Review: Guitar Hero Metallica

Guitar Hero Metallica
Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision Blizzard
Release Date: March 29, 2009
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360






Sure this one has been out for a while now, but I'm not fortunate enough to receive free review copies like I once was. I'll do reviews like this from time-to-time and I'm sure many others out there do not have the ability to purchase every title under the sun on its release date.

If there was ever a perfect marriage for a band to Guitar Hero game it's Guitar Hero Metallica. The masters of Metal/Rock compliment the series rather well and unlike Prince, they made the right decision to take part in full with the experience. What Prince fails to see is that Guitar Hero has driven a interest for many to pick up and learn a real guitar. Guitar Hero is a game and not meant to emulate real guitar play. Instead it's an enjoyable rhythm based experience bringing Rock and Roll back into the lime light and drawing interest from our youth along the way.

GH Metallica brings the experience of a live Metallica show directly into your living room. I've been to several shows dating back to the Masters of Puppets tour and I can say that the only thing missing is Cliff Burton. The full motion capture of the band is a great touch and the stage layouts are perfect. Metallica has always been known as a power band and that's brought right to the screen at times. During Sad but True, hard-hitting explosive breaks have James Hefield coming right at the screen with a timely strum of his rhythm guitar. That's just one example of the care and feel put into this title.

Metallica has a huge library of songs and the set list chosen for this is top notch. For all my fellow old school metal heads out there, you'll find plenty tracks from Kill em All, Masters of Puppets, and Ride the Lightning. Songs like Whiplash and Hit the Lights prove be the most challenging especially while on the hard and expert settings. The 20 guest bands are a nice mix, but I personally found the song choices in this department overall to be rather weak. A few stand out like Slayer's War Ensemble and System of a Down's Toxicity, but many of the others will have you scratching your head. Since this is supposed to be bands that influenced Metallica and bands that they enjoy, where's the Misfits, Black Flag, or hell, a shout out to Dave Mustain by including a set from Megadeth?

Since this released after Guitar Hero Wold Tour you are able to piece together an entire band. A new level of difficulty has been added to the drums called Expert + which allows you to use the new double base add-on and have you playing drums damn near note-for-note with Lars Ulrich - no easy task, that's for sure. You also have the ability to record your own music like World Tour and can battle online in the Battle of the Bands mode (4 on 4). What's missing here though is DLC (download content). What you see is what you get, nothing more to add except for the Death Magnetic album. It would have been nice to have the ability to build the entire Metallica collection. This makes the $60 price point tough for many to swallow, but I was fortunate enough to pick this up at Target for $37 during one of their one week only sales.

If you are a die hard Metallica fan and a fan of Guitar Hero, this is a no brainer. I've been enjoying Metallica since Kill em All and I absolutely love this title. The only true down side to me is the lack of DLC. I like the direction Neversoft is taking with the game centered around one band, especially if they continue to have a production value as good as this one.

PPP Rating: 8.5 out of 10