Watching the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises slug it out over the past year has been like a heavyweight prizefight for the ages. Right cross! Neversoft gets Aerosmith. Haymaker! Harmonix nabs AC/DC. Kidney punch! Neversoft scores Tool. Uppercut! Harmonix bags The Beatles.
With both heavyweights bloodied and battered — as us plastic guitar–wielding fans reap the benefits — what could Neversoft possibly swing back with? You guessed it: Metallica!
The world’s foremost metal band has finally embraced the new interactive age of music, signing up for a four-player, full-band experience with the franchise that started it all. We spent a day at Neversoft’s Los Angeles headquarters admiring the autographed guitars on the walls, sneaking a peek at a Spandex-clad, Velcro ball–covered Lars Ulrich drumming a mo-cap session for one of the songs included in the game, and yes, playing a lot of the quartet’s Guitar Hero debut.
But before we did, we got a tour of Neversoft, and after meeting a bunch of team members, it became clear that Guitar Hero: Metallica is no mere track pack. One-upping GH: Aerosmith (for that, only Steven Tyler did mo-cap), Neversoft spent three days with Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo at their Bay Area headquarters, filming the foursome playing together so the game would not only nail each man’s trademark stage moves, but also capture the essence of the bandmates playing off one another and give the game that extra layer of live-in-concert authenticity.
The fan service doesn’t stop there. Every song on the track list (which clocks in at 45 total) can be viewed in “Metallifacts” after you complete it in the career mode. It’s essentially VH-1 Pop-Up Video combined with the axed Jukebox Mode from Rock Band 2. In other words, you don’t play along with the song, but rather sit back and watch the digital Metallica jam while interesting factoids and bits of trivia pepper the screen. For instance, did you know that the bells at the start of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” are sampled from the bells sounded before every Chicago Bears home game at Soldier Field?
Of course, what really matters are the songs. Which ones are in the game? How do they play? The short answers, to put your nervous Metallica fan energy at ease, are (a) Most of the best ones, and (b) It plays so well that this Guitar Hero might be Neversoft’s greatest yet.
Part of the reason for that is the optional double-bass pedal kit (pricing not yet finalized) and “Expert +” difficulty mode for drums. The ace in-house Neversoft team demoed them for us on a still-secret song that featured, ahem, a ton of bass kicks. It was an amazing display that would best be described as “insane” and should bring crap-eating grins to all the faces of the most devoted, Expert-level Guitar Hero fans. And though you truly need the extra pedal only on Expert +, you can use it on other skills, too: on Hard we can tell you that, if nothing else, it makes playing the drum fills exponentially more fun — not to mention about 10 times more realistic.
We got right to work on “Wherever I May Roam,” which we’re guessing will fall into the early portion of the career. (It was relatively easy.) Nevertheless, the drums were a blast, with a kinetic beat and plenty of opportunities for fills. Next up was “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” for which we switched to guitar. As with “Roam,” we’re betting it’ll rank as one of the easier tracks in the game, but Neversoft notecharted the main riff in such a fun way that you probably won’t mind scoring in the high 90s on it every time.
We broke a sweat trying our hand at the bass line on one of Cliff Burton’s most memorable works (sorry, Neversoft swore us to secrecy on this one, folks). Mixing in plenty of the open notes introduced in World Tour and keeping our left wrist busy, it lived up to our expectation of how good it could be in a band videogame.
If you’re worried that Metallica might follow Aerosmith’s lead with a chronologically plotted career mode — in turn putting you through the paces with Metallica’s fastest, most challenging tunes upfront — fear not. Neversoft gets it, and they’ve structured the career mode with a simple, difficulty-based star system where your band vies with the fictional group The Poseurs for the chance to open for Hetfield & Co. As an example: to unlock the second tier, you might need 10 stars. To nab those, you could five-star just two of the songs. Alternatively, you could four-star two of them and three-star one, or three-star four of them, and so on. You get the idea. Better still, every song in the game will be available from the word “go” in the Quickplay menu, so there’s no need to suffer through any guest-artist filler to get to the good stuff. Ooh yeah!
At the end of our studio visit, we came to one clear conclusion: for all the crap Neversoft takes from the hardcore fan community for not being Harmonix, our time spent with GH: Metallica is proof that they’ve become very adept at making virtual rock ’n’ roll fun on their own terms. After three games, they’ve mastered the difficulty curve, making Metallica fun for all fans regardless of their plastic-instrument proficiency. (But make no mistake: the all-metal nature of this game means it will be inherently tougher than its predecessors.) And on top of it all, the Death Magnetic full-album downloadable content from Guitar Hero III/GH World Tour will be compatible with GH: Metallica, raising the song total to more than 50.
All of Neversoft’s efforts look to be adding up to one thing: one hell of a kickass Metallica game. And if this proves true, they’ll deserve more than just our $60: they’ll have earned a hard rockin’ devil-horn salute. Back to your corner, Harmonix. This round goes to Guitar Hero.
Spybreak
March 26, 2009 at 1:24pm
I enjoyed the demo a lot but I do like Metallica. They were one of the first bands I got into other than Soundgarden. I'll probably pick this up when its 40-50 bucks, heck I picked up Aerosmith from gamefly used around 23. I see more value in this title though, more features and better songs. I want the drums so I can use that double bass, lower the drums price dang it!
BigMyke
March 26, 2009 at 7:57am
Sue what I think gold meant us that most of them bands swear a lot in their songs. Like example Slipknot song I guess maybe u havent heard them but they say the F word a lot lol!
