Guitar Hero (3 specifically, but rather in general)

[Icewalker]

I have a Wii, never played any GH. I also have a PS2 actually, but don't use it much, and I'm guessing GH3 > GH2. I'm wondering whether it is worth buying...I really know nothing about it beyond what it is, and more or less how to play...

So...speak, o great Forum! Guide me!

[The Necroswanso]

Guitar Hero 2 is much better than 3. GH3 is more focused on making you look stupid, with practically impossible songs. Impossible unless you devote half your life to the game. (or your fret hand is a pseudo intelligent spider that works on it's own) Add that in with poor song chocie and a blatant lie that is it's title, (Legends of Rock? Then where's Zakk Wylde?), and you come to find you've wasted your money. Stick with GH2 and Rock the 80's.
Or, Get Rockband, it's much more fun and has better songs. Just instead of buying the bundle, buy a GH guitar for it rather than the one it comes bundled with, that thing sucks, the timing for it is off and unfixable and breaks easily.

[Icewalker]

Heh, Zero Punctuation.


Alright. Got a PS2, so that's an option. I went and just learned it is also on PS3, which I also have. So that is there too.

Ah, and with regard to group play, I don't have people over too often. I do sometimes, but still.

[Hzurr]

I actually disagree with Necroswanso. GH3 is the first one I've owned, but based on my experience (and some other friends have said the same), GH3 tends to be easier on the easier difficulty, and harder on the hard difficulty.

GH2 vs. GH3 on medium, GH3 is a hair easier. The fingering is a bit more difficult, but the oportunity window to hit the button is wider.

Once you move on to hard, GH3 is much more difficult. On expert, don't even pretend that you can do it without being a freak of nature.

As far as song list goes, they both have great lists, but I definately prefer the songs on GH3 to GH2 (although I really miss not having "Sweet Child O' Mine").

GH3 has a slightly larger song list as well.


Necroswanso did mention Rock Band, which is definately something you should consider. I believe Rock Band for the Wii comes out this...June? I know that the GH3 controller will be work on Rock Band, but I they haven't announced if the Rock Band guitar will work on GH3. The Wii version of Rock Band has a few exclusive songs, but overall it's not nearly as good as the PS3 or Xbox360 versions (mainly because you can't download new songs).

If you're trying to decide between Rock Band and GH3, I think it depends on how you'll be playing it. If it's only you, I'd go with GH3, but if you have a lot of friends to play with, I'd recommend Rock Band. Another factor to consider is what all you want to do in the game. In terms of just guitar playing, GH3 is better than Rock Band, but if you want the chance to play drums or do vocals, you'll only get that in Rock Band


Edit: Just saw your 2nd post. Normally, I'd make a snide PS3 related comment here, but it's finally getting some decent games, so I'll let it slide. If you get GH3, get it for the Wii. If you get Rock Band, get it for PS3

[Icewalker]

It was also half for a blu-ray player.

I think it would get little enough group play to have a no on Rock Band. Wouldn't get any use out of it.

Does GH3 on PS3 have downloading new songs? Or is it just Rock Band?

[Hzurr]

Hmm....that's a good question. I know they have it for 360, since GH1 and Rock the 80s was never on XBox, but I'm not certain about PS3. I do believe that both PS3 and Xbox users got to download "Dream On" by Aerosmith for free. I would almost have to assume that there are at least a few songs for download aside from that, though.

[Behold_the_Void]

If you have a PS3 or Xbox 360 the game you want is Rock Band. If not, I personally prefer Guitar Hero 2 to Guitar Hero 3 due to the tracklist. I just like Guitar Hero 2's songs a lot more than Guitar Hero 3.

But seriously. ROCK BAND.

[banjo1985]

I prefer the difficulty setting on GH2 to GH3, though the new games song listing is significantly better.

One word of warning, if at all possible, avoid the Wii version like the plague. The timing is off on the strumming, so that you have to strum before the note hits...I just can't deal with that on top of how difficult it is already.

[valadil]

I actually find GH3 easier than GH2. At least, it's easier to learn. With 2, I played through medium pretty easily, beating most songs on my first try and then I couldn't get through anything on hard, even with practice. In GH3, medium was harder overall, but the difficulty increased as I played. When I switched over to hard, the early songs weren't that much more difficult than the final medium songs. Basically what I'm saying is that the game gets progressively harder in each difficulty setting, rather than plateauing.

That said, google for guitar hero song list. Google for rock band song list too. Buy whichever one has the best songs. That's really what it's all about. Also, if you already have a PS3 I highly recommend getting the games for that if they have downloadable content.

[Icewalker]

I think Rock Band doesn't work for me because of a lack of group stuff. Also, isn't it like $40 more expensive?

