1. MikeG.

   9

   30 songs for 40 bucks, yea, i'll buy every guitar hero game at that value, besides, some of the songs are more difficult than most gh2 songs.

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2. FriedPiper

   6

   It seems that creating a true pop culture icon has turned Harmonix from a developer that consistently made the most creative, deep music games around (Frequency, nearly 6 years after its release, still stands proud as an amazing game, as does it's sequel Amplitude) into the developers that made... well, this, a last grab quickie to cash in before on their success before they move on to Rock Band. Now, please understand, I'm the type of person that was going to (and did) buy this game the first day. I can and have forgiven the last Guitar Hero games for all the aesthetic and creative decisions that annoyed me, such as the overly cutesy, obvious venues and the uninspired, lazy rock caricatures that pass for the characters ("That guy has a top hat and makeup! He must be the sleaze, glam metal guy! And that guy with the wavy haricut is like the guy from Stray Cats!"). However, the indifference and laziness apparent in this full-price-expansion-pack-without-any-actual-expansions is so overt and verging on vulgar that even the most thick skinned and avid fan will find himself uttering "Oh come on!". From the get go, everything feels rushed and cynical. The opening cutscene is EXACTLY THE SAME as Guitar Hero 2 only with more pastel colors. Every menu is exactly the same only with pastel colors. Hell, even the venues (those that are still there... ) are exactly the same only with more pastel colors and the occasional Reagan poster (really). The character list has been shortened and the changes to those characters to "80's-ify" them are even more obvious and uninspired than their original designs (Why change Axl? Isn't a denim vest with spikes already basically the epitome of 80s metal fashion?). It feels as though noone who actually lived through or has ever seen a few hours of 80s music videos took part in making this game; this is the only explanation I can come up with for why there isn't any character with a big, curly mullet and an unappealing blue suit with shoulder pads, the sleeves rolled up above the elbows. Then, of course, there is the real reason anyone bought the game: the songs. Again, I've been very forgiving about the covers in past games. I thought it was actually kinda charming that the guy singing Heart Shaped Box sounded like an even bigger loser than Kurt Cobain, and that Bark At The Moon was sung by someone who was clearly not Ozzy. However, some of the covers here are so egregious that hey can hardly be glossed over. Heat of the Moment suffers the worst, with its entire, rip roaring chorus completely deflated and turned into an utter downer. The humanoid attempting to recreate Dio's Holy Diver sounds like a drunk man mocking the song as he walks down the street with his friends. While this is truly disappointing, the real story is the lack of real potent songs here. So many of these songs are 2nd or 3rd string tunes from the artist. Instead of Quiet Riot's signature, Come Along and Feel Some Joyful Noize, we get their non-starter, non-hit Metal Health (Bang Your Head). Twisted Sister's ode to no longer being willing to take "it" has been opted out in favor of a pretty shitty rerecording of I Wanna Rock. Whereas Eddie Money's Take Me Home Tonight would have been a complete showstopper, we instead get his awful, sleazy ode to nauseating sex, Shakin'. And why in world is this game missing Iron Maiden's The Trooper, perhaps one of the quintessential amazing metal songs of the 80s, especially since PS2 owners already saw themselves slighted earlier this year when it made its way onto the Xbox 360's Guitar Hero 2? This single song would have made this game expotentially more rad. And speaking of metal, any real heavy stuff is sorely missing here. When one realizes that acts like Lamb of God and Shadows Fall made their way into Guitar Hero 2, it really doesn't seem like too awful an expectation that this game might contain some real barn burners from thrash bands like Destruction or Kreator or even some old school death metal. So why, after all this, am I giving it a pretty high rating? Because this game, no matter how many problems, will still continue to the proud legacy of Guitar Hero as a party starter. I could definitely see a room full of rowdy college students turning the awful Heat of the Moment cover into a soaring, hillarious good time. Songs like 18 And Life and Only A Lad are so rad and over the top that they can only spell good times. So while I'm sorely disappointed in the laziness and clear greed involved in this game, I still gotta say I'll be a slave to it until GH3 this fall, most likely.… Expand

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3. LeoJ.

   4

   It's hard to like GH 80s. It brings less to the table than a TV dinner. Songlist? It's short, with many selections that raise eyebrows as high as any New Wave hairstyle. "Lonely Is The Night"? "Shakin'"? "Turning Japanese"? "I Ran"? The really awful 80s covers of "Ballroom Blitz" and "Radar Love"? Who was responsible for this screwjob? It doesn't really get to rocking by any definition until near the end, and before you know it the whole experience ends. There's very few changes from GH2; you're more likely to find things that are missing than added. Most of what differentiates this package from GH2 is eye candy, with only six 80s styled characters (good-bye Xavier, Clive, Casey, Eddie, and Lars), one unlockable character, no bonus music, no videos, and no special guitars. Many of the graphical elements are exactly the same or only have minor "80s Tweaks", like changing what Axel and Judy are wearing during the opening cartoon or making bits of the menu screens more pastel. It's pointless and annoying. Worst of all, this thing is EASY. Since the playlist stays away from power metal, glam rock, deathmetal, and whathaveyou, instead choosing to stay warm in the confines of hair rock and guitar pop, most songs are straight ahead lather-riff-repeat numbers, where you'll wind up playing the same exact pattern over and over for three to five minutes. Yawn. Even on Hard it's a cake walk. (Except for "Play With Me", of course...) Truth from someone with hours and hours and hours invested in the previous Guitar Hero games? Save yer cash for GH3 and Rock Band.… Expand

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