Audio. God bless them for wasting that blu-ray space with that shit.
4. Two of my friends are getting the 360 edition, while only one is getting the PS3 edition. None are getting the Wii edition. Extra guitars not available until February for 360/PS3 (the old 360 guitar is un-fucking-acceptable).
5. I'm going to play this enough that I could break any 360. I just don't trust that shit.
6. I won't be playing online that much. In person, this game owns face. I'd rather be playing Orange box and shit if I'm playing online.
and finally,
7. The 360 is hooked up to a smaller TV and isn't run through my JBL Studios.

[NiX]

2. Hard Drive installation - this game has some pretty shitty load times on the 360 and PS2.

You're so fucking wrong, it HURTS.

[Sky]

Fiancee suggested I get this title when the pc version comes out. Win!

[Jain Zar]

Best Buy sent me a coupon if I buy the game so I might get the guitarless PS2 version since I already have the GH1 guitar.
And itll be nice for Tuesday when we have HAUNTED HOUSE AND GUITAR HERO DAY.

[Nonentity]

PS3? Don't say that, man, you're breaking my heart.

I want to play it day 1 with a friend, and I want to get the 360 version, which I already have a guitar for.

There won't be any additional PS3 guitars on day 1.

[schild]

2. Hard Drive installation - this game has some pretty shitty load times on the 360 and PS2.

You're so fucking wrong, it HURTS.

Mmm? If you're gonna say that, elaborate, or you're just a dick on the internet.

[schild]

PS3? Don't say that, man, you're breaking my heart.

I want to play it day 1 with a friend, and I want to get the 360 version, which I already have a guitar for.

There won't be any additional PS3 guitars on day 1.

Like I said, I'll have access to two copies of the 360 edition, and really, I hated the original 360 guitar so much that it would be just like starting over for me anyway.

[NiX]

2. Hard Drive installation - this game has some pretty shitty load times on the 360 and PS2.

You're so fucking wrong, it HURTS.

Mmm? If you're gonna say that, elaborate, or you're just a dick on the internet.

Every loading screen lasts for about 5 seconds or less on the 360 one. It's never taken long enough for me to say "Fuck, this is taking forever." I wouldn't know about the PS2 version, so I can't argue there.

[Yoshimaru]

Wow, got to the Gamestop at 12. Waited in line, got to the front. Tried to give us a 360 version. Don't own a 360, ordered a Wii. All the Wii versions are sold out, thus I am not rocking out to KoC right now. Said they were gonna call around tomorrow to other stores and see if they can get us one, but not hopeful.

[schild]

Coop has different songs than Single player.

Coop is AMAZING.

Finished every song except for One. Finished Number of the Beast on our first try.

We were simply too tired to muscle through the end of One. We'd just played through the entire game.

Seriously though, the track list on Rock Band doesn't even compare.

[schild]

Public Service Announcement:

It would seem that the Xbox 360 Les Paul Defective Rate is fucking Huge-Mongous. As in, tons and tons of broken 360 controllers out of the box. In fact, we had one. On the other hand, I can't find a single person saying the same thing about the PS3 one. Both of the PS3 versions we have were perfect.

Microsoft is so bad at making hardware, that it's rubbing off on the third party manufacturers.

That is all.

[Big Gulp]

Seriously though, the track list on Rock Band doesn't even compare.

The track list on Rock Band destroys GH3.  Two words:  Who's Next.

Okay, so it isn't technically on the set list, but the mere fact that I can buy the whole album has already sold me.  Plus, I'm frankly tired of soloing shit in guitar hero.  Sure, the multiplayer is fun, but I'm looking for the cohesive whole that Rock Band has going.  Shit, I already bought a drum stool and mic stand in anticipation.

A game that only lets you play guitar?  Somehow that seems quaint to me now.

[Bokonon]

Seriously though, the track list on Rock Band doesn't even compare.

The track list on Rock Band destroys GH3.  Two words:  Who's Next.

