Nov 2
Dear Neversoft: An open letter to the makers of Guitar Hero III
Dear revered and all-holy Neversoft,
This is not alright. And by this, I mean the seventh and eighth tiers of your newly released blockbuster, Guitar Hero III. When I first booted up the game, only hours after its release, I was surprised to find how much I loved the game. And I mean loved it. Sure, I’ve been a fan of the series since the release of Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360, but my initial feelings with the third game man me a true Guitar Hero fanboy. After playing through half of Expert, and finding myself stumped at the boss battle with Slash, I decided to turn down the difficulty and try and beat Hard first. Suffice it to say, the initial love that I had felt for the game was dismantled within seconds after hitting the seventh tier.
With the exception of a select few songs, these last two tiers of the game have proven themselves to almost wreck the game for me. Throughout the beginning, and progressing through the tracks, the songs seemed to keep building, with better and more fun songs in every tier. Then I came to the seventh tier. Slipknot? Disturbed? Queens of the Stone Age? Why did Neversoft decide to go grunge/shit-on-our-faces all of a sudden? After completing this tier, and boy was it more of a task than anything else, I thought that the game would redeem itself in the final tier. With songs like Freebird and the Beast and the Harlot in Guitar Hero II’s last tier, I was assured that Neversoft had saved the best for last.
Boy, was I wrong again. With the exception of the great Eric Johnson song, Cliffs of Dover, the last tier is absolutely awful. Slayer, now there’s a band that I’ve never had the inkling to go listen to. Thanks, Neversoft, for forcing me to sit through it a few times due to the absolutely ridiculous solo that consistently made me fail. Oh and One. A real great song to end the game on, really. With an upbeat rhthym and stellar note pattern, One was horrid. Then there’s Number of the Beast. Don’t get me wrong, I love Iron Maiden, probably more than the next hair metal fan. However, this was an awful choice for the game. When you have to repeat the same 10 note pattern for 20% of the song in the beginning and another 20% at the end, you know that you’ve made a quality choice for the last tier in an epic game. Really, I love jamming ridiculous notes in a row and having my hands feel like they’re going to fall off. Really, I do.
For now, Neversoft, we are not alright with one another. Maybe if you release some sort of extra downloadable content (Foo Fighters anyone?) for a reasonable price, I might consider being friends once again. But until then, I’m always going to have a special dark spot in my soul reserved for tiers seven and eight.
Sincerely,
Will “backflip” DeGirolamo
Categories: Editorial, Failure, Gaming Industry, WHY??68 Comments so far
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Wow, just wow…. well written…
And also the shortened set list for co-op career mode. WTF is up with that?
Yeah, that’s true as well. Although, they did add a few sweet songs in there as special encores; I’m mildly pleased by that.
I figured there would be issues like this with a different studio behind the franchise. Harmonix knows music, Neversoft, not as much.
I talked about this before with backflip, about how the GH III menus/interface resembles Tony Hawk Pro Skater series too much, which is obviously Neversoft’s doing. Look at the store and compare it to the skate shop of, let’s say, THPS 3 I’m not saying it’s a horrible look, but either develop something completely unique or stick to the tried-and-true look of the previous GH games.
Wow. Long front page post is long. What happened to the “More” button?
My witty rhetoric dissolved it as it stood in my path.
The wall of text was just too much for the “More” button to handle.
Backflip, what would you say if I said I beat Slash on Expert on my first try?
I’m serious, and nearly shit my pants myself.
I also didn’t complete Hard before I tried as you did.
I wouldn’t mind so much if the difficulty was kept more in line with GH2, where Hard mode wasn’t such a fucking chore, but more of a ‘medium difficulty, but with the orange button’ kind of way that it used to be. But, the jump in difficulty from Hard to Expert is marginal, until you get to tier 6 (where I’m stuck at the moment with ‘The Metal’, which is hard as hell).It seems they could have left the harsh difficulty jump to Expert.
Oh, I beat the Metal the first time I tried. I’m stuck on that shitty Smashing Pumpkins song.
I’m stuck on Cliffs of Dover on Expert. THAT IS IT, DAMNIT!!!!!
I like the last songs and Dragonforce which are all insane
Haha shitface rocks
WHATTT….the last two tiers were the best on the game!!!
SLIPKNOT the best band ever…Disturbed…One….AND Slayer is a bad ass band…dont hate just cus your not a REAL guitar hero…i already beat it on hard and expert and i think this is the BESt and MOST FUN Guitar Hero yett…thanks to the last TWO tiers!!
