Off to Never-Neverland
Exit life. Enter Guitar Hero: Metallica.
Published: April 12, 2009
Let it never be said that Neversoft can't learn from experience. Just as they did when graduating from first taking the reins of the Guitar Hero franchise to producing the first artist-specific follow-up, the move from finally moving to a full band experience into replicating what it's like to play as just one (or, uh, a few) bands has been further improved. Honestly, they probably couldn't have asked for a better group to pattern things off of than Metallica; the band has a ridiculously loyal following, the songs are ready-made for a four-person experience and almost everyone knows some part of one of those songs.
More importantly, though, the songs are a blast to play. Yes, I realize I used both italics and bold there, but that's only because one wouldn't have been enough to contain all the awesome. Seriously, the songs assembled here may well be the best collection I've ever played in any music game, and it's due almost exclusively to how fun the songs are to play. Oh, it helps that there's a fantastic selection of tunes in place (even the non-Metallica stuff was great), but for a guy like me who loves to play the drums more than anything else, Lars' technical, constantly changing beats are an absolute joy to play, and with the addition of double-bass, the songs have ramped up perfectly to match with my ability to spaz out like Animal.
At first, I thought Guitar Hero: Metallica was just a re-skinning of World Tour, albeit with plenty of great looking, detailed motion capture data from the band for all the songs. While the latter may be true, the same certainly can't be said for the first part of my assumption. This is not Neversoft's first band game with a different look, it's a completely redone engine that affords players more space to see upcoming notes, what feels like a better framerate, more detail in the backgrounds and characters (great for huge arena crowd shots) and a more refined interface for determining how you're doing, how your point totals are going and what kind of Star Power you've banked.
In short, it's a completely different game, and one that's infinitely better than World Tour, something I only realized when I downloaded my first bit of DLC for the game because Metallica, sadly, doesn't support it (an absolutely massive shame given the improvements that have been applied). I can't stand World Tour anymore, such is the leap in quality toward every area that this new game offers -- particularly in the sound, which flexes a proper 5.1 (or better) sound system like few games you've got in your collection.
So if the graphics are better, punctuated by polygonal crowds, more detailed interaction with the venues (stuff like helicopters flying overhead -- which actually happened according to the band -- or speakers crashing down around them before they go on to rock out), the sound is clearer and more booming and the songs sport easily the best note patterns the series has ever seen, is this the best Guitar Hero game ever made? Yep. And it really is that simple.
I'd love to go on and on and on (and on) about the rush I got when first playing a song and just nailed a bunch of fills (something Metallica handles better than either Rock Band or World Tour), but that stuff is really only evident once you've played it for yourself. There's so much here that makes use of the more advanced techniques that Neversoft built into the last game; the slap bass, the slide guitar solos, and, yes, the double bass that instantly changes how you'll see playing drums in a video game forever. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but once I re-wired my brain to deliver 1/16 notes with my feet, I can't imagine playing with one foot ever again. It's that major a change, and thanks to songs that properly embrace and slowly introduce the mechanic, the addition is more than just superfluous one-upmanship.
You'll notice I keep referring to Guitar Hero: Metallica as "the next Guitar Hero" rather than just a band-specific add-on, and that' s because it is a full game. This isn't some hastily slapped-together effort meant to cash in on the popularity of one artist, it's a loving, full-bodied tribute to everything Metallica. The scads of videos, slick little animated cutscenes (done by Titmouse, the same animation studio that handles Metalocalypse on Adult Swim) and "Metallifacts" segments that layer factoids over a music video-style presentation of a song you'd normally just play only hammer this home. Even if you're not a huge Metallica fan (and I'll admit that I wasn't until this game), there's still enough packed in here to more than justify the price -- I just wish more than the "Death Magnetic" downloadable content actually worked with this new engine because there's simply no going back after you've played this iteration.