Okay, so it isn't technically on the set list, but the mere fact that I can buy the whole album has already sold me.  Plus, I'm frankly tired of soloing shit in guitar hero.  Sure, the multiplayer is fun, but I'm looking for the cohesive whole that Rock Band has going.  Shit, I already bought a drum stool and mic stand in anticipation.

A game that only lets you play guitar?  Somehow that seems quaint to me now.

I just played bass and drums in Boston on the Rockband tour. The guitars are frickin sweet. Heftier, but thinner than GH guitars, the frets are awesome for sliding your hands (a little too good, I only played 3-4 times, and still didn't have the spacing down). The drums, on easy, are still fun (I liked Dani California on the drums). I will make Rockband mine, yes I will.

Which isn't to say GH3 isn't mine (I'm picking up my preorder, hopefully, this afternoon), but rockband is just fun, without being occassionally masochistic.

What can I say about F13?  It's really my favorite website in the entire universe!  I love the irreverent banter and sly wit these keyboard jockeys produce.  And I especially love the staff, they're AWESOME.

[Phildo]

My 360 guitar hasn't given me any problems yet, although I haven't put it through its paces either.  I'm about to see how far I can get in one sitting, though.

If anyone is up for some online play, let me know.

[Phildo]

Also, on the 360 it sometimes loads so fast I can't read the little quotes.

[Bokonon]

Having played the Wii GH3 guitar and the Rockband guitar for the 360 (on the Rockband tour) now, I have to say the rockband guitar feels better, like less of a toy/controller. The GH3 one is great, but it's still too much Fisher Price for me.

What can I say about F13?  It's really my favorite website in the entire universe!  I love the irreverent banter and sly wit these keyboard jockeys produce.  And I especially love the staff, they're AWESOME.

[Strazos]

I laugh at all the people who wander in wanting to pick up a copy. A copy of a game they KNEW they were going to buy.

FFS, just reserve. it's not hard.

/rantoff

[Nonentity]

Alright, i'm on hour 10 of straight GH3. Co-op campaign was beat on Expert, except for One, which I had to do on Hard.

And i'm on the final tier on single player Expert.

It's official - they've made the game harder. The hardest tier is INSANE. Raining Blood is fucking ridiculous, Mark of the Beast is ALMOST beatable, and... well, One on Expert is fine except for the solo.

Fuck. FUCK.

[Phildo]

I had to stop at Tier 7 when my arm started failing.  I'll take another stab tomorrow.

[Nonentity]

Oh, and Cliffs of Dover?

FUCK YOU TOO.

Fuck. FUCK. This is going to push me to practice and practice and practice. Stupid game.

[Lantien]

Thoughts from someone who's gone a bit more than halfway through hard on single player on the XBox360 (Hey, I want to unlock songs in an efficient, quick manner for my roommates):

* The load times on the 360 aren't even remotely annoying to me. To be fair, I haven't seen the PS3's load times on Guitar Hero 3.

* Got lucky on the Gee-tar, I guess.  It's working just fine.  The strum bar is a bit stiff, but that's about all I can really say that's remotely bad about it. I've played some Rock Band, so I've quasi-familiar with the Rock Band stratocaster. While the Rock Band guitar looks nicer and has some nice heft to it, the Rock Band guitar also took a bit getting used to with respect to the finger spacing.

* Apparently some of the bundles coming out of Walmarts are bundled with wired guitars instead of wireless guitars.  However, they appear to be a bit cheaper too, as a result.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/28/consumer-check-make-sure-wal-marts-guitar-hero-3-bundle-is-one/
http://kotaku.com/gaming/guitar-hero-iii/wal+mart-version-of-gh-iii-comes-with-old-guitars-315952.php

* I'm a sucker for the new unlockable "fantasy" guitars, some of the designs are pretty cool. While it's easy to take potshots at the lounge-act style drumming animation for the drummer or the scary scary face of the singer, I really like the fact that this time around they got the singer's mouth to clearly move in sync with the lyrics (I dunno, maybe I was paying more attention this time), as well as the fun little in-between tier videos, adds something to the game experience and actually tells a story with respect to the other Guitar Hero franchises.

