Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

PGNx Media

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is undoubtedly the best game in the series. The amazing soundtrack, superb wireless guitar, subtle tweaks, and excellent online multiplayer are exactly what fans have been wanting from the series.

Gaming Target

Guitar Hero III adds interesting elements like online multiplayer, boss battles and battle power, but the real innovation is in the new rock-themed setlist and the way you play it.

Digital Entertainment News

Deep career mode with tons of challenges; fun online features; a decent song list with more available as add-ons. What more could the next Eddie Van Halen, Edge, Eric Clapton or Oz Fox ask for?

DailyGame

Even with a new developer, the game doesn't miss a beat.

Play UK

The boss battles may let it down slightly, but Guitar Hero III is another magnificent rhythm-action beats, sure to appease fans and newcomers alike. [Issue#160, p.70]

Playstation Official Magazine UK

Rock Band might wait on the horizon like a dark army, but for now, Guitar Hero still rules. [Christmas 2007, p.102]

PSM3 Magazine UK

Overall Nothing much new - except for the most dazzling playlist to grace the series yet. Great.

PSM Magazine

Basically more of the same, but we aren't complaining...It's Guitar Hero, it's next-gen, and it's the party game PS3 owners have been waiting for. [Dec 2007, p.74]

1UP

The second way the songs are better is how they're played. The notes and chords are laid out in natural and engaging patterns that make sense musically and with the way your hands are moving.

GamerNode

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will have you addicted until Guitar Hero IV comes out, and I can guarantee that your money will not go to waste on this game.

AceGamez

There is a depth to this game like no other, and with over seventy songs, each with four different difficulty levels, plus the versatile and insanely addictive online mode, this will most definitely keep you rocking for a long time to come.

IGN

The soundtrack is fantastic and the new online additions are going to take the Guitar Hero community to the next level. It really is hard to argue with any facet of the gameplay. Everything outside of the game itself, though, is in need of an overhaul as the presentation is growing a bit stale.

Worth Playing

Guitar Hero III is a great game — at least as good as its notable predecessors. In the title's PlayStation 3 version, however, the deal comes with a caveat: For a seamless, uncomplicated experience, you can't bring your old Guitar Hero gear with you.

Game Informer

You're in for one hell of a good time. [Oct 2007, p.108]

GameZone

Challenging, fast-finger button mashing mechanics are the order of the day, but the result is a game that is easy to pick up and tough to master.

PSX Extreme

Unlike other games, what primarily drives Guitar Hero's appeal is just how fantastic its track selection, and Guitar Hero III is no exception; it may very well have one of the best soundtracks ever.

IC-Games

When you strip away the meat from the bones you might be left with essentially Guitar Hero II 'deluxe' but for fans of the series we doubt many will be disappointed with what Neversoft have achieved.

Gamers' Temple

There are a few things that I wish were different about Guitar Hero III, but they don’t diminish the fact that this game is as enjoyable as any in the series. PS3 owners, it’s time to rock.

Game Over Online

Neversoft played it pretty safe with Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. It doesn’t break new ground and it didn’t need to. The existing formula has made the franchise a huge success. They did add a local co-op Career Mode, boss battles to the solo Career Mode, and a multiplayer Battle Mode. They also focused on improving the look and feel of the game with tremendous results.

Kombo

When you balance out the positive and negative aspects in Guitar Hero III, you're left with scale tipping very strongly in the positive.

GamePro

By virtue of being around longer, the Xbox 360 has more compatibility and a larger, more cohesive community to play with. While you're still guaranteed a good time on the PS3, it's tough to truly rock out when you know there's a bigger venue to play in and a better band on the way.

GamingTrend

Guitar Hero III definitely fixes that issue and makes the game more friendly for the casual gamer scene. Don’t let the boss battles scare you, and if you approach it with an open mind you’ll probably find that you enjoy them.

Maxi Consolas (Portugal)

As fun and addictive as the previous ones, although the increased difficulty might be a little intimidating to anyone who intends to join the Guitar Hero cult at this later stage. But the new Les Paul guitars, the co-op career and the fabulous track list form, once again, an incredible experience. [Dec 2007]

Extreme Gamer

Guitar Hero 3 is addictive and fun for all gamers, including those who don’t regularly play games. Guitar Hero 3 has its own unique magic that has found its own niche at the top of the charts. If you haven't experienced this solid rock performance, purchase a ticket and get ready for the button pressing time of your life.

Armchair Empire

I was surprised with Guitar Hero III – surprised that I actually enjoyed pushing buttons in time to music. It’s not really rockin’ out, but it sure is fun and I’m a little sorry I missed the previous titles.

Game Almighty

This game is substantially harder than the previous two, and may cause a newcomer to the series to reconsider their purchase.

