Analog Gamers Gaming From a Slightly Different Perspective

A couple of weeks back, Metallica dropped the entire final track list for Guitar Hero Metallica onto their official website. It’s a great looking track list, containing all kinds of classic Metallica, alongside songs from folks like Bob Seger and Motorhead.

Now, I should point out that I’ve been a fan of the Guitar Hero games since the first one popped onto the scene, and I currently own enough plastic instruments to outfit 3-4 garage bands. More recently, I find myself playing Guitar Hero less and less, and spending my time more with Rock Band. It really has nothing to do with the songs, as anyone who’s played Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 can attest. Roughly 60% of the songs in either game can be found in the other as well, not that there is anything wrong with that.

In fact, we should expect that, given the fact that the recording industry is now gazing enviously at the Paramores and Bang Camaros of the world, bands whose popularity can be traced back to precisely one thing: inclusion in Rock Band / Guitar Hero games.

No, the reason I can’t play Guitar hero for very long at all is the smarmy, Playskool-like interface. One thing Rock Band got very right in both iterations was to place all the information you need, such as multiplier and star power (or whatever they call it), right in your line of sight. Guitar Hero had always placed those things out of the way, forcing you to shift your eyes away from the notes. That’s not always bad, but in some songs the penalty can be quite painful.

Then there are the notes themselves (or jewels, as GH likes to refer them). They give the game the feel of an iPhone app, or perhaps something I would buy a 4-year-old for Christmas. I had hoped that with the shift of the franchise over to Neversoft, we’d see that interface change, but they’ve apparently decided to change nothing that they don’t absolutely have to.

So, now we have Guitar Hero: Metallica coming soon (end of March, last I heard), and it has me torn. I love the track list, even if it does include some of the watered down Metallica of the 1990 – present era. Even the non-Metallica tracks are great selections. I like the idea that I can play double kick with two pedals, and fail miserably at Dyer’s Eve. The only thing that is keeping me from running out and pre-ordering it right now (and by the way, getting a free kick pedal from Gamestop for doing so) is the fact that I know the interface is still just as clunky as always.

I’m left with a choice: Is it about the music, or the gameplay? That’s not a question I am prepared to answer right now, but I am sure that I will be thinking long and hard about it before investing in this one.