* My roommates are a bit leary about the battle modes.  They were traumatized from playing a lot of the original Guitar Hero 1 multiplayer, when there was only one fixed difficulty level for the two players. I tend to play songs on hard/expert, while they tend to play more hard/medium.  As a result, I tended to beat up on them pretty badly. As a result, when Guitar Hero 2 came out with cooperative mode, we all jumped all over that, being the only way we played.

EDIT: and oh, for those of you that were bummed about the lack of offline coop quickplay in Guitar Hero 3, apparently they patched it in: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164008  Haven't actually tried it yet, all I've done is single player so far.

* I'm going to reserve judgment on the songlist and the entirety of the boss battles until y'know, I've gotten close to finishing it.

[schild]

Well, if the Morello and Slash battles suck, guess what? Lucifer sucks too. No, we haven't beaten One yet. Granted we've played it 3 times. Marathon sessions leading up to 1 (once through coop, twice through single player now), don't particularly leave your hands in good shape.

[Jerrith]

Got the PS3 version around midnight last night from my 2nd closest EB.  Interestingly, I tried the closest one earlier in the day to reserve for that evening, and while they had every other version still available, all their PS3 copies were already reserved.  Happily, the next one (I've got like 5 EBs/Gamestops within about 5 blocks of me) was able to reserve one.  When I showed up at about 12:10 (line gone), the PS3 pile was much smaller than any of the others.

I started playing on expert, and I was doing REALLY poorly...  Tried calibrating lag, it didn't help...  Finally figured it out, when audio is going through HDMI as well as the picture, it's got significant lag.  Hooked up the PS2 AV cable I had there and resumed playing with that, much better.  :)  Basically breezed through (I think only the battle with Slash took more than one try) to the last tier, and hit the hard stuff.  That last tier is tough, reminds me of GH1, BATM and CFH level difficulty...  I'll get through them eventually, but, it was going to take lots of work, so...

On to hard.  Breezed through to the final tier again, got through all of that but Raining Blood easily, and then on to the final boss battle.  The Devil Went Down to Georgia was one of the two (the other being Through the Fire and the Flames) songs I was most looking forward to in GH3.  It's just as much fun as I expected.  I didn't really mind the fact that it took me a few tries to get through the boss battle, since I was having fun playing the music.  Amusing glitch: Fail the battle, go through the boss battle tutorial, then come back.  The boss is now playing on easy, not hard.  Not that it really helps.  Anyways, finally beat that, and then got to do TTFATF as part of the credits.  I liked the stage they used for it, and the song is great, as expected.  Amusingly, I was kinda annoyed by the fact that I had to ignore the credits to play, because having worked at Treyarch / Activision, I wanted to see which people I knew were on there, and so had to watch them through the menu, later.

One other glitch I ran into on one song was that the guitar part, even though I was playing, totally cut out for a while on one song.  Not sure what caused that...

Online play is interesting, but getting a game going is a pain...  The game doesn't play nicely with strict (type 3) NATs, and at first, I almost always failed to get in a game.  Adjusted my configuration so that it was moderate (type 2) and it was able to do better, but most quick match attempts still failed.  Hosting a game worked, and trying to join worked better after that though.  Ran into one glitch while playing a co-op game...  My partner got star power "stuck" on...  The multiplier meter would keep jumping back and forth between x4 (for me) and x8 (for him).  Not sure what caused that...  I doubt he saw it, as we did activate star power again one time later in the song.

The link account functionality on the official site for the PS3 version at least is totally broken at the moment...  Can't link my game account right now, so I can't really comment on what the site has...

As for the guitar, I like the feel of it.  Had some trouble with misstrums, but I moved the receiver, and the problems I'd experienced went away.  The detachable neck seems like a nice bonus when taking it somewhere.

Overall, it's lots of fun, and a great addition to the series.  The boss battles are tough, but since you can skip them after the third try, they're not really that bad, and give a nice sense of accomplishment when you do beat them.  I recommend picking it up if you haven't already.

