Guitar Hero 3

October 8, 2007

photo cred

For a self-proclaimed Guitar Hero devotee, I was thrilled that the leaked setlist for the project has all but been confirmed. It started off a few weeks ago as an unconfirmed but tantalizing leak, but with all the video evidence and recent setlist confirmations out now, basically everyone is accepting this as the real deal, so I’m taking it as fact. It seems that with this release the creators are continuing to pick a great mix of classic rock, modern rock, a few oddball choices, death/thrash metal, and some hipster-friendly picks.

Undoubtedly the bread-and-butter of Guitar Hero is the classic rock. The game begins with the monster riff to “Slow Ride” (perhaps most notably used in Dazed and Confused and that Hardees commercial) and includes a number of classic radio hits that appeal to the widest range of the game’s fanbase. Some of ones from this category I’m looking forward to are The Who’s “Seeker”, Rolling Stones “Paint It Black”, Cream “Sunshine of your Love” and Black Sabbath “Paranoid”. The 80’s hair metal choices are pretty solid, as they play to more of the party rock crowd and provide guilty pleasures for the rest (”Cult of Personality”, “Welcome to the Jungle”, “Rock You Like A Hurricane”). My favorite choice in this category is Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll by Blue Oyster Cult. It’s a less obvious choice than “Don’t Fear The Reaper” but much better for the game (check out this video to see what I’m talking about).

MP3 The Who – The Seeker
MP3 Rolling Stones – Paint it Black

Modern Rock is a bit tricky category, because, not to get too elitist, but I think most will agree that most of mainstream rock really sucks. This category is the most hit-or-miss for me as I don’t think I can stand to hear AFI, Disturbed, or Slipknot. It isn’t all bad though, the Weezer song will be fun for nostalgic reasons and I have to admit to liking “When You Were Young” . Some of the mainstream stuff could also be considered under hipster-friendly like The Strokes, Queens of the Stone Age, and Smashing Pumpkins tracks (all of which I expect to be fully awesome). Where’s the White Stripes though?

MP3 Queens of the Stone Age – 3’s and 7’s
MP3 The Killers – When You Were Young

I, for one, believe that theoddball choices are always stand-outs of Guitar Hero. No one would have expected “Misrilou” in Guitar Hero II, but it turned out to be awesome and inclusions like Spinal Tap, Matthew Sweet, and Stray Cats were some of the best of the game. This time around we have a Hip Hop track (from the Beastie Boys no less) in “Sabotage” a straight up country song with “The Devil Went to Georgia” and a Tenacious D song. The bonus tracks are also a bit interesting as many of them are foreign hits.

MP3 Beastie Boys – Sabotage

As for the metal / thrash stuff, I can honestly say it’s not really my thing. That being said, if you’re up for a challenge the metal songs can be pretty fun to play as I found on Guitar Hero II. The video of Dragonforce’s “Through The Fire and Flames” looks amazing (click here) and some of the more mainstream metal stuff like Metallica and Rage Against the Machine will undoubtedly be highlights.

MP3 Metallica – One

Finally, my favorite category – the hipster-friendly tracks. This year Activision went all out in having this game appeal to all types of crowds, and many of the tracks on here should appeal to even the stingiest of music snobs. Sonic Youth has lent a track to the setlist (”Kool Thing”) as well as Kaiser Chiefs (”Ruby”) and the Stone Roses (”She Bangs the Drums”). The tracks I’m looking forward to the most on the GH3 Soundtrack though would be Bloc Party’s “Helicopter” and Muse – “Knights of Cydonia”. They’re two of my favorite bands and hopefully this game will convert more people over to them. I also saw both Muse and Bloc Party perform these songs at Austin City Limits, which further excited me. Not sure when we’ll see Pavement or Neutral Milk Hotel on this game but we’re off to a good start.

MP3 Muse – Knights of Cydonia
MP3 Bloc Party – Helicopter

Click below to see the full setlist.

Tier 1

• Foghat – Slow Ride
• Poison – Talk Dirty to Me
• Pat Benatar – Hit Me With Your Best Shot
• Social Distortion – Story of My Life
• Kiss – Rock and Roll All Nite (Encore)
• Beastie Boys – Sabotage (Co-op Encore)

Tier 2

• Mountain – Mississippi Queen
• Alice Cooper – School’s Out
• Cream – Sunshine of Your Love
• Heart – Barracuda
• Tom Morello – Guitar Battle (Boss)
• Rage Against the Machine – Bulls on Parade (Encore)
• The Strokes – Reptilia (Co-op Encore)

Tier 3

• The Killers – When You Were Young
• AFI – Miss Murder
• The Who – The Seeker
• Priestess – Lay Down
• Rolling Stones – Paint It Black (Encore)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Suck My Kiss (Co-op Encore)

Tier 4

• Black Sabbath – Paranoid
• Sex Pistols – Anarchy in the UK
• Sonic Youth – Kool Thing
• Weezer – My Name Is Jonas
• Pearl Jam – Evenflow (Encore)
• Blue Oyster Cult – Cities on Flame (Co-op Encore)

Tier 5

• The Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia
• Scorpions – Rock You Like a Hurricane
• Aerosmith – Same Old Song and Dance
• ZZ Top – La Grange
• Slash – Guitar Battle (Boss)
• Guns N Roses – Welcome to the Jungle (Encore)
• Bloc Party – Hellicopter (Co-op Encore)

Tier 6

• Santana – Black Magic Woman
• The Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
• White Zombie – Black Sunshine
• Tenacious D – The Metal
• Stevie Ray Vaughn – Pride and Joy (Encore)
• Matchbook Romance – Monsters (Co-op Encore)

Tier 7

• Slipknot – Before I Forget
• Disturbed – Stricken
• Queens of the Stone Age – 3’s and 7’s
• Muse – Knights of Cydonia
• Living Colour – Cult of Personality (Encore)

Tier 8

• Slayer – Raining Blood
• Eric Johnson – Cliffs of Dover
• Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
• Metallica – One
• Lou – Guitar Battle (Boss)
• Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia (Encore)

Bonus Tracks

• An Endless Sporadic – Impulse
• Backyard Babies – Minus Celsius
• Bret Michaels Band – Go That Far
• Die Toten Hosen – Hier Kommit Alex
• DragonForce – Through the Fire and the Flames
• Fall of Troy – FCP Remix
• Gallows – In the Belly of a Shark
• The Hellacopters – I’m in the Band
• Heroes del Silencio – Avalancha
• In Flames – Take This Life
• Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby
• Killswitch Engage – My Curse
• LA Slum Lords – Down N Dirty
• Lacuna Coil – Closer
• Lions – Metal Heavy Lady
• NAAST – Mauvis Garcon
• Prototype – The Way It Ends
• Revolverhead – Generation Rock
• Rise Against – Prayer of the Refugee
• Scouts of St. Sebastian – In Love
• Senses Fail – Can’t Be Saved
• The Sleeping – Don’t Hold Back
• The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums
• Superbus – Radio Song

Posted by Taylor in Gaming