[Scroofy]

I've played Gh2, 3 and rockband and when it comes down to difficulty gh3 is the hardest of the three. That being said if I was to play alone I would take gh3 over the others any day. I didn't like gh2 because the song selection wasn't what I cared for, but that is really subjective.

If you are going to play with friends, rockband is the way to go. The songs are more well known, all the parts are a little easier and it supports up to 4 players which is great. Also you can download additional content and customize your own character which is a feature I am particularly fond of.

Overall, my fav. is GH3 with rockband in close second place. Drunken rockband parties are just too sweet to pass up.

[DraPrime]

I personally preffered GH3, although GH2 was great too. What I loved about GH3 was the songs, and the fact that most of the WERE NOT COVERS. Seriously, it's never fun to play along with your favorite song when it sounds weird, and the singer is slightly off key. They're both good games, so just by them both. I actually found GH2 to be harder than GH3 unlike some other people. Don't know why. And if you have $170 just lying around then BUY ROCKBAND.

[Icewalker]

Not paying that much for something I'll barely use...

So, is it possible to buy the game without the guitar, other than through ebay? (As to the point of buying both)

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

I've only played GH3 and beat it on Hard. I played a little bit of Expert and realized it would take way too much effort to beat. I was a bit sad that I had to play Disturbd and Slipknot to beat one of the sets, but that's just personal preference.

Anyway, a little bird told me that, with a little searching, you can learn to program whatever songs you like on the PS2 GHII. Otherwise, get Rock Band.

[Skippy]

I love GH3. It is an awesome game. I haven't played any other GH game, so I can't tell if it is better than any other. But if you have the chance to buy it, I don't think you'll be sorry!

*Air riffs Reptilia*

[SilentNight]

@Hzurr: GH3 has some good songs but also some downright horrible and impossible ones( I'm looking at you Raining blood, Knights of Cydonia, ad infinitum.) I also will never forgive Neversoft for making a co-op career and not including Freewill by Rush which has the best joint solo of all time. :smallfurious:

@Icewalker:You can probably find a used copy on its own fairly easily. I would recommend 2 but I haven't played it much at all. One more thing though, absolutely everything Zero Punctuation says in regards to the difficulty is true.

[Behold_the_Void]

Hey Knights of Cydonia is AWESOME and if you don't agree with me you obviously haven't seen the music video and/or do not have a soul. :smalltongue:

[Skippy]

Hey Knights of Cydonia is AWESOME and if you don't agree with me you obviously haven't seen the music video and/or do not have a soul. :smalltongue:

It is awesome indeed. But it is just too F-ing difficult, that's what SN meant.

[Darth Mario]

I didn't actually find Knights of Cydonia to be that difficult (and I'm playing on expert). There's one section in the middle that actually requires a bit of practice, but the rest of the song is cake. 5-staring it is a problem, but clearing? Not that bad.

[Icewalker]

Seems like the general conclusion is just music preference. I'm gonna go check out the song lists.

Ok, looked, and I know so little about music I recognize about...one song, between the lists of both GHII and III, skimming them...

I did note Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix on GHIII...is that 360 only?

[SilentNight]

Seems like the general conclusion is just music preference. I'm gonna go check out the song lists.

Ok, looked, and I know so little about music I recognize about...one song, between the lists of both GHII and III, skimming them...

I did note Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix on GHIII...is that 360 only?

It's not on PS2, I can tell you that. Also, although GH3 boasts around 70 songs about 20 of them are bonus tracks that lack any good ones among them from what I have seen. I am open to suggestions though.

[Creeps]

I still preferred GH2.

They killed Clyde and made Judy look like a trollop! And the anime freak chick bothers me to no end. The "combats" were silly. The hidden characters were crappy. While many songs on GH3 were amazing, I think GH2 still has more that I care for, but eh. One of my biggest grievances, though, regards the use of songs that don't make me think of guitar rock. Beastie Boys and Rage, I'm looking at you...hatefully.

Still, I do like the game. The cons are outweighed by the pros.

[d12]

When I'm hanging out at my brother's place, we definitely spend more time on GH3 than GH2, but they've been playing GH2 (and Guitar Hero in general) much longer than I have, so they're probably fairly sick of GH2. The main complaints I've ever read about GH3 are that many people (including us, though we don't generally complain about it) find it harder than GH2 in general, and that career mode in GH3 has those periodic guitar battle-things. I find the battles a bit tedious, but not enough to actively complain about them. The best thing I can think of to say about GH2 over GH3 is that it has Thunderhorse. :smalltongue:


And the anime freak chick bothers me to no end.

