The Guitar Hero franchise has gone the distance, and probably has a few more tricks up its sleeve before the core audience finally looses interest. Guitar Hero World Tour was a big seller during the holidays, but with its competitor Rock Band nipping at its heels, the guys over at Activision know that they have to keep the machine running to target new wannabe guitar stars. Being that Guitar Hero: Aereosmith was a big hit, the only obvious thing would be to tag the brand with another iconic band. The result is Guitar Hero: Metallica, for both the Xbox 360 and PS3, which goes after the fan base of one of the biggest metal bands of all time, as well as trying to snag some new metal-heads along the way.

gameplay

By now everyone and their grandmas knows what Guitar Hero is and how to play it, and for the two of you left who don’t…what the hell rock have you been living under? To sum it up Guitar Hero is a music rhythm based game that requires you to use a simulated guitar controller to match the yellow, red, green and blue icons that respond to the pace of the music on screen as you rock out with the corresponding color keys on your guitar. So simple, yet so damn addictive, especially if you love the song you’re jamming it out to.

What is the make it or break it feature of this game is its catalog of songs, because if you don’t like Metallica, (even though there are guest bands featured), you’re not going to have a good time. But again if you have any interest in buying this, you are most likely aware that you will not be jamming out to a Hannah Montana song. The game can be played just using the guitar from any of the Guitar Hero games, but if you already own Guitar Hero: World Tour, you’ll benefit from having the option of bringing in some friends to play on the drums and scream into the mic, which is the only way to get the full effect of the game.

There is a play now mode for anyone who just wants to pick a song and have a quick one, but the career mode is where the full challenge comes in. As with the other Guitar Hero games, you design your own rocker and band and start to play gigs to earn money and bigger performance venues as Metallaica’s warm-up band. As you work your way up the ranks, you unlock information of Metallica to learn about their roots, to how they earned a spot in Rock and Roll history. Obviously, the pay off is that you will eventually be able to play as Metallica, but come on, if you weren’t able to do this why would you have bought the game?

All together there are 49 tracks of music, 28 of which are from Metallica and 21 guest band tracks from various other rock artist, delivering a solid package of songs.

From Metallica:
· All Nightmare Long
· Battery
· Creeping Death
· Disposable Heroes
· Dyers Eve
· Enter Sandman
· Fade To Black
· Fight Fire With Fire
· For Whom The Bell Tolls
· Frantic
· Fuel
· Hit The Lights
· King Nothing
· Master of Puppets
· Mercyful Fate (Medley)
· No Leaf Clover
· Nothing Else Matters
· One
· Orion
· Sad But True
· Seek And Destroy
· The Memory Remains
· The Shortest Straw
· The Thing That Should Not Be
· The Unforgiven
· Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
· Wherever I May Roam
· Whiplash

Guest Artists:
· Alice In Chains - No Excuses
· Bob Seger - Turn The Page
· Corrosion of Conformity - Albatross
· Diamond Head - Am I Evil?
· Foo Fighters - Stacked Actors
· Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather
· Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
· Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesdays Gone
· Machine Head - Beautiful Mourning
· Mastodon - Blood And Thunder
· Mercyful Fate - Evil
· Michael Schenker Group - Armed and Ready
· Motorhead - Ace of Spades
· Queen - Stone Cold Crazy
· Samhain - Mother of Mercy
· Slayer - War Ensemble
· Social Distortion - Mommy\'s Little Monster
· Suicidal Tendencies - War Inside My Head
· System of a Down - Toxicity
· The Sword - Black River
· Thin Lizzy - The Boys Are Back in Town

graphics

No one buys a Guitar Hero game for its untra-realistic graphics, because these games are all about the music, baby. The center of the screen displays your simulated music-match icon zone, and your band is seen rocking it out on stage in the foreground. The very same colorful cartoon-ish character designs from the previous Guitar Hero games have not been altered, but now you get the bonus of seeing members of Metallica placed in the universe. So if you always wanted to know what an animated version of Lars Ulrich or Kirk Hammett would look like, well know you’ll know. The graphics are simple, colorful and fun, but not the focus of the game.

sound

If a music-based game has bad audio, there’s a problem. Fortunately, Guitar Hero Metallica knows its purpose and delivers with kick as sound. If you have your console hooked up to a surround sound system, and neighbors who will not be banging on your door, crank this one all the way up, because it’s the only way to play. No complaints here.

replay value

Like the other Guitar Hero games, after you’ve beaten it in the normal mode, you have the option to play it on a higher difficulty level. But being that Metallica is the epitome of a hard rock band, they made sure that any game with their name on it wouldn’t be wimpy, so this one features hardest difficulty levels to date for a GH game, which is for pro rockers only. Wannabe drummers will appreciate the inclusion of the Drum Over mode that allows you to just wail out any way you want. If you downloaded the Death Magnetic track that was previously offered as DLC, you can play it with this game, but none of the other content that you purchased that is non Metallica related can be played, which sucks, but at the same time it’s understandable why this was done.

bottom line

Guitar Hero Metallica adds nothing new to the franchise, but hardcore fans of the band will appreciate it more than the others. Like a concert, it’s loud and flashy and if you have a few buddies to join your band, it makes the experience much better. The track list of available songs should keep you entertained for many hours, but just like the Aereosmith Guitar Hero, it is limited to a specific audience. Until the Beatles Rock Band takes over the map this fall, the boys of Metallica own this town.

Review by: Johnny McNair
Posted: 09/23/2009

Gameplay:	8.0
Graphics:	7.5
Sound:	10
Replay Value:	8.0
Bottom Line:	8.0