With all the hoopla surrounding Rock Band, Harmonix’ new alter-ego, you may have forgotten where that familiar plastic guitar came from.  That’s right – Guitar Hero, the ‘little known’ franchise that just happened to sell over 4 million copies in its first two incarnations. But with Harmonix purchase by MTV, followed by lackluster downloadable song pack support for the Xbox 360 version, and an 80s flavored expansion sporting mostly fringe tunes from the era – it’s no wonder the franchise has lost some of its original luster with the mainstream audience.  Read:  Those non-gamers who bought Playstation 2 slims just to play Guitar Hero. 

So the pressure’s on, the tubes are browning out and the Battle of the Bands is about to begin – and as our first contestant hits the stage – Neversoft, playing their new single – Guitar Hero III, we’re left to wonder – can they still rock you like a hurricane?

The answer is succinctly, “Yes.”  After numerous carpel-tunnel wreaking sessions trying to nail every note in 'Knights of Cydonia' by Muse and rawkin’ out to classics like Pat Benatar’s ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’, it’s clear some of that ‘black magic’ that made the original Guitar Hero work its way into a mass market frenzy at $70 a pop is at play in Guitar Hero III.

That Kool Thing

One of those magic elements that got lost a bit in the transition from Guitar Hero I to II were those ‘gotcha’ songs – the ones everyone knew – that made even non-gamers want to pick up the controller and join in.  So, what is Red Octane doing with Guitar Hero III to address this?

“It has definitely been a conscious thing for us.  What we’ve really done with Guitar Hero III is to make sure we have those recognizable songs that people are immediately going to pick up and say, “Oh God, I know this song I gotta play it!”, Kai Huang, President and Co-Founder of Red Octane. 

There are certainly a lot more of those ‘gotcha’ tunes in Guitar Hero III ranging from classic rock gems like Cream’s ‘Sunshine of your Love’ to ‘Bulls on Parade’ by Rage Against the Machine.  Even though the game ships with almost double the original number of songs – the question still bears asking – will we see better downloadable support (Wii and PS2 excluded) than we did with Guitar hero II on the X360?

Kai responds, “We’ve got a lot of things planned in terms of downloadable music in Guitar Hero III.  Whereas GH II on the X360 was a  bit more measured and paced – with Guitar Hero III I think you’re going to see that songs will be available faster and there will be a lot more [of it.]”

So, What’s New Pussycat?

Graphical upgrades aside – and there are plenty – the core upgrades in Guitar Hero III gameplay center around the new play modes, online co-op or head to head multiplay, and the Boss Battles which will feature Slash and Tom Morello (Rage) and a third, as-yet, unnamed Boss, complete with brand spankin’ new original material they’ve recorded just for the game.

From end to end – the game plays much like its predecessors with the exception of Battle Mode which takes a page from Tetris and other competitive puzzle games by rewarding players with Attacks as opposed to Star Power for pulling off key note runs.  These Attacks can be unleashed just like Star Power inflicting various ills upon your opponent such as doubling up all their notes, making the notes flash on and off (amp overload), upping the difficulty level or, my favorite, ‘lefty flip’ which completely reverses your fretboard for that Hendrix ‘Experience.’  While certainly a fresh take on the classic head to head – I think Battle Mode will appeal most to Expert players who are looking for a new challenge.

Online play is present even for the Wii which includes the ability to invite players from your ‘friends list’ just like on Xbox Live multiplayer titles.  Oddly enough, the PS3 version won’t have support for friend invites.  The PS3 also won’t have the same release schedule for song packs as the Xbox 360 but then, the Wii won’t even feature downloadable content.  There are a lot of little disparities like these between the various platform releases and with the addition of PC and Mac (yes, we said Macintosh) versions, your options for play are through the roof. No word yet if the PC version will support cross-platform play with the X360.

The Boss Battles add some real “Star Power’ to the franchise in the form of Rock Stars (Slash, Tom Morello, and ?) whom you’ll have to beat in order to advance in Career Mode.  Don’t worry – you don’t have to play as well as Slash to beat him – but you will have to learn the new song he recorded just for the occasion – so he will have a leg (or top hat) up on you

Same Old Song and Dance?

New modes, online play and Bosses aside – the core elements that made Guitar Hero work so well are alive and well here.  The deep song list coupled with promise of aggressive post-release download support should serve to keep the game fresh long after release – even for non-hardcore gamers – something the series has not been capable of doing so far.  Attention has been paid to play balance as well which should hopefully hold your non-gaming friends interest for the duration of the party.

We asked Kai how he felt about Neversoft’s approach to this recent entry in the franchise, “The truth is – we never had any concerns about working with Neversoft.  They have a couple things that really work well for them.  If you’ve played any of the Tony Hawk games you know they really get music. And they just get lifestyle – they know how to create games that bring in lifestyle and make you feel a part of that.  

This is the key to Guitar Hero.

Looking at this game now - with the new modes, online play and Boss Battles – Guitar Hero III is the best Guitar Hero yet – it’s beyond anything we’ve done before. “

I’m feeling that