Guitar Hero III

"Decent "lite" conversion of the console smash hit"

It's no myth, mobile conversions of console/arcade/PC games usually suck. The cell phone simply wasn't made to handle complex games that require a mouse, gamepad, or the keyboard. This is why when I initially saw Guitar Hero III Mobile available for download via Verizon Wireless (download will be available for other networks soon), I was skeptical. I heard a lot about the Guitar Hero series, but I didn't have $100 to blow on a "full" Guitar Hero setup. Would the Mobile version give me that same experience?

Well first of all, you're gonna lose the "fantasy" feel of being a guitarist in a band. It's on a cell phone, and cell phones weren't exactly built to be guitars. However, Hands-on Mobile and MachineWorks did their absolute best to cram as much of the game as possible into the Mobile version, and might I say this is a pretty decent conversion from the console version. Here's why.

Graphics: You won't get as many sparkly lights and pyrotechnics like you would in the console version. The menus are actually quite slick (considering what little processing power most cell phones have), and the backgrounds while you're playing are fairly detailed.

Your 3D character model looks a bit on the pixelated and grainy side, but that's acceptable considering the gameplay is what really matters. The notes you have to play look very similar to the console version, and depending on your cell phone, a lot of effects have been preserved from the consoles, which makes the experience somewhat similar to the console versions. On occasion there will be lag spikes, especially if you activate your Star Power in the middle of a string of notes, and this is what brings the score value down, because the lag spikes adversely affect your gameplay.

Score: 7/10

Sound: This is the caveat. How do you fit awesome 4-8 minute tracks of music into a tiny little cell phone? Well, you don't. Hands-on Mobile had to take a bit of a cut on this part, the tracks are only 2-3 minutes long. The quality however, is quite good. If you crank up the volume on your cell phone, you'll find yourself playing the game like a mini boombox.

On the flipside, though, in order to keep the game and download small, a (rather gamebreaking) compromise had to be made. The game only remembers the last two songs you played. If you want to play a different song, you will have to DOWNLOAD it from the GH3 Mobile servers. This takes a LONG time for some songs, and during the download the game will attempt to auto-disconnect if the download takes too long, and it is almost guaranteed you will see this auto-disconnect message at least ONCE per download, because the sound files are that big. This makes playing inconvenient - you have to sit down and dedicate time to the game *just* to watch the download and to keep it going.

This is a pity, considering the track list. If you're a fan of rock (and why wouldn't you be if you are playing this game?), you've got an awesome selection of 15 songs to choose from, and each month three BONUS songs will be released - this will go on for a year (from December 2007 to December 2008), which means you will have an additional 36 songs to choose from by the end of next year, for a total of 51 songs. The initial 15 has a smattering of rock from every generation - School's Out by Alice Cooper in 1972, Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions in 1991, Paranoia by Black Sabbath in 1993, and many more. These songs are pulled from various versions of Guitar Hero (I - III), and therefore you will have a great mix of songs to choose from.

Score: 9/10 for selection, but reduced to 6/10 due to download issue

Controls: Again, compromises had to be made for this version of Guitar Hero III Mobile. Gone is the strum bar, the only thing you need to concentrate on are frets. In order to compensate for the lack of keys on most non-text mobile telephones (and to make the gameplay simpler and more manageable) the last two frets were taken out of all the songs. To compensate for this, notes and whatnot were adjusted to fit the remaining three frets. This move makes a lot of sense, considering it would be near impossible to play a game that "makes sense" with 5 frets.

The game is very responsive to button presses, in fact it may be *too* responsive if you like mashing on keys a lot. Game control quality will depend on the type of phone you have. I have a Samsung u740, so the keys are REALLY small, which makes it more difficult to play since I end up fat fingering keys left and right. This shouldn't be an issue with a cell phone that has bigger buttons, but you may want to be wary of playing this if you either have thick fingers or incredibly tiny number keys.

Score: 8/10, but may vary depending on cell phone

Gameplay: This is where it matters. First thing's first, hardcore GH players who play songs on nothing but expert will find this game very disappointing. The overall difficulty level for this game is average, at best, and good GH players will find the fewer frets and lack of strum bar a bit too easy for their tastes.

However, gamers like me who heard of the game but were tentative about playing it will find that the difficulty of this game is just right.

The game has a Career Mode somewhat similar to the console versions. However, you will only have a selection between two characters - Axel Steele and Judy Nails. Additionally, you do not have a band. Your character is the only one that will be animated. Career Mode advancement is similar to the GH series. You play four songs in one "gig" in any order, then if you clear them all out, will be able to play a fifth song (dubbed an 'encore'). Pass the fifth song, and you will unlock the next "gig". There's only three gigs in this version of GH, which makes for a total of 15 songs. Clear all three gigs and you will clear that difficulty and unlock a guitar. The guitar does not affect your gameplay, it is purely for looks.