Oh man, Anime Chick and Death are pretty much the only characters I ever play as. Anime Chick more for the general novelty, and Death cuz it's freakin' Death. :smalltongue: No accounting for taste, huh? :smallsmile:

Oh, and before I forget, if you want an absolutely arthritis-inducing song, it doesn't get better than Through the Fire and Flames. The day (well, night) we unlocked that one was thoroughly entertaining. :smallbiggrin:

[DraPrime]

Oh, and before I forget, if you want an absolutely arthritis-inducing song, it doesn't get better than Through the Fire and Flames. The day (well, night) we unlocked that one was thoroughly entertaining. :smallbiggrin:

To be honest Through Fire and Flames does not deserve to be the final song on that album. It's good, but not awesome. I've played it on a real guitar, and it's not as tough as it's hyped up to be.

[d12]

To be honest Through Fire and Flames does not deserve to be the final song on that album. It's good, but not awesome. I've played it on a real guitar, and it's not as tough as it's hyped up to be.

Something like that comes down to taste as much as anything else I suppose. And you also bring up a sub-set of complaints regarding GH3's difficulty. I've read on at least one occasion somebody saying that in some cases a given song is actually tougher to play through on GH3 than actually playing it on a real guitar. Whether that assertion is true or not I can't say, as I have no actual musical talent/training (used to play drums a little, but drummers don't count as musicians anyway :smalltongue:).

Also, just as a matter of curiosity, what song(s) would you have preferred to see as the game's capstone?

[Icewalker]

Also I don't think it really matters. Imagine how many orders of magnitude more flak they would get for making the final song not sound really hard, whether or not it is on a real guitar.

(Also, in Through the Fire and Flames in GH3 you are playing both guitars...so that'd knock it up to impossible, assuming you actually were doing every note.)

[Skippy]

It's not on PS2, I can tell you that. Also, although GH3 boasts around 70 songs about 20 of them are bonus tracks that lack any good ones among them from what I have seen. I am open to suggestions though.

You take that back. I got bored of the career tracks and mostly play only the extras, because they're awesome. The ones I like most: Can't be saved, Closer, Hier Kommt Alex, Impulse, Mauvais Garcon, Minus Celsius, My Curse, Radio Song and Ruby.

Of course, they're not really known songs, but if you're open to suggestions into some cool indy music, I'd say those are really cool.

[DraPrime]

I've read on at least one occasion somebody saying that in some cases a given song is actually tougher to play through on GH3 than actually playing it on a real guitar.

That's simply because real guitar playing leads to habits that are counter-intuitive to guitar hero. I actually use a pick to hit the strum bar because doing otherwise just feels way too weird.

[TehJhu]

I'd just like to throw in that with a few drinks and 3 friends, Rock Band is the most fun you can have with clothes on.

[Icewalker]

Yeah, I've heard that while playing an instrument makes you slightly better at Guitar Hero because of being used to the rhythm of the music, actually playing guitar is bad because it is actually so different than Guitar Hero is.

[SilentNight]

You take that back. I got bored of the career tracks and mostly play only the extras, because they're awesome. The ones I like most: Can't be saved, Closer, Hier Kommt Alex, Impulse, Mauvais Garcon, Minus Celsius, My Curse, Radio Song and Ruby.

Of course, they're not really known songs, but if you're open to suggestions into some cool indy music, I'd say those are really cool.

Taken back, I've only played like, two of them. I didn't like the one by Heroes De Silencio and there was one instrumental with some weird rhythms that was pretty good. Can't remember the name though.

Playing an instrument definitely helps due to the sense of rhythm it gives. I can't confirm or deny the guitar thing though as I haven't played it.

[Icewalker]

So what I've come to so far is that I know more of the stuff I like in GH2, but most of the random stuff I've listened to in GH3 is good. So I'm probably going to go with that. What are the differences between the versions of GH3? (PS3, Wii, etc)

[Arang]

Slash claims in his bonus video that he found GH harder than he would if he'd never picked up a guitar. I think he'd know.

I don't really have anything against the bonus songs as such, it's just that the regular set list is just better.

[The Valiant Turtle]

I just recently got GH3 for Wii and greatly enjoy it, but if I had a 360 or PS3 it would be Rock Band all the way. Even just single player it is still effectively 3 games in one (vocals, guitar and drum careers). For multi-player (even just 2 people) Rock Band is so much fun it out to be illegal. The great thing is that you can have different people at different skill levels or with different instrument strengths. My wife can barely handle easy on GH, but I'm sure she'd be fine at Rock Band vocals, and I'm better at drums in RB than I am at guitar. I may get RB for Wii, but it's going to be extremely inferior to the PS3 and 360 versions. I'll probably hold off and eventually get one of those systems when they drop in price.

If you must get GH3, here are my thoughts on which system to get:

PS2: The big advantage here is that you can also get GH1, GH2 and GH:80s later for cheap and get more bang for your guitar buck in the long run. Lots of people (myself included) are hoping those games get re-released for the other systems, but I'm not holding my breath. There are currently more 3rd party guitars for PS2. I believe the included guitars for PS2 are all wireless now, but I'd double check when you buy it. There will of course, never be Downloadable content for PS2.

