Dynafire has 132 chronicles

1. Guitar Hero Metallica first impressions/semi-review
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Mar 30 2009

   Neversoft, take note. Your latest full-band installment in the Guitar Hero franchise, Guitar Hero: Metallica is good. Very good. At least compared to the abomination that is Guitar Hero: World Tour, what with it's ridiculous menu layout, as well as broken vocals and slider note sections, (which you refuse to acknowledge are indeed broken) this game is equivalent to the second coming of Jesus.
   
   I'll go right out there and say it: I believe this to be the best Guitar Hero game that Neversoft has released so far. The menu system takes a huge step backward, and in doing so, takes a step forward to being understandable again. There's still the less than intuitive menu system for online play, which I wish they'd do away with. I like the idea of pre-selecting your difficulty, except that you have to change it every freaking time you go online.
   
   But anyway, enough babbling. Here's what I've liked and disliked the most about it so far.
   
   Likes:
   
   The difficulty
   
   As a fairly decent expert guitarist, I like a challenge. Better yet, I like a challenge that also gives me songs that fit my musical taste. GH Metallica does just that, with a great mix of rock and metal music, with plenty of fun solos to shred. Granted, the difficulty isn't everything I look for a rhythm game. A prime example of this is the first Rock Band game. 90% of the songs on guitar were very, very easy, but I had a lot of fun with the game because I enjoyed the music in it.
   
   The extra stuff
   
   There are a lot of bonuses to be unlocked by playing through the game, the neatest of which are the "Metallifacts" videos. After playing a Metallica song, there is an option to view a bonus video for it. Basically, this video plays the song and gives you little snippets of info about it from time to time. There are also behind-the-scenes videos of Metallica getting motion-captured in the studio, live performances on stage, and other things like that. I've never really cared about the bonus videos in the other games, but these are a welcome addition.
   
   Disliked:
   
   The in-game visuals
   
   I don't like to complain about graphics, and I'm not going to. This is more about how the user interface looks on a 25" CRT television. (I have a 32" HDTV, but generally play rhythm games on a CRT to eliminate lag.) First of all, the forced 16:9 aspect ratio is B. S. I wouldn't mind it so much if there was a way to make the damn game full-screen. I hate having my screen dominated by black lines at the top and bottom. While we're at it, I'd like to discuss the in-game HUD, or heads-up-display. The thing is still stupid, like in GH World Tour, except now every number on the thing is nearly unreadable. It's impossible to differentiate 3's from 6's 8's or 9's, and I'm sitting only 5-6 feet from the screen. There was nothing wrong with the HUD from any of the pre-GHWT games, and they really need to go back to the old design. Though to their credit, adding the ability to see how many stars you have during the song is rather nice.
   
   WTF
   
   What is with the Ace of Spades note chart? Seriously, WTF?!? Compared to every other iteration of the song before this game, the difficulty of this version is ridiculous. It's like they took the Rock Band 2 chart and turned everything into chords. It just feels awkward, and isn't very fun in my opinion.
   
   There also appears to be no score tracking in career, which is pretty stupid, but then again, I haven't cared about scores for a while now so it doesn't really bother me.
   
   Overall, the game is a fantastic addition to the series, and I recommend picking it up if you're a fan of the series, or of the rhythm game genre in general. I haven't had a chance to experience full band play yet, but will likely edit this chronicle once I do.

   
   

   ---

   Send To A Friend

Dynafire has 3 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Silent Bob
   Posted On Mar 31 2009

   I like this game quite a bit, but it was definitely a natural fit as far as musical taste.
   
   I finished the entire game on Sunday when it came out. I think it takes about 6 hours or so. Give or take because of the occasional Metallifacts.
   
   I haven't seen the note charts for Expert played by anybody yet, so I can only vouch for Medium. I finished MOST of the songs on this disc at 99% or so (I only aced The Thing That Should Not Be - I always seem to drop a note here or there despite best efforts). There were a couple that really kicked my butt though - 3 Stars!?! I'm lookin' at you, Fight Fire with Fire...and you, Disposable Heroes, with your weird timing. The Mercyful Fate song (the one by the band, not named for the band) was pretty tough too. I thought they made One easier with the slider notes when it goes into the solo near the end.
   
   I'm going to have to Quick Play some of these a few more times. Playing Orion is just plain awesome.
   
   I also played a little co-op with my nephew. He likes shooters way more than rhythm games, so he stuck to bass on Medium. But we both had a good time. The first song we did was Creeping Death. Fun stuff on this disc, even the Seger!

2. RyuBlitz
   Posted On Mar 30 2009

   Man, the visuals look AMAZING in HD. It's almost worth the effort of dealing with lag. I'm going to try hooking my X360 up via VGA cable later, to see if it cuts out the lag. If it does, maybe that's something you should look into.

3. BEN
   Posted On Mar 30 2009

   Hey Dynafire, great review of a game there's been a lot of chatter about. If you approve of the game, I almost definitely will do the same!
   
   I wonder what many of our other Plastic Rockstars around here have to say about this recently released Guitar Hero title?
   
   The other question I have is whether it is the full band experience? I assume it is, but wanted to ask...