Very good, but very different to GH2
Guitar Hero 3 is a great game, but definitely has a few minor flaws.
Gameplay
The gameplay is in some ways simple but it gets more complicated. In this game, you will play songs using the Guitar Controller, holding down the corresponding fret button and then strumming up or down on the strum bar. When hitting certain notes, you can obtain Star Power which will give you a double points bonus for a short amount of time. There are also more advanaced techniques which can be used, like hammer ons and pull offs.
In Guitar Hero 2, the gameplay was pretty much just playing through the setlist of each venue until you beat the encore and then moving on through each venue until you beat the game.
In the third installment however, things were done a bit differently. Whilst some venues still only contain a few songs and an encore to complete, there are three boss battles between other legendary guitarists, which are just like guitar battles, in the way that you complete certain note combos to get powerups, which you use to make your opponent fail the song.
I feel that whilst Boss Battles are a good addition to the game, they can be very frustrating at times, the final one in particular.
There is also the option to buy more music
Sounds / Music
The soundtrack is definitely an improvement over Guitar Hero 2. Songs featured include Raining Blood, Pride and Joy, Through the Fire and Flames, Cult of Personality and many more. If you like rock, or even metal music, you'll most likely enjoy this game's soundtrack. There are also songs available as downloadable content, some of which are free but others, which can definitely cost a bit of money to buy.
A good thing is that the majority of songs in the game are the master track, meaning a lack of covers like you saw with quite a few songs in Guitar Hero 2. This is definitely a good change
Difficulty
The difficulty of the game has had a big boost since GH2. Whilst the game should still be okay for beginners (by playing on Easy and then moving up with each difficulty), the Hard and Expert modes are noticeably much harder than in Guitar Hero 2.
Whilst Guitar Hero 3 songs are a bit overcharted note wise, and can have constant hammer ons and pull offs during the solos. It is much easier to do a HO / PO in Guitar Hero 3 as the timing doesn't have to be as spot on.
Multiplayer / Online Functionality
I wasn't that impressed with Multiplayer. Whilst its a feature which GH needed by now, its definitely a bit lackluster. Sometimes it can be hard to find and join games which you want to join, and sometimes it can be easy, but the options of game modes are limited to Face Off, Pro Face Off, CoOp and Guitar Battle, and all of those modes involve you and your opponent picking a number of songs, and then playing through them turn by turn.
Online Scoreboards are a nice addition though, allowing you to compare your top scores with other people from around the world.
Graphics
Graphics are another thing that have changed a bit. This game compared to its predecessor looks more gritty than the last one, which is in some ways a good change which suits the rock theme of this game, but in others, not so much. Some of the characters from GH2 have changed a lot in this game too.
The graphics definitely look more next gen, with some well designed venues and better graphics in general compared to GH2.
Overall
Even though it has changed a bit compared to Guitar Hero 2, its still a great game, especially if playing with friends either online or offline. I'd definitely recommend it.
