The first game in the series to rock out on the Wii will bring with it improvements over Guitar Hero II. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=14010 We only got a chance to play the Xbox 360 version of Guitar Hero III at E3. However, Activision has confirmed that the basics of all the versions will be exactly the same, so we can tell you what to expect for the Wii version.
The biggest change over the original games is the brand new Gibson Les Paul guitar controller. The Wii remote will snap into the guitar body, which is what will make it wireless. This will finally give us all the freedom to do some crazy guitar moves without worrying about a cord being too short or it yanking a game system off its perch. The new guitar design has also got some features you haven't probably heard of, like swappable faceplates for customization options and the ability to take off the guitar neck for ease of transport and storage.
Equally as important as the guitar is the list of music that will be included in the game. The E3 version had a healthy list of a dozen songs, but the final game will have over 70 to choose from. Importantly, a lot of the final music will be straight from the master tracks of actual bands. Pearl Jam, Weezer, Tenacious D, Muse, Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins and The Rolling Stones are just some of the bands that will be contributing their original music to the game. And going another step farther, Slash, of Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver fame, will be writing an original song for the game and including his likeness as a boss battle character.
The boss battles work similar to the face-off multiplayer mode, where you'll need to keep your rock meter and score higher than your opponent's to win. This part of multiplayer is just a slice of the big expansion to the two-player modes in Guitar Hero III. In addition to the standard face-off, pro face-off and co-op modes that were in the previous game, the new battle mode throws in distraction items to mix up the action. By completing a denoted phrase of notes, you'll earn a random power-up that can be activated by wailing the guitar up into the air, much like you would normally activate star power. You can do things like break strings (disable a fret), increase the opponent's difficulty level for a few bars, flip note charts, overload amps to make it hard to see what notes are coming up, make every note a double note, and more. Another addition to the multiplayer is the new co-op career mode. Similar to regular career, it brings you and a friend along through the entire campaign.
Online modes are coming to GH III, too. Leaderboards will keep track of high scores for every song in every mode so you can compare your rock ability to others around the world. All the multiplayer games are online-enabled, too, so if you can't find someone to rock against in battle modeāor rock with in co-op modeāif you've got an Internet connection you can join in.
Legends of Rock and the Gibson Les Paul guitar that will come with it will be available this fall. Pricing has not been announced at this point, but let's hope that the Wii version will at least be cheaper than the other two versions, especially since we already own the guts of the Wii guitar controller, the Wii remote.
Topic: PREVIEWS: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Read 2792 times)
