Third encore

by ERIK LEIJON

The ubiquitous Guitar Hero series has undergone some recent changes. Though its drunken frat boy audience probably didn’t notice or care, it certainly gave reason for alarm concerning the creative future of one of gaming’s biggest properties.

To sum it up quickly (I’m flying ever free on the Dragonforce solo right now): GHI and II developer Harmonix jumped ship to create Rock Band for Electronic Arts, leaving Tony Hawk developer Neversoft to helm Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Multi/Activision, Neversoft). Guitar Hero is conceptually pretty clear in what it is, so Neversoft need not rock the boat (no pun intended). Therefore, Legends of Rock is more five-button mayhem with the difficulty ramped up ever so slightly.

For our shut-in readership, Guitar Hero is a music game where the player uses a guitar controller with five fret buttons on the neck and a strum bar. The whammy bar can be used for additional guitar wizardry, and tilting the guitar neck in the air has implications as well. Icons will fly down the screen, and holding the corresponding fret button and strumming will result in rocking out. Repeat with liquor as desired.

Guitar Hero III is a conventional sequel; there’s more of what you want, and nothing particularly innovative. That’s fine, since its most endearing qualities— being a good conversation piece and party starter—remain faithfully intact. A good mix of FM radio classic rock, cheesy hair metal and current day hits are present, but my two favourite, and unlikely inclusions, are the Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” and the Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday in Cambodia.” Despite Guitar Hero’s increased visibility, many of the songs are still covers, featuring the “as made famous by” tag. The Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver (you may have noticed Slash’s ugly mug on the box and in the television commercial) have downloadable songs available on Xbox Live. This presents the most hopeful new addition, since instead of paying full price for Guitar Hero ’80s compilations, players can download new songs based on personal preference.

The co-op form of multiplayer is nothing new, but added to the fold is the two-player battle mode. The single player tackles this as well—pitting you against Slash, Tom Morello and Satana—and what differentiates it from traditional co-op is that instead of tilting the guitar to activate star power, doing so will attack your opponent. Among other things, it will cause your opponents’ strings to break or to temporarily increase the difficulty. It goes against the game’s original goal of emphasizing note-for-note perfection, so it won’t replace regular co-op. Online mode is robust too, although drinking alone and playing with people across the globe doesn’t have the same appeal as a gaming room packed with friends.

New war

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Multi/Activision, Infinity Ward) is the first CoD that’s not set in WWII, but in a fictional present-day war. I’ve only just started playing, but I’ve observed that the missions involving the Brits tend to be stealthy, well-planned intel-chasing night crawls, while the American battles are chaotic, bloody raids where nobody seems to be in charge, and bodies pile up quickly in the ensuing games of grenade kickball. I don’t know if it’s the developer’s own perspective on the current political climate, but it’s an interesting way to begin the game.

CoD has always been about rapid-fire action, and the spectacular next-gen visuals only enhance the war zone insanity further. Within minutes the gameplay felt familiar even if the game is no longer situated in Berlin circa 1944. I like how they quote Robert McNamara when I die.