Customer Reviews

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle With Guitar

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

When I first heard that a PC-port of Guitar Hero III was on its way, I was ecstatic. I refused to think about how terrible Aspyr ports tend to be, and I just took it for what it was: the best thing, in my opinion, about console gaming coming to PC. I no longer would have to look upon my friends' Xbox 360s longingly.

Then the bad news: it would come with the Xplorer guitar instead of the lovely new wireless Les Paul. If you haven't used the new Les Paul, you won't be as heartbroken, but trust me: it is a huge difference. It's akin to using an Epiphone instead of a Gibson.

And more bad news. Apparantly Guitar Hero III is a system hog; even top of the line rigs used by IGN for their reviews had stuttering issues and low framerates at times. My system is far from bad, but my 8800 GTS and AMD 5000+ couldn't touch their rigs. Stuttering would make any rhythm game unplayable; worthless. I decided not to buy it.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks. I'm in Best Buy looking at LCD monitors and I see Guitar Hero III for PC. A mere mortal, I cannot resist. I get home, install the game, and plug the guitar in. I already have an Xbox 360 controller for windows, so I didn't even need to install new drivers for the guitar. It loads, and I go to quick play to try out a song; I am surprised.

The game runs flawlessly, nary a hickup, with a very high framerate, graphics and physics on high, at 1600 x 1200. In short, it is even better than the console versions. Why was my experience so different than that of reviewers, and many other people? Probably because I keep my drivers up to date religiously, and had the 169.17 (nvidia) beta drivers installed; I think I read on some forums that these improve performance in Guitar Hero. Also, I have a lovely Creative Xi-fi Xtremegamer card (which I heartily recommend) which probably helps out a bit.

Lower-end rigs will probably struggle, as is always the case with PC games. Is this fair? Shouldn't some of the worst computers be able to do something that a ps2 can? Of course; the fact that this is a system-hog at all is due to it being a lazy port. On a medium to high-end rig, does it show? Not at all. It runs like a dream; better than on consoles. If you are a PC gamer, with a nice rig, do not hesitate to buy this: It will be perfect. On lower-end systems, I would recommend trying to find a way to demo it to see how it runs. As there is no demo yet available, I can't exactly support any means of trying this out unless your friends has a copy, but do what you must.

As of yet, there are no mods available for Guitar Hero III. But I imagine they will come in time, and then this will surely be the ultimate version of Guitar Hero III. Until then, you can download Frets on Fire for some more (free) fun with your Xplorer guitar.

Something which surprised me, since, as a PC gamer, I'm not used to it, is multiplayer. You can play with a friend; one using a guitar, one using keyboard. I imagine if I plugged in another guitar, it'd work as well. I don't have one, so I can't test it out. This is a great feature, and I'm impressed that Aspyr included it with the PC version. The online multiplayer seems a little buggy, and I haven't been able to connect to any games. I've seen complaints about it on other forums and reviews. As this is not a priority for me, I can't really dock points from my review because of it, and I imagine it will be fixed in upcoming patches.

Cons: Weak online multiplayer; a system-hog; Xplorer guitar instead of Les Paul.
Pros: On a good rig, even better than console version; possibility of mods; good multiplayer if you have a friend over, $20 cheaper than other versions.

Edit: I would just like to add that, upon updating my drivers to 169.21, I started receiving stuttering and lagging like reviewers and others have mentioned. That proves it; any problems with this are driver related, and not actually a problem with the game itself. For the time being, I'd recommend 169.13 or 169.17 for best use with GHIII. With time, I'm sure all drivers will have it running great.

my fingers hurt, as I am totally addicted!! From what I've seen of the game on a ps2, I can't think of anything that's missing on this one - except I'm not sure how to do hyperspeed, or if you can. However, the minimum computer requirements may not get it to run smoothly.

Mac compatibility review:
(both have Leopard and at least 30 gigs of free hard drive space)

MacBook Pro: 2.2 Intel Core 2 Duo with 2 gigs of memory, video card (GeForce 8600M GT) etc match the game requirements. Does not play smoothly. Lags, and the audio hiccups just enough to be annoying. Playable, but unhappily.

White Intel iMac 2.16 Intel Core 2 Duo with 3 gigs of memory, minimum required video card(NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT) plays excellently, no lags, just perfect. Even can use crowd graphics, etc, and run it with programs like Photoshop running in the background.

I'm not sure if it is just the extra gig of memory making the difference, since the otherwise the specs are slightly better on the laptop, and the game says it only needs one gig of memory.

So I'm a happy customer, but only because my imac plays it smoothly. However, Considering the investment, I'm not sure it's not worth spending an extra $120 for a PS2 for portability, more accessories, other versions of the game, etc. You also have to have the CD in the computer you are playing on, which is annoying if you have two computers, or you are worried about durability moving it back and forth or with you if you have a laptop. Plus your progress is only saved on the computer you played on.

The online feature is great to play against other people, I have not tried battling someone using a keyboard, but it seems like it would take some of the fun out of it. The guitar has a nice long wire, so it being wired doesn't really bother me, especially since lots of people complain about the wireless guitars - however ascetically it's not my favorite style out there. The responsiveness seems really good though.

All in all great game, and I'm glad there is this version for the mac.