During gameplay, as you play several notes perfectly in a row, you will see a multiplier on the left side of the screen increase. This multiplier maxes out at 4, and will multiply the points you earn from earning notes by the amount indicated. If you 'break" a combo, this multiplier resets, and you will have to build another streak to bring it back up. You will also end up running into fret notes that look like stars. Combo enough of these stars, and you will gain star power (which is indicated by the bulbs above your Rock meter). Once you obtain four lighted bulbs, you can activate the star power by pressing OK, the * key, or alphabet key. This will double the multiplier (up to 8x if you originally had 4x) and will let you score huge amounts of points for a limited time.

It's a rather simple system, and the gameplay may remind you of games like Beatmania, since you're just pressing keys rather than strumming on a fake guitar/guitar controller. However, it is still very addicting. There is an online Leaderboard system that allows you to submit your total score earned from Career Mode (scores from Easy, Medium, and Expert difficulties combined) and compare it against other GH3 Mobile players. You can also earn guitar picks (they do nothing for your gameplay, however) for achieving certain goals, such as playing a song with the ingame volume turned off, or achieving a 300 note streak.

What will keep you playing this game is going to be the Leaderboard system. The system encourages you to play more perfectly so that you can go up the ranks in the Leaderboard. You will learn when to activate Star Power in songs to obtain maximum points, and when it will be wise to *not* activate Star Power. You will be challenged to full "streak" songs so that you can achieve maximum points for the Leaderboard. This system alone will keep you playing the game over and over again to beat your own (and other people's) scores.

And if you get sick of Career Mode, you can have a quick dash into Quick Play (Free Play) mode to practice your songs.

Lastly, there are some syncing problems with songs. Depending on the processing power of your cell phone, notes may fall behind or go ahead of the music, which makes full comboing some songs incredibly difficult. Higher powered cell phones won't have this issue, but this rather gamebreaking issue adds an unneeded level of difficulty for those with not-so-awesome cell phones.

Other differences between console and mobile version:
-- You can pick up Star Power while you have Star Power activated. This was not possible in GH console.
-- There are only three gigs compared to four in console versions.
-- Song list comprises of ALL GH games, and hence is a unique version.
-- All songs are shorter, and often will get cut off at the halfway point of the song.
-- Notes are loosely based off console version, you will get "gallops" in Rock You Like a Hurricane, for example, but it will be with a single note.
-- Fewer notes overall in songs - this makes it easier to play.
-- Achievements - this was not available in GH3.
-- Songs are easier to 5* (think of it as like a grade, 5* = Perfect) and judgement system is much more lenient.

Score: 8/10, 6/10 for songs with "out of sync" issues

Overall: If you want a direct console translation, forget it. You will be sorely disappointed. Pros of this game will find this version of GH lacking and downright boring. However, if you're new to the Guitar Hero series, or if you want to be able to play a little bit of the series while away from home and you don't mind the lowered difficulty, you will get to like this.

The Leaderboard system will keep you coming back to perfect your scores, and monthly updates of downloadable content will keep the game fresh and playable. Plus, the initial song list is balanced. The forced download of tracks will keep the game from being a pick-up-and-play sort of game, but if you're in a long car ride, or waiting for someone to arrive somewhere, this is a great game to pass the time away.

Pros
* Excellent song list.
* Good graphics for a mobile game.
* Easily to navigate menu interface.
* Volume for songs makes you wonder how your phone is able to pump out tunes as good as these.
* Modified gameplay that makes sense for a mobile game.
* Extra features such as Leaderboard and monthly music updates extends longevity of game.

Cons
* Modified gameplay will be a letdown for pros.
* Redownloading songs repeatedly is a huge waste of time - download times for some songs are sometimes worse than PSX games.
* Songs are 1/2 as long, letdown for console players who are used to playing full-length songs.
* Overall difficulty will not appeal to advanced players.
* Lack of simulated strum bar.
* No guitar controller may kill "fantasy" element of this game for some players.
* Lag spikes during Star Power activation and out of sync songs make some songs difficult to play.

Basically, if you treat the game as the way MachineWorks and Hands-on Mobile wanted you to treat it - a compact, lite, mobile, play and go version of Guitar Hero III, you will enjoy it. If you expect this to compare to the console versions of the game, you will be in for a disappointment. The only real gripe I personally have about this game is having to repeatedly download songs, i.e. wireless load time, which may vary in performance depending on the cell phone network you're on, but otherwise this is a fairly solid conversion of the console hit.

Overall Score (not an average): 8/10
Overall Score for advanced GH players (not an average): 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/08

Game Release: Guitar Hero III (US, 06/01/07)