BigMyke
March 26, 2009 at 7:54am
To the guy that says Metallica is pop or boing your a fool for thinking so. I guess its your opinion but still your opinion is lame. I guess master of puppets is slow huh? Or battery?? Almost every song on justice was kick ass! I like harder stuff then them but to say they suck your just talking shit.
ill sue y4
March 23, 2009 at 2:38pm
oh yeah, and gold, i think you have to have either strong sexual themes and extreme violence to make a game m rated. unless you replaced the background with porno's or violent eviscerations of kittens, you cant make an m rated guitar hero.
ill sue y4
March 23, 2009 at 2:35pm
man, i had to choose between preordering this, or resident evil 5. i picked resident evil 5. wat that a better choice than GH:M? i love metallica and im a hopeless rhythym game addict, but i LOVE resident evil 5. was that a good choice?
Gold Contaxt
March 20, 2009 at 9:56am
I really wish they could release an "M Rated" version of "Guitar Hero" because if the developers did that, we could finally play a large amount of songs we currently arent able too. Think hollywood undead SlipKnot judas priest cradle of filth marilyn manson etc. What do you think? PSN ID: ColorPhoto Gamertag: Gold Contaxt
Allanon6666
March 18, 2009 at 3:11pm
Like Burdman624 said, let's just be glad it isn't country, or, god forbid GH: Jonas Brothers *shudders* As to Metallica, I like them as a band, they're good in their own right. As for the greatest, well.... after the first 3 albums, they did kind of go a little bit down hill, lol
Burdman624
March 18, 2009 at 12:17pm
I would also like to add that it is good to see more metal music being implemented and not country...
Burdman624
March 18, 2009 at 12:14pm
I for one am reallly excited about this game... ever since i saw the small teaser trailer on the GHWT disc. I have been a fan of Metallica since the Master of Puppets album and can't wait to play all their old stuff on this game (Ride the Lightning, Kill em All). Finally, Activision/Neversoft put together a solid track list!
Son_of_Azarel
March 18, 2009 at 6:49am
I can only assume from the posts here, that so far I may be the only person to have heard of Metallica before Napster. Sure Metallica may be soft now, but they are the pioneers of thrash metal. I'm not saying they are the greatest band alive. Just think before you start ranting away. (btw - slayer? how many people hated GH3 because of that song?) I'm excited about this game, GHWT was 50% awesome and 50% crap songs. I'm sure that applies to just about everyone.
Tiamat
March 17, 2009 at 3:15pm
lol, I don't mean to be a troll on here... But fans don't mean anything for how good a band is. Otherwise you would be admitting that Jonas Brothers is better than your beloved Metallica. And trust me, you are talking to the wrong person if you want to debate, "true" metal. Because first the truer bands are all based on opinion, and second, skill and composition are what metal is all about. Metallica puts my mom to sleep, who loves pop mind you... so I will admit that other than the vocalist they do have talent, but the composition is boring and far from "metal." Metallica is hard rock.
GOG TOXIC
March 17, 2009 at 8:55am
You people are F***ing idiots. Metallica is one of the greatest bands alive. Slayer isn't even a good band compared to Metallica. Go compare the amount of fans. I recomend you listen to some good metal (ie. Metallica, iron maiden) and then post again. This will be the best guitar hero game yet.
Tiamat
March 16, 2009 at 6:10pm
Oh, and I forgot to add... obviously Slayer is not as popular as Metallica. Slayer isn't even on the radio. Where as Metallica is on every pop station world wide. But when it comes to true thrash metal, where fast guitars with complicated solos are the key, why would they not shoot for something along those lines? And if not Slayer, then someone else? And I highly doubt they would have troubles with a contract with Slayer seeing that Reign In Blood was on GH3
Tiamat
March 16, 2009 at 6:06pm
you are 100% right that it is for money... And I find it upsetting that they would make a "more metal" guitar hero based around a band that isn't metal at all... but wished they were, so they put it on t-shirts and make sure that metal is in their name. Guitar hero should be about the instrumentals and composition of the songs. Shoot, even my mom finds Metallica boring. And you are right, I do not have to like or buy this installment. And unfortunately I will not. I could deal with maybe 3 Metallica songs, especially with such other as Machine Head on the set list. I just hope that next time they will go for the music, not the posers...
TreyTable
March 16, 2009 at 5:51pm
@ Tiamat> You don't believe that Guitar Hero would do what exactly to a "die-hard metal fan?" If the 'what' is why would Activision Blizzard make a 'Guitar Hero: Metallica', the reason is simple. It will make money. Nobody says you have to buy it or even like it. Why not Slayer, you say? Maybe they are not as popular in pop-culture as you think. Maybe getting the band to agree on a contract is problematic. Maybe Slayer is too hardcore for the average consumer. Think about this; why is there no "Rock Band: Led Zeppelin"? Why no "Singstar: The Supremes"? Just because there are so many bands better than AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Abba, doesn't mean they can (or want) a headliner music game.
Tiamat
March 16, 2009 at 4:12pm
NOOOO!!!! How horrible... I can't believe GH would do that to a die hard metal fan... Metallica has to be the biggest group of idiots ever... Even their beginning wasn't that great! and they only got worse!!! give us a real metal GH! like GH: Slayer or something amazing like that!!! Or maybe dwell into darker realms like Opeth or something...
