Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Demo

I gave the Guitar Hero III demo that's available on Xbox Live Marketplace a run through yesterday in preparation for the UK release later this month on the 23rd. The demo offers five different songs to try your guitar thrashing skills on including "Lay Down", "Rock You Like a Hurricane", "Even Flow", "Hit Me with Your Best Shot", and "The Metal".

Apart from "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam I'm not familiar with the other tracks, but I found them all enjoyable enough to play though and thought they provided a good example of the different styles of music that would be available in the final release.

The fundamentals of the game remain unchanged, adopting the "if it ain't broke, why fix it attitude". And to be honest I can't really see how they could, or would want to change the core gameplay to make it much better. Players still hit notes and play chords as they scroll down the virtual guitar neck using the five "fret" buttons and "strum bar" on the guitar controller. Your performance is measured via a "rock" meter varying in colour from red (poor) to green (good) and if you miss too many notes in a row then apart from being greeted by the jeers and booing of the audience you will also find the "Song Failed" message staring you in the eyes.

The demo includes a comprehensive tutorial on how to play the game covering the basics and advanced techniques, and is well worth a look if you're new to the series. The tutorials also explain how the "battle mode" works, which is a new mode introduced this time around for "boss" battles and player vs player.

All in all the game is shaping up quite nicely and I'm looking forward to the retail release version as not only does it provide a lot of fresh new tracks to try out, but also I'm afraid I just can't resist that new wireless "Gibson Les Paul" guitar controller.