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Guitar Hero: Metallica
Most great musical acts have ups and downs throughout their career — Metallica included (hello, St. Anger!). And one recent look at a store shelf might lead you to believe that Guitar Hero — with three Xbox 360 releases in the past nine months and another on the way in June — has reached Nickelback-ian levels of oversaturation. But after heading out on tour with our plastic axes once again, we discovered that Guitar Hero: Metallica is the series’ best entry since Neversoft inherited the franchise — an achievement made only greater by the design challenges presented by the metal-heavy setlist.
First things first: these songs are simply fun. With Metallica perennially at the top of fans’ most-wanted lists in both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Neversoft delivers a balanced, impressive roster of tunes that spans the band’s entire career. From 1983’s “Hit the Lights” to 2008’s “All Nightmare Long,” Metallica’s catalog is impeccably suited to the Guitar Hero format. From solo-crazy, turbo-strumming songs like “Whiplash” to more melodic pieces like “Fade to Black,” the guitar parts simply make you feel awesome, while the instrumental “Orion” highlights a bass career that is anything but an afterthought. Vocals, too, are a treat, highlighted by howling the chorus to what had become the holy grail of music-game songs: “Master of Puppets.”
Drums, meanwhile, are an adrenaline-fueled kinetic rush, aided by the new “Expert +” difficulty that adds support for a second bass pedal (available for $20). Regrettably, though, only top-tier players will get any real use out of the feature, as most songs — even on standard Expert — don’t benefit from the second pedal.
It’s Metallica’s underlying design that is the hero of the day, however. For starters, Neversoft has finally mastered the difficulty curve. A far cry from the torturous days of Guitar Hero III’s Hard setting, the songs here are a treat on any skill level. Better, though, is how the career mode is structured. It’s star-based, meaning you’ll unlock new venues and blocks of songs at certain star milestones. Smartly, you can actually earn enough stars to finish the career mode without playing any of Metallica’s earliest, shreddiest, most brutal stuff, simply by plowing through the lower-tier tunes. And laudably, every song is also unlocked straight out of the box in Quick Play mode, so you can always skip straight to whatever personal favorite tune you want to play.
Fan-service touches like behind-the-scenes videos and VH1 Pop-Up Video–esque “Metallifacts” segments for every single song only add to the Metallica-ness of the package, while an in-song star progression meter may be stolen from Rock Band but is nevertheless greatly appreciated (and overdue).
Not many bands have a catalog that could pull off a compelling $60 package like this, but Metallica certainly does. And as long as this kind of care and craft keeps going into Guitar Hero, it won’t be jumping any sharks anytime soon.
On Xbox 360
+ Fun, balanced note charts honed for every difficulty level.
+ Numerous fan-service extras.
- Extra kick pedal almost worthless except on Expert.
? What, no extra song packs via DLC? Noooooo!
8.5
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Halo...IEP
April 07, 2009 at 9:57am
I'll let you guys argue about metal or hard rock. I have the the game. I use my modified rock band 2 ion drum rocker. Extremely fun! I'd give it a 9 easily! ScreamngSilence
blindside80
April 02, 2009 at 5:42pm
Um..lets see. Pantera, Slayer, Megadeth, Black Sabbath...want me to keep going. Also, they are not thrash metal, no such thing. It's Heavy Metal!
Tiamat
April 01, 2009 at 8:22pm
oh boy.... welp, to the guy below me, pardon me for forgetting your id, Slayer defined Thrash... Sure they have changed over time liek any band, but they never lost their touch, Metallica.... yuck, they were decent their first few albums, I wasn't big on them, but to every man his music. And to Mr.Seglow? idk, i forget IDs real quick, obviously I have listened to Metallica, I listen to a lot of music, and would never judge a band without hearing the music. And that is why I know that Metallica is hard rock and not metal. Sure, metal is a rock based genre. But it takes rock to the next level, everything about it is more complex, not necessarily heavier, but more complex, which is how you get things like doom metal. And Metallica... started out pretty complex, and then became Linkin Park wanna bes
MrSegraves
March 31, 2009 at 2:35pm
Tiamat, metal is a genre of rock. And Metallica is definitely metal. Have you ever actually listened to them? It would be painfully obvious if you had.
ill sue y4
March 31, 2009 at 11:45am
i cant believe they didnt put in call of ktulu. its way better than any post black album material.
Duce97
March 31, 2009 at 4:14am
What about no online band tour mode? No DLC , for a full priced game they could have added a bit more. The outfits for the create a rocker are the same ones from world tour. The online matchmaking is still crap , putting easy players against expert players. The game could have been so much more. While the songs are fun to play i see the game getting old real fast.
Steakslave
March 31, 2009 at 2:31am
@Tiamat: Are you kidding? Metallica's first 4 albums practically DEFINED modern thrash metal. I will agree that the two "Load" albums could be considered Hard Rock, but name one band that has done more for the genre. @Daze of War: Thanks for letting us know that you won't play this GH:Metallica game because it has Metallica in it. Most of their songs in here are from before the "Black Album" (which wasn't really that good IMO) so go ahead and avoid this fun game just for spite. @Kirkland: Nope, sorry.
Daze Of War
March 30, 2009 at 8:39pm
It's a good thing that this doesn't get a 9 or 10 just because it's Metallica. I use to be a fan of them but have grown tired of hearing them and listening to people rave about how they are still the best. Metallica has not put out a good song since the Black album. They did get some great bands on the playlist for this game but I will not play it because of Metallica. Good review though Ryan.
Sl8ter13
March 30, 2009 at 7:37pm
If by reading the review you think it should be a ten, then Ryan is doing his job. He is showing his love for the band and game genre in the review but he has the ethics to take a closer look and not let the fanboy inside him affect the game score.
Tiamat
March 30, 2009 at 5:33pm
"Not many bands have a catalog that could pull off a compelling $60 package like this, but Metallica certainly does." *sigh* how about any real metal band has over 5 CDs when they have been around for over 10 years? yes Metallica has an impressive amount of CDs seeing that they are rock, and not metal
Sid Simelia
March 30, 2009 at 5:25pm
Thia should have gotten at least a nine and an editor's choice award. What gives? From reading the review I thought it was getting a 10..
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