I'll say that again: I can't go back. In fact, I've switched to exclusively using the Guitar Hero instruments when playing Rock Band because they've become so damned fun to use, though I'll fully admit that it's almost an entirely drum-driven move. That I'm back to playing any music game again after experiencing serious burn-out over the course of just a few years' reviews should say something. This is the game that made Guitar Hero -- and maybe even music games in general -- fun again for me. I honestly can't think of a better complement than that. Go buy this game, and watch every last second of your free time disappear like the first time you picked up that clicky plastic guitar. You'll be glad you did, trust me.
More importantly, though, the songs are a blast to play. Yes, I realize I used both italics and bold there, but that's only because one wouldn't have been enough to contain all the awesome. Seriously, the songs assembled here may well be the best collection I've ever played in any music game, and it's due almost exclusively to how fun the songs are to play. Oh, it helps that there's a fantastic selection of tunes in place (even the non-Metallica stuff was great), but for a guy like me who loves to play the drums more than anything else, Lars' technical, constantly changing beats are an absolute joy to play, and with the addition of double-bass, the songs have ramped up perfectly to match with my ability to spaz out like Animal.
At first, I thought Guitar Hero: Metallica was just a re-skinning of World Tour, albeit with plenty of great looking, detailed motion capture data from the band for all the songs. While the latter may be true, the same certainly can't be said for the first part of my assumption. This is not Neversoft's first band game with a different look, it's a completely redone engine that affords players more space to see upcoming notes, what feels like a better framerate, more detail in the backgrounds and characters (great for huge arena crowd shots) and a more refined interface for determining how you're doing, how your point totals are going and what kind of Star Power you've banked.
In short, it's a completely different game, and one that's infinitely better than World Tour, something I only realized when I downloaded my first bit of DLC for the game because Metallica, sadly, doesn't support it (an absolutely massive shame given the improvements that have been applied). I can't stand World Tour anymore, such is the leap in quality toward every area that this new game offers -- particularly in the sound, which flexes a proper 5.1 (or better) sound system like few games you've got in your collection.
So if the graphics are better, punctuated by polygonal crowds, more detailed interaction with the venues (stuff like helicopters flying overhead -- which actually happened according to the band -- or speakers crashing down around them before they go on to rock out), the sound is clearer and more booming and the songs sport easily the best note patterns the series has ever seen, is this the best Guitar Hero game ever made? Yep. And it really is that simple.
I'd love to go on and on and on (and on) about the rush I got when first playing a song and just nailed a bunch of fills (something Metallica handles better than either Rock Band or World Tour), but that stuff is really only evident once you've played it for yourself. There's so much here that makes use of the more advanced techniques that Neversoft built into the last game; the slap bass, the slide guitar solos, and, yes, the double bass that instantly changes how you'll see playing drums in a video game forever. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but once I re-wired my brain to deliver 1/16 notes with my feet, I can't imagine playing with one foot ever again. It's that major a change, and thanks to songs that properly embrace and slowly introduce the mechanic, the addition is more than just superfluous one-upmanship.
You'll notice I keep referring to Guitar Hero: Metallica as "the next Guitar Hero" rather than just a band-specific add-on, and that' s because it is a full game. This isn't some hastily slapped-together effort meant to cash in on the popularity of one artist, it's a loving, full-bodied tribute to everything Metallica. The scads of videos, slick little animated cutscenes (done by Titmouse, the same animation studio that handles Metalocalypse on Adult Swim) and "Metallifacts" segments that layer factoids over a music video-style presentation of a song you'd normally just play only hammer this home. Even if you're not a huge Metallica fan (and I'll admit that I wasn't until this game), there's still enough packed in here to more than justify the price -- I just wish more than the "Death Magnetic" downloadable content actually worked with this new engine because there's simply no going back after you've played this iteration.
I'll say that again: I can't go back. In fact, I've switched to exclusively using the Guitar Hero instruments when playing Rock Band because they've become so damned fun to use, though I'll fully admit that it's almost an entirely drum-driven move. That I'm back to playing any music game again after experiencing serious burn-out over the course of just a few years' reviews should say something. This is the game that made Guitar Hero -- and maybe even music games in general -- fun again for me. I honestly can't think of a better complement than that. Go buy this game, and watch every last second of your free time disappear like the first time you picked up that clicky plastic guitar. You'll be glad you did, trust me.