GameTrailers

Guitar Hero III abides to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach by sticking to the tried-and-true formula established in the first game and honed in the second. A few minor tweaks to pre-existing modes, like the ability to jump to practice mode mid-song and sift through organized song sets, tighten up the presentation a bit, but for the most part the features sing to the same old tune.

My Gamer

For fans of the series this is simply a continuation of form, while everyone else will easily find something to love it is hard not to be shocked at the price.

GamingExcellence

While it doesn't bring any major innovation to the franchise, Guitar Hero 3 is a solid successor and an excellent first outing of the franchise by Neversoft.

Cheat Code Central

This is the Guitar Hero to have. While it may not be a true revolutionary step forward, it does take its strides towards what I one day hope the Guitar Hero series will achieve.

Game Chronicles

Neversoft did an admirable job, especially considering they had to take a legendary franchise and rebuild it from scratch. But for a series that I have traditionally given perfect scores and continuous editorial awards, I can’t help but feel a bit let down by some personally distasteful music and poor note designs.

Gamestyle

So Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is not the throbbing unadulterated solo that Gamestyle had hoped for, yet it remains far from mediocrity.

GameSpy

Features like the boss battles, online play and co-op could have made Guitar Hero III a legend itself but end up feeling unpolished. Still, there's enough meat in Guitar Hero III to keep any would-be shredder happy for a long time... or at least until Guitar Hero IV comes out.

GameSpot

Guitar Hero III ups the ante with increased difficulty and new modes, and though not everything it adds is fantastic, the excellent tracklist and stellar gameplay are sure to keep you hooked.

Games Radar (in-house)

By going real with the songs, next-gen with the graphics and online with the gameplay, it leaves the wishlist relatively barren. At the same time, it's not delivering us much new on the gameplay front, and in fact lags a bit in terms of smart strumming mechanics.

GameDaily

While we appreciate the new star power, the new too-difficult two-player Battle mode fails to impress and the new guitar, while sturdy and reliable, feels small in comparison to Rock Band's more realistic axe. Regardless, Guitar Hero still has that addictive quality. Combine that with an excellent soundtrack and online play, this mock rock simulator will have you jamming for months.

TotalPlayStation

In all, Guitar Hero III serves as a nice little high water mark for Neversoft. It's hardly all that high, but proves that, yes, they can actually make a Guitar Hero game without trashing the series in one fell swoop and, as evidenced by the stuff seen in the Aerosmith expansion, they can clearly learn from their mistakes.

VideoGamer

Guitar hero 3 should most definitely be praised - for its almost entirely original recording song list, for its attempts to introduce something new into a near perfect formula, and for picking up where Harmonix left off effortlessly. The songs are diverse, hard-rocking and challenging, but in all honesty, these new tracks are the most exciting new thing about GH3.

Gamer 2.0

There are two good reasons why you might need to ignore our “rent it” recommendation and go buy Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock right now. One, you’re absolutely sure you’ll have a blast playing with and against people online and moving up the leaderboards for a very, very long time to come (again, this isn’t an option on the PS2 version). Two, you can’t wait another minute to have your fingers tied in knots by the three-note chord and wiggly solo onslaughts this maniacally challenging game throws your way.

Game Revolution

Playing Guitar Hero III is like picking up a brand-new, fashionable (wireless!) guitar. It may have a light but solid body, a sexy and sophisticated shape, more durable strings, more easily adjustable tuners, and hell, it may just sound better, but it doesn’t have the spit and polish - that look of a mature instrument which reminds you of all the years you’ve spent with it, of all the sweat and beer stains.

Hardcore Gamer Magazine

I got a gang of friends together to test it out and we spent hours unlocking songs and fooling around, but, because some of us are guitar heroes and some are guitar zeroes, having a truly quality time is a tougher than it should be. It's still well worth a look. [Nov 2007, p.63]

Gaming Nexus

While the formula works, it's starting to get a little stale so while I fully expect to see a Guitar Hero IV I hope the developer takes the game and add something truly new to the series. I just got really frustrated with the PlayStation 3 version however and while the score is a little lower to reflect that, the game's just a patch or two away from being fun and worth your money.

Edge Magazine

Guitar Hero has one of the most intuitive and subtle control systems of any game, but here it becomes increasingly subservient to making the game – yes – rock hard, and for the average player will often descend into button-mashing. [Christmas 2007, p.98]

Video Game Talk

Sadly, the Les Paul guitar controller does not work as well as it does on the 360, requiring an external dongle to work. It also does not work with previous Guitar Hero games, so fans of the other entries will have to keep waiting if they want to play them on the PS3.

Gaming Age

The audio on the PS3 version lags behind the video, making songs very hard to play on higher difficulties. You're either forced to block out the music and sight read the notes or manually change the lag to account for the audio making it more difficult to sight read the notes.