One of my favorite bands of all time, without question, is Metallica. Ever since the first Guitar Hero was released, I’ve wanted Metallica tracks in my music games. The DLC for the first Rock Band just served to whet my appetite, but now Guitar Hero Metallica is here to knock me on my ass.
The game is based entirely on the Guitar Hero World Tour framework with a few tweaks and additions. You have the standard single player and full band career modes, but drumming now has an Expert+ mode to make your head explode with double bass and even harder note tracks. You have to be damn good to play on that level (and you need the GH:WT drum set with extra bass pedal). The best changes to the game, in my opinion, were the unlocking of new songs. Firing up Quick Play, even the first time you put in the disc, allows you to immediately play any song from the game without a cheat code. In the Career modes, you only need to obtain a certain small number of stars per venue to unlock the next, meaning you’ll have all songs open to you within a short amount of time. For someone who wants to pick and choose their favorite Metallica tracks to play, this is great. I can only hope Activision decides to go a similar route with future titles in the series. In other aspects, it’s the standard fare you’ve come to expect from a Guitar Hero title.
While there are a lot Metallica facts and such built into the game, the Career mode doesn’t follow the band’s history in the same way as Guitar Hero Aerosmith, which was a bit disappointing. I would have liked to see more of their history, even though I’m already a huge fan. There are also only 49 tracks, which is down quite a bit from Guitar Hero World Tour. For the price, I think they could have included more (or maybe sold it at a lower cost).
If you’re a big fan of Metallica, you’ve probably already picked this one up. For those of you on the fence, it’s certainly the most polished Guitar Hero title to date and will provide a great deal of both fun and challenge to your rhythm gaming. It’s a must play title for any Guitar Hero fan, whether you rent or buy.
