Guitar Hero III Hands on

Battling it out for the number one spot in the peoples lust for ROCK on their consoles, Guitar Hero III has just been playtested by Gamespot UK. A lot of exciting features and I can just see many many people thinking "sod it" and simply buying both...

Here is a snippet or two:

Cooperative play seems to be a major focus for Guitar Hero III, because not only will you be able to play co-op online, but the game will also feature a cooperative career mode, where you and a buddy follow the path that documents the rise and fall of a rock band. To encourage playing cooperatively, some songs--such as the Beastie's "Sabotage"--can only be unlocked by first playing them in co-op mode.

The big new mode in Guitar Hero III is a battle mode that, producers told us, is reminiscent of the classic showdown between Steve Vai and Ralph Macchio in the seminal 1980s blues flick, Crossroads. Here, you'll square off against another guitarist in your bid to prove your dominance in a particular song. As the song progresses, you'll be able to "attack" your opponent by tossing difficulty modifiers his way. These modifiers include everything from doubling the amount of notes he has to play, to rattling the other player's screen, overloading his amp, requiring him to play lefty, changing his difficulty level, or even breaking his string (which he will have to quickly fix by rapidly pressing one of the fret buttons). Up to three of these temporary modifiers can be piled on top of one another at a time, and if you choose to use them at the right moment, they can cause havoc for your opponent. If you double an attack (such as dropping two double-note modifiers in a row), you won't quadruple the notes your foe has to play; instead the amount of time the double-note modifier will be that much longer. You can also steal an opponent's attack at certain times and then use it on him.

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