This year, the Guitar Hero franchise has definitely proved that it has exploded beyond the brink of excitement. With Guitar Hero II earlier this year, as a debut for the Xbox 360, and Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock making its debut for the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3, gamers of the new console eras do know what it is like to jam beyond excitement. But, there have been some misteps like Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80's, which didn't show it way into the heart of gamers well, by being more about guilty pleasures, and not driving in the fans. But now, there is one new addition to Guitar Hero series that can make it home, the P.C., as it finally gets its way into rocking out loud.

Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock for the P.C. takes on the popular music game series for the first time, as you jam to 70 different songs. The gameplay is the same as it has shown from the other game systems, but the thought of bringing it to the P.C. takes on a whole new meaning. The graphics work well with Windows XP, adn the newest operating system Vista. You get to jam your way through great rock classics like Rock And Roll All Night by Kiss, Heart's Baracudda, and the Santana standard Black Magic Woman, as well as surprises like Hit Me With Your Best Shot by 80's icon Pat Benetar, and Sabatoge by The Beastie Boys. The game also has great gameplay features like co-op mode, where two gamers can rock out in career mode, and battle mode where you match your licks against rock greats like Slash from Velvet Revolver and Guns N' Roses. While the battle mode could've had more challenges, the though of seeing this game on the computer is worth the wait. The game also includes a specialty guitar controller which works well with the gameplay.

All in all, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a great game to buy, and works well for your P.C. I absolutely loved playing this game, and I think it is a great buy for the hard core gamer in your gaming library. There is no doubt about it, you can really rock out loud, and it is worth the licks.

Graphics: B

Sound: B

Control: B+

Fun & Enjoyment: B for solo players; B+ for multiplayer

Overall: B 1/2+

I don't own a PlayStation or an Xbox, and I really wasn't too interested in buying one. But I was hooked on Guitar Hero the very first time I played at a friend's house! There might be a skip or glitch here and there, but this will WELL satisfy your craving to play! Note for Mac users: This will not work on pre-Intel processors.

Do not buy this product. First a computer with the optimal settings has problems running this, god forbid you even try to two guitars on the same computer, the gameplay lags randomly and messes up. Another issue that is not advertised is that Aspyr the company that makes it has quietly announced that it has no plans to make any downloadable content. So the box is literally lying to you. There will be no new content for this game

Everyone wants to play this and it only plays on my MacBookPro. So I have a line of people waiting for me to stop working.

One Warning Though:
Some of the songs at the end are very heavy metal and you have to battle the devil. Not a game you want to send to your pastors children probably.

Otherwise, have fun :)

I own two Wii versions of this game so my son and I can play on the Wii. I fell in love with this game after the first note played.

I decided to get the PC version because the TV is sometimes occupied and I still want to play. Plus my PC has a nice LCD Display running at 1680x1050 (which the game supports).

I did not experience the constant lags others did. I downloaded the 1.1 patch from Aspyr before playing it however and this is probably why I have had not problems. The songs load faster on the PC than on the Wii and the graphics look better.

I am running this on an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz w/ 2 GB RAM and an ATI x1950 Pro Card with 256 MB RAM and RAID 0 HD configuration. I have all the options set up as high as they can go.

My only beef is that the wired controller is an XBox controller (it even has the XBox logo on it) while all the other GH3 versions have the newer wireless Les Paul Guitars. But the feel of the guitar is that same as that of the Wii version, just doesn't look as great.

If you have a good PC system and meet the requirements I would choose the PC/Mac version over the Wii version.

I have Guitar Hero III running on an Athlon 64 3500, with an ATI X850 Pro, and 2GB RAM. It runs smooth and fast on much older hardware than others who are complaining, so I wonder if it is the 2GB RAM that makes the difference?

I am having a blast rocking through the songs on easy and medium, and am now working my way through hard. My children 11 and 8 years old, are having fun too, although they are finding it quite challenging so far.

The lack of downloadable content is my only disappointment so far.

The guitar that is provided with the game is just an xbox 360 guitar that was used for Guitar Hero II. No differences. I would have liked the Les Paul one, or even anything that was wireless. Having a wire can be in the way when you are rockin' out with this baby.

The game is very demanding on your machine. To me that makes little sense since there should be possibilities to scale down everything. I mean - the game works perfectly on a Wii, which isn't all that powerful! But Asypr did a good job porting this game to PC though - performance aside. I tried playing this on my XPS laptop, but once we got to "paint it black" the hick-ups were so bad that the song was unplayable. There are ways to "hack the game" and make the band in the background go completely black and therefor lessen the burden on the machine. Unfortunately that didn't help the hick-ups for me (I have heard otherwise on other forums).

There are custom packs that you can download for the PC version, but they overwrite existing songs and corrupts your save file.

There is still no downloadable content for the PC.

But it is still Guitar Hero.

I really like this game. I play on my friends systems on hard close to expert but on my comp, i have to go back to easy because obviously my computer doesn't have the #1 video card, and I understand that. Yes there are lags, but you need to download the patch. It makes it better. On my laptop, there are lags. I'm not sure about my desktop, i think it will work without lags. Its pretty awesome. The graphics are pretty nice for a computer game. For a comp game, its up their with the 360 version of the game. Its better than the PS2 version. Its nice and clear. Go for it, if you can't afford the 360, Wii, PS2, or PS3.