Bah i think you’ve gotten personal taste confused with game quality. One is like the most epic song to end on (in my opinon) its all like “do do do dooo” and im all like “ba ba ba ba bum do doo”… really its great…
What a douche. Song choice is WAY to subjective to create this much grief over, sure the last tiers are hard but they are supposed to be. If they are so repetative, then then kid should be able to complete them right? And complaining because one is not upbeat? Did he really just do that? This is the best songlist to date. If you don’t like the the last 6 or seven songs, consider yourself lucky. I LOVE guitar hero and I dislike HALF the songs in 1 and 2. This has about 70 percent good songs, so thats a major improvement to my taste. Also, this does a good job of simulating being in a real band. If you play guitar in a band (I used to), you’ll soon realize that you will learn to HATE many of your own songs. But you have to play them, especially if people like them. And you still have to play them well, or you look like a douche……kinda like this guy.
RAWR!!! Me no likey subjectivists!
it’s the two worlds review all over again.
You continue listening to your terrible mainstream music and complain about songs that are hard. Get better and stop bitching.
quit yer bitchin
wow, you “sir”, are a knob. grow a pair
PS: Foo Fighters are quality in your eyes?
hahahahahhahahahahaha……sorry couldnt hold it in
(singing “Big Me” to myself giggling)
Heh, I feel like more than three quarters of the comments here are by inbred under-twenty metalheads who just commented to support their favorite genre of “music.”
My point was this: The final two tiers of the game are distinctly geared towards those who enjoy heavy metal and/or what I like to call “garbage.”
Sure, we could have a debate over what type of music is “good,” but that’s not the point. The point is that Neversoft mashed all of the metal together in 2 tiers, therefore repelling fans of more mainstream or classic rock.
To the kid who said Slipknot is the BEST BAND EVA!!!one!!1111ZOMG…
You are an idiot. The set list in this game sucks. Rock Band in 2 weeks.
dude the only bad songs in 7 and 8 teir is the slayer one and the slipnot one the rest are awesome
Basically you’re saying they suck because they didn’t make it all music that YOU like. Were you really expecting it to be every one of your favorite songs lined up to play because only your tastes in music matter? I happen to like Slayer and Disturbed so I’m happy about it. I didn’t like a few of the other songs in the game, but you don’t see my crying on my own internet website about it do you?
you know what fuck everybody that disses SlipknoT Disturbed and slayer those and Metallicas (one) is the best songs on their and they actually made them easier so they could be beatable 666 magotts
Anyone who likes ICP should be sodomized with a fucking metal pole.
Seriously, the game is primarily based on watching yourself grow into a better player. Sorry if AFI and The Killers don’t have any songs that actually provide you a challenge so you can listen to your emo shit late game. I am by no means a metal head or an inbred idiot like one of the posters said, but that doesn’t mean i don’t respect bands like metallica and slayer. I personally think Neversoft did a much better job for providing a challenge to people who thought gh2 was too easy, like me.
Sure, I’m all for difficulty up in the game. But did they have to do it so late in the game with nearly almost all hard metal?
maybe it is because Metal is tuff to play…hmmm….and they have to save the BEST for last…oh and i agree with INSANECLOWN…MAGGOT 4 LIFE!!!
And at least after reading all of “backflip”’s comments i now know the reason he was BITCHING…..
You have terrible taste in music…(my opinion)
And you suck at GH…(not opinion)
Oh yeah and 4ng31 dont be a douchebag….calling someone an idiot for saying there opinion…
What a pussy.
“Oh yeah and 4ng31 dont be a douchebag….calling someone an idiot for saying there opinion…”
Haha, are you serious? Have you skipped every other comment here?
No i have read them all…but none of them have called me an idiot….this douche did…
An easy Slayer solo? A non-repetitive Iron Maiden song? And what the heck to you mean to say about One? This 80’s metalhead here is buying the game BECAUSE of these 3 songs. It’s all about musical taste. Thanks, Nevermonix.
PS Who are the Food Fighters? Are they opening for Twisted Sister next month?
dude .. get a life!!!
or … make your own guitar hero 3 game just with your favorite songs.
this game is not just for YOU!
idiot!!
what is the point of this? your musical tastes is pure opinion and has nothing to do with the game what so ever. just to let you know my fav parts of the game are the final teirs.
those songs that you dont like do prove to be a challenge though. i’ll even agree STRICKEN is a terrible song. i do like BEFORE I FORGET, i just like the way it sounds. the only thing that i dont like is that there are TON of emo bands. forget that.
one by metallica is beast.
Well, time to hang up the guitar chief, you do not rock in the slightest. Take your alt/hippie, no-showering, patchouli stinking, Buddy Holly glasses waering, chinos sporting, sorry arse to another game, GH3 is obviously too intense for you.
PS: I would LOVE to see ANY of your favorite (snicker) “bands” to even carry one minute of a solo from the bands you think are “garbage”.
