This is a difficult game to really review. From a video game standpoint, it is overly basic and repetitive. From an entertainment standpoint, it supplies nearly endless fun.

This is the first Guitar Hero game I have spent an extended amount of time with and I finally have a use for all those years practicing air guitar as a kid. A background playing real guitars may help, but it is certainly not necessary. This game is basically the same as every other timing based music game, only with an awesome peripheral. The guitar controller makes the game. Playing the game with just the regular controller is rather boring. The strum bar on the guitar clicks rather loud and can throw you off when you are trying to listen to a song. This is easily fixed by turning the volume on the television way up, which you are probably going to want to do anyway. The added bonus of being able to play a separate career with a friend in co-op, which is new to the series, really makes this game a blast. The gameplay itself isn’t much different than PaRappa the Rapper (released in 1996) so you are basically paying $80 for the controller and the song list. This is another series that is following EA’s lead in charging us full price for what is basically an expansion of the last version. The gameplay is nearly identical to the previous entries and the only thing really new is the songs. I’m not saying they need to add more; there really isn’t much you can add to a game like this. I just think we should get a lower price.

Unlike most other games, this one gets more fun the more you repeat it’s content. One song in particular, ‘My Name is Jonas’ by Weezer, quickly became my favorite and I can play it over and over without getting bored. While the bulk of the game is awesome, the boss battles (excluding the final one) are completely stupid and frustrating. They have you trying to play what was recorded as a randomly improvised guitar solo that is nearly impossible to keep up with, which leads to many failures until you begin to memorize the song. You are able to earn power downs to use against your opponent in order to make him fail. The problem is that if you don’t make him fail before the end of the song, you lose. It doesn’t matter if you were completely destroying him. You could effectively play like crap, but hit every combo for a power down and beat him quickly. You could also play perfectly, but miss a couple power downs and lose. The rest of the game is about playing each song well, and the boss battles are totally out of place. On the other hand, the final boss battle sticks more to the way the rest of the game is played. You still get power downs, but it is more important to play well. On top of that, the final boss is awesome and the song you play is even better. I don’t want to give it away, but let’s just say that it is unexpected but completely fitting.

The soundtrack is, as expected, great. It includes some of the best rock songs from as far back as the late 60s. The title ‘Legends of Rock’ is a bit misleading. Although they are good, bands like AFI and Tenacious D aren’t exactly legends. There are a couple of songs here and there that I got bored of, but they were few and far between. Many aren’t overly popular. They were chosen because of their awesome guitar parts. While I like the idea of picking songs based on the music itself and not popularity, it is difficult to play some of the songs when I have no idea how they go. In the case of the Xbox 360, the ability to download more songs adds potentially endless appeal to the game. The Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver already have a few songs available to add to the game’s collection, which was already at about 70 songs. I have also found myself listening to music on the radio in my car more closely and actually turning off popular songs that have lame guitar parts or giving songs that I never would have listened to before a chance. It is impressive when a game can not only be fun, but also give you a greater appreciation for something completely unrelated to gaming.

Although you won’t get much of a chance to look at the graphics while you are playing, I still have to mention that they suck. The character models are very basic and shadows are non existent. Your character’s guitar swings around their body as if it were on a strap, only no strap is visible. The cutscenes are very low quality cartoons and aren’t particularly entertaining. The storyline, while not needed in a game like this, still could have used a little more attention. It just feels slapped together. Also, the number of playable characters is disappointing. You begin with eight and can only unlock a few more. On top of that, there are only a couple of different outfits for each person and no customization. This seems like the type of game that would need detailed character creation, but that is totally non-existent.

While the game could have been available as a downloaded add-on to Guitar Hero 2, it is still blast to play. If you have the extra bucks to get a game that costs a little more than normal (buying the regularly priced one without the guitar controller is a waste unless you already have one) and you want to try something different, this is a must buy. On the other hand, if you played Guitar Hero 1 or 2 and weren’t blown away, you may want to pass this one up.