[Jain Zar]

If I wanted GH3 PS2 or a boxed GH3 of various forms with Guitars I could have had them at 1AM at Wal Mart.  But I passed.
(Came home to find out on email my friend bought GH3 anyhow. So I cant wait till 2,80s, and 3 are on the budget list.)

Seriously, any major release is better gotten at Target or Walmart as opposed to EBStop.

If you are gonna preorder shit do it online and let it arrive at your damned door.

[Nonentity]

Alright, Cliffs of Dover is in the bag. Three more songs to go until the encore. My new training regiment will be to play the section 'Mosh 1' on Raining Blood at Slow speed, slowly training my fingers to not be assholes and fight against me. From there, we move it up to full speed, until I can get decently through it. From there, we move onto 'Mosh 2' - if I can get those two handled, I'm pretty sure I can finish up Raining Blood.

Then I get to work on the solo for One, which hopefully the Raining Blood practice will help with. Then it's just a few tweaks to my Number of the Beast playing, and I should be rolling well.

I haven't had any problems with the 360 wireless guitar whatsoever, it's been a real trooper. any mistakes i've had with it are from my own tired fingers. It's still running strong on the two AA batteries it came with, and this is after 12+ hours of usage now.

[murdoc]

EDIT: and oh, for those of you that were bummed about the lack of offline coop quickplay in Guitar Hero 3, apparently they patched it in: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164008  Haven't actually tried it yet, all I've done is single player so far.

Do you have to unlock songs in co-op career to play them in co-op quickplay? Or is it like GH2, once a song was beaten, it was unlocked for all modes of quickplay?

[Lantien]

Do you have to unlock songs in co-op career to play them in co-op quickplay? Or is it like GH2, once a song was beaten, it was unlocked for all modes of quickplay?

Honestly, I don't know. I work funky hours, so I bought the game, played single player, and then went to bed.  Haven't even cracked a peek at Multiplayer yet. I'll try to remember to check when I get home.

As an by-the-way, it looks like with XBox360 players, they are having problems entering their code that links the Xbox Live with the Guitarhero.com portal. It keeps on telling some people "Invalid Token".  I'm aware of this because I'm part of this group, so...  No clue if PS3 and Wii players have the same problem. But hey hey, chalk this one up to launch issues.

[schild]

There are songs that only unlock through Co-Op. Now, as far as Quickplay competition goes, it seems like you unlocking them on either side is fine.

Strokes, Bloc Party, etc are Coop Only.
Cliffs of Dover, Paint it Black, etc. are Single player only.

That's to say, you only unlock them in those modes.

[Sky]

you're just a dick on the internet.

1. Cut a hole in the internet...

Shit, I already bought a drum stool

The correct term is throne. Always made me chuckle.

[murdoc]

There are songs that only unlock through Co-Op. Now, as far as Quickplay competition goes, it seems like you unlocking them on either side is fine.

Strokes, Bloc Party, etc are Coop Only.
Cliffs of Dover, Paint it Black, etc. are Single player only.

That's to say, you only unlock them in those modes.

Ah, that's not too bad then. I had read that if you wanted to play ANY song in co-op quick play, you needed to beat it in co-op career, and then you can only play it in quickplay at the difficulty you beat it with in career.

If it's just the co-op only and single player only songs that do this, that's not so bad.

[Grand Design]

Is there any reason that I shouldn't go out after work and buy a PS3 with GH3?

The moment has arrived and I need either to be encouraged or discouraged.

[schild]

Is there any reason that I shouldn't go out after work and buy a PS3 with GH3?

The moment has arrived and I need either to be encouraged or discouraged.

No, there isn't. Get a 60GB while you can.

[Grand Design]

And not an 80g?

Because of bc or what?

[Samwise]

If GH3 is the only game you're buying it for, I'd just wait another couple of weeks for the PC version.

I almost bought a console just for Guitar Hero.  The announcement that GH3 was going to be on the PC came just in the nick of time.    

[schild]

And not an 80g?

Because of bc or what?

Correct. 80GB is software. I would trade 20GB for hardware BC any day of the week. You get a free game with the 60GB at EBGames now. Heavenly Sword can be that game. Also, you get the 5 free Blu-Ray Deal.