PS3 & 360: The big advantage to these is that they support downloadable content, so you can buy more songs later. 360 also has GH2 available. I still recommend Rock Band for these platforms because it supports downloadable content as well and is generally a hell of a lot more fun. Again, most of the guitars are now wireless, but check to make sure. The 360 is unique in that the RB and GH guitars work for both games.

Wii: No downloadable content, but many people seem to think the use of the Wiimote makes it the best guitar. Having played the 360 GH guitar and RB guitar and can confirm it is way easier to activate Star Power with the Wii-tar than with those. They have promised Downloadable content for the Wii eventually, but it's not going to be easy for the Wii to do that, so it might not happen. It will be a major blow to Rock Band if they do since definitively will not support Downloadable content on the Wii. Note that using the wiimote might be an issue if you only have one, and it does drain the batteries a bit faster than normal use will. I have 2 wii-motes and rechargeable battery packs and a charging station, so it's fine for me.

My suggestion based on what you have told us: Get Rock Band for PS3, I promise you won't be sorry. Otherwise I think I'd go with GH3 for PS3, but the Wii is a blast as well.

[Skippy]

Taken back, I've only played like, two of them. I didn't like the one by Heroes De Silencio and there was one instrumental with some weird rhythms that was pretty good. Can't remember the name though.


Yeah, Avalancha is not one of their best songs. And I'm a fan of them. The instrumental one is Impulse, by An Endless Sporadic. It's just awesome.


Slash claims in his bonus video that he found GH harder than he would if he'd never picked up a guitar. I think he'd know.

I don't really have anything against the bonus songs as such, it's just that the regular set list is just better.

I have played guitar for more than seven years. And it was hard to play Guitar Hero and refrain from doing things you'd do on a normal guitar. And no, the bonus songs are definitely better. Just not as known as the regular set list ones.


I just recently got GH3 for Wii and greatly enjoy it, but if I had a 360 or PS3 it would be Rock Band all the way.

Rock Band was announced for Wii, too. So now you have the chance. Just wait until the release.

[The Valiant Turtle]

Rock Band was announced for Wii, too. So now you have the chance. Just wait until the release.

Yeah, but no Band World Tour, customizable characters or Downloadable Content. I understand that DLC is very difficult on the Wii, but the other features could be fully or partially supported. They just hired an outside developer to port the PS2 version in an attempt to quickly cash in on the Wii's popularity. There is a very slim chance I might buy it, but I think I'm going to pass until I can consider one of the other systems, or wait and see if the inevitable Rock Band 2 actually tries to see just what the Wii can do.

[Dhavaer]

Wii: No downloadable content, but many people seem to think the use of the Wiimote makes it the best guitar.

Having played on both Wii and 360, the Wii guitars seem much less responsive than the 360 ones, particularly in regards to activating star power.

[lumberofdabeast]

Having played GH1, GH2, GH3, and Rock Band, I have to say, GH3 was by far the worst. Ugly, ugly graphics, a merely decent main setlist, a downright terrible bonus setlist, a battle mode that is one giant luck-based waste of time, and a stupidly loose timing window that they compensated for by overcharting the songs to a ridiculous degree combined to make me regret that purchase. If you have high-speed internet, get Rock Band and enjoy online co-op. If you don't, get GH2. Or GH1. Or GHE:Rt80s. Or Barbie Horse Adventures. Anything but GH3.

EDIT: One more point to make. RB had a ton of downloadable content on release, and they've given us more every week since, with no signs of stopping. GH3's DLC release schedule is "Whenever we feel like it".

[valadil]

I've read on at least one occasion somebody saying that in some cases a given song is actually tougher to play through on GH3 than actually playing it on a real guitar. Whether that assertion is true or not I can't say, as I have no actual musical talent/training (used to play drums a little, but drummers don't count as musicians anyway :smalltongue:).


Some songs are tougher to play. The difference with Guitar Hero and real guitar is that the game gets difficult by making the fingering as awkward as possible. Actual songs are written to be playable on a real guitar by real human hands. Yeah there are some freaks of nature out there like Yngwie or Petrucci, but for the most part musicians don't go out of their way to make playing a song difficult. GH developers do.

(Of course it should also be mentioned that how you hold down a string doesn't matter much in GH. You either press the button or you don't. There are plenty of ways to mess up holding a real string down. If you're too far from the fret the note doesn't come out right. Press too lightly and you get a muted note. Stretch too far and you may bump some other strings with the base of your finger. Depending on what other chords are around you may choose to play a note with different fingers than usual. Or your fingers may jumble switching between two chords (C and G come to mind for beginners). And on top of various ways to screw up, there are things you can do to the strings to enhance the sound.)