Arts
Just in time for the holidays and for the alleviation of post-second-midterm-crunch-time-depression arrives the highly anticipated and universally extolled "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." The head-bangin', whammy board-breakin', tendonitis-inducin' third installment in the popular music video game series has taken the otherwise cramped, comfortless and poorly outfitted Dartmouth residence hall by storm (along with the rest of the world, for that matter).
Featuring a monster set list sublimely comprised of songs from both yesteryear and yesterday (some are even master tracks), noticeable upgrades to once-maddening gameplay features, dozens of new unlockables, a bevy of new band customization options and super-improved (and creative) character designs, venue graphics and in-game guitar models, "Legends" lives up to a summer's worth of hype, doing the children of greasy hair and bleached jeans very, very proud.
No doubt there were many fans and developers squirming after last year's acquisition of RedOctane by Activision, which pushed day-one developers Harmonix onto side project "Rock Band" and left the folks at Neversoft newly entrusted with engineering a game so culturally important and massive in scope.
Now it's clear there was no need for anxiety.
A vast improvement upon its comparatively unfocused predecessor (and in no way reflective of the unbridled mess that was July's "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s"), "Legends" cranks out its bread-and-butter, Gibson-Les-Paul awesomeness alongside familiar faces like Aerosmith, Guns 'N' Roses, Heart, Kiss and Rage Against the Machine while also meandering into refreshingly uncharted territory.