I really enjoy 80s rock, but I have no problem having this metal songs in the last two tiers. I know Backflip’s point is these songs will scare away players who don’t enjoy the music. But what about fans of metal. If you didn’t have these songs then you would scare away all of the consumers who enjoy metal.
I don’t know about you but I really disliked most of the songs on GH2 but it is one of my favorite games because it is fun to play. In my opinion GH3 has the most balanced song list so far and the songs at the end just make you get better. I know they are ridiculous but when you beat them do you know how beast you will feel.
A lot of you are ignorant fools. Regardless of your taste in music, as horrid as it may be (I’m looking at you, fans of Insane Clown Posse), the fact of the matter is that in the last two tiers, they should have had music that appealed to everyone, and not just fans of the heavy stuff.
Oh and “areyoukidding,” it takes a fuckload more talent to play any song ever made by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix or, hell, even Eric Clapton. Why do you think you know the names Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, yet the guitarist for Slayer is simply known as “the guitarist for Slayer?” Oh wait, I know; it’s because he’s a no talent jerk-off whose only talents are to headbang and jam repetitive chords.
I’ll stick with my real music, thank you.
“he’s a no talent jerk-off whose only talents are to headbang and jam repetitive chords.”
That’s kinda making you sound like the ignorant fools you mentioned eariler in your post. While I agree that Slayer sucks, the guitarist can play extremely fast, hair-raising solos. He’s a skilled guitarist, and there’s no argument there.
One is the Free Bird of this game, I think. Did you complain about that song as much as you are One? Fans of the series have been wanting One to be playable since the first Guitar Hero, and its really not a bad choice.
What I think Neversoft was looking for in the final two tiers was head-splitting riffs and solos, and the songs they chose are perfect choices if that’s so. You not agreeing with their choices doesn’t make them bad choices.
Man, hyperbole city…if you don’t like Slayer/Metallica/Iron Maiden, then according to some of the dolts here you evidently like AFI or Killers or other mainstream garbage by default. Maybe not inbred losers, but pretty close.
I’m not complaining too much about song choice in the end, though I personally like some of the songs so I may be a little biased (would have preferred some classic rock). What I really disliked though, was the abrupt increase in difficulty from Tier 6 to 7. The fact that it seems you need to have the hand the size of a basketball player to navigate the (now further spaced apart) fret board during some of the chords in a few of the songs is really irritating to me, especially during Shitknot’s song. It’s like, the first several tiers were mildly challenging, and never really picked up the pace from one to the next (save for the obnoxious boss battles, which can be done away with forever). But then, along comes tier 7, and it’s like you are playing a totally different game.
I’m optimistic that I’ll get better, to the point that I’m good at the songs, rather than ‘good enough’…but god, I don’t even want to know how I fare with Raining Blood on Expert.
Hey backflip,
Nice post, couldn’t agree more with you. Even if they HAD to include the songs you mentioned, they could have spaced them out a bit more.
ps-Cliffs Over Dover is simply fun to play, period.
edit-Cliffs OF Dover…
“or … make your own guitar hero 3 game just with your favorite songs.”
Once this becomes practical (read: I don’t need to mod my 360) to do so, I would love to make my custom charts.
You diss Slayer, Metallica’s “One”, and Maiden, but you are begging for Foo Fighters? wow, just wow.
And to the guys praising Insane Clown Posse, Disturbed and Slipknot:
Get some better taste in music, those bands are for angst ridden mallcore losers.
And why the hell are you guys complaining about hard how it is to play some of the songs? It is suppose to be a challenge, and accurately portray how the song is played.
Oh wait that is right, you are all ADD induced fools and non of you have the patience to master an instrument, that is why you are playing this joke of a music playing simulator with your Playskool “guitar”.
I can’t believe you called Iron Maiden “hair metal.” You lose any right to bitch about how crappy a game is when you don’t even know the difference between “hair metal” (AKA sh__ - see Poison) and HEAVY METAL.
Also, pointing out how great the song list from GH2 was by using an Avenged Sevenfold song as an example, and not say, MEGADETH, for instance - good God. I wanted to smash my guitar being forced to play that song just to beat the game.
GH1 had a clear-cut vision - to ROCK. As soon as it started to get big (commercial) with GH2, we were already dealing with garbage bands that do not have great guitar parts - you know, the reason to play this effing game. GH3 just phoned it in and threw in a bunch of songs that are popular, and an assortment of AWFUL punk songs (Seriously, you put in the Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys and there are no RAMONES or Black Flag songs?! Are you kidding me!?), and call the game “Rock Legends” - what the hell? Seriously!
Dear Neversft: You did an AMAZING job with making GUITAR HERO, but,can you make a GUITAR HERO that is based more around Country music?