Whenever Activision releases fresh Guitar Hero III tracks via Xbox Live, we'll run out onto our website stage like roadies and review the latest downloadable content. Check back often!

The Companion Three Pack contains three songs for 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25). The tracks are not available for individual sale.

Companion Three Pack

WHAT ROCKS: There's nothing particularly wrong with AFI's “Carcinogen Crush;" this straight-ahead chugger makes a good exercise in rhythm technique. The note track feels comfortable, but the song feels pretty unremarkable overall -- unless you have an affection for the band, it's easy to forget the song you just played. Flyleaf's “Tina” is more or less the same thing: Some interesting rhythm patterns, no real pyrotechnics, but plenty of big warm distorted rhythmic riffs -- a tuneful bucket of sludge (that's a good thing). Both tracks feature straight-to-the-eight basslines that move around the fretboard delightfully; in both songs' cases, they're the saving graces.

WHAT SUCKS: Picture a magician who only knows three tricks...and performs them repeatedly for 5 minutes. That's the GHIII remix of Marilyn Manson's "Putting Holes in Happiness." The track feels like a homework assignment: a dead-boring bassline and a guitar part with two or three repeating riffs that show method, but no madness. The waterfalls of hammer-ons are defintely a challenge, but you can't help but feel "I just played that...eight times in a row...why am I doing it again?" Because a producer cut and pasted that segment into the song several times. It's proof that a song can be challenging and boring at the same time.

FINAL VERDICT: If you bought the Guitar Hero III soundtrack CD, you already own these songs; that disc came with redemption codes for all three of these tracks when it was released several months ago. If not, you'll find this pack is neither inspiring nor shameful -- your enjoyment hinges on your allegiance to the artists in question, and it's a very uneven collection. Ultimately, the bass saves the day...but just barely.