Name: Guitar Hero: Metallica
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Neversoft
Genre: Rhythm
When writing reviews, I like to start by adding in my own personal experiences with particular aspects of the game. So, you can imagine my hesitation to write up a review for Guitar Hero: Metallica. I have been anxiously anticipating this game for a good long while now, due to my love of the Guitar Hero series. As for Metallica, well that's where this gets confusing. I've never been a straight-forward fan of Metallica. I actually owe it to games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band for giving me reason to listen to their stuff. I spent a long time looking at Metallica's music as "noise" and never bothered with it, prior to the GH/RB phase. Since then, I have heard all their albums (rest assured, I like the good ones, and dislike the bad ones), so Guitar Hero: Metallica could have gone either way for me. So, is the new Guitar Hero expansion a Master of Puppets or St. Anger? Read on to find out...
Published by Activision and developed by Neversoft (acquired after Harmonix abandoned the series after Rocks the 80s), Guitar Hero has been one of the video game series of the decade. Metallica always seemed like a no-brainer of an expansion, considering many of the rhythm games feature Metallica songs, plus the added difficulty of a metal-centric soundtrack is mouth-watering for some. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was a decent first attempt at the band focused spin-off, but it was up to Guitar Hero: Metallica to elevate and deliver a fully fleshed out experience up to par with the main series of the games. Did it do this? In one word: FUCK YEAH!
I'm going to get this out of the way: Guitar Hero: Metallica is the best Guitar Hero to date. As a fan from the beginning of the series, that is saying a lot. It ups the presentation, the bonus goodies, the graphics and the soundtrack above any other installments of the series. GH:M sets you up with the Guitar Hero: World Tour setup. So, you can play guitar, bass, drums, or vocals. This is, of course, emulated in Metallica as having you play as Kirk, Rob, Lars or James. The detail they put into Metallica is terrific. The mo-cap is well done, with band members pulling off some signature stage moves, and the lip syncing is excellent. Each member looks just as they should (Robert Trujillo takes the prize, in my books), and the audience is more active in this version. Even some guest stars appear. Lemmy from Motorhead, and King Diamond show up for their particular songs.
Speaking of songs, the setlist is truly terrific. Songs from every album appear, from Kill 'Em All to Death Magnetic and everything in between. Classics such as Master of Puppets, One, and Enter Sandman are all here. However, some songs are unfortunately not in the game. Ride the Lightning, Blackened, and my favourite 'Tallica song: ...And Justice for All are nowhere to be seen. Of course they can only have a certain amount of Metallica songs to make room for the guest acts, which are solid. Tons of songs from bands that have inspired Metallica, or just that the band really likes are on here, from Queen to Foo Fighters. While these guest songs are fun to play, they aren’t as entertaining to watch, as the player has to look at a bland Guitar Hero-style band, which I, personally, have grown sick of. All of the songs are mixed exceptionally well, with many re-recordings and not a cover in sight. The Metallica songs are where the career mode shines, and thankfully, players won’t get stuck. To beat the career, the player must accumulate a certain number of stars to unlock the next venue, until you reach the end. The songs can become very difficult (although not Guitar Hero 3 level of impossibility), so it is easier on beginners who can accumulate stars for easier songs, instead of tackling the killer ones. And with expert +, there now is another challenge for drummers, which is a lot of fun to play, and incredibly difficult at some times. There are some issues with this, but I’ll get to that in a second.
There is still lots to do after you beat the career. There are still the three other instruments, quickplay to go back and play your favourite songs, Metallifacts for those who want to listen and learn, plus tons of sweet videos and pictures for the Metallica junkies. It is clear that Neversoft wanted to make a game for Metallica fans and Guitar Hero fans, and they nailed both aspects in the presentation. Every menu, sound effect, even the recording studio has been given a Metallica touch. Even the story through the career is cheesy. The in-game interface has been given a much needed facelift, as well. The World Tour interface had a lot of organization problems and looked slapped together. Neversoft clearly heard the complaints, as everything is easy to see and much bigger. Not everything has been fixed, however. The music studio still needs work, and it really didn’t seem to be a bullet point for Neversoft to enhance this mode. The menu scrolling is still awkward, having to use the face buttons on the drums, as opposed to Rock Band, which lets you use the actual pads.
Now, despite all the raving I’ve been doing, there are a few problems. First off, the packaging really pisses me off. I live in Canada, which means, there are no full band bundles or even guitar/game bundles. But even worse, there are no double pedals in Canada. None. This means that any expert + song I play must be done with one pedal. All the other instruments work fine, but the packaging really bothers me. Secondly, the game only has 49 tracks. Having a low number of starting tracks is not an awful thing in this age of downloadable content. However, Guitar Hero: Metallica does not support DLC, with the exception of Death Magnetic. To release a music game in this day and age, at full price, and not support regular DLC, the developers are really risking stunting the lifespan of this game. If you are a Guitar Hero master, then you will likely whip through it, and wonder where your money went. The value problem is the big issue in this game filled with so much awesomeness.
Guitar Hero: Metallica, as I said, is the best in the series simply for the enthusiasm put forth on this project. It seems like the developers cared again about a game that was really only half-good last time. With about 4-5 other “Hero series” games coming out this year, the value issue won’t bother everyone. But for someone who hesitates before spending $70 on a game, it is a problem. The packaging issues will bug Canadians, but for other nations, you might get lucky. However, there is so much to love in the soundtrack, the extra goodies, and the “Metallica touch” that’s been put forth, that for however long it’ll last, it will be a blast.
9/10
Topic: [Video Game] Guitar Hero: Metallica (Read 4610 times)