The Guitar Hero franchise is one of the most popular game franchises around and there are three very good reasons for this. Firstly, the game is huge amounts of addictive fun. Secondly, it’s competitive but above all, it’s entertaining. Any game with this much capacity for appeal is going to sell and sell well. With the latest instalment in the franchise, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, it doesn’t look like the sales figures are going to slow down any time soon.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has a lot more going for it than its predecessor, Guitar Hero II. For starters, it’s much easier to hit notes than it is in Guitar Hero II. I started out playing Guitar Hero II, and played Guitar Hero III straight afterwards and found it much easier to get through the songs, even with limited knowledge of the game play. An important tip for beginners; make sure you go through the tutorials because they really are lifesavers if you intend on going through career and eventually, working your way up to (gulp) hard or even expert level. The techniques you learn in the tutorial will get you through some of the tougher songs in the game, and believe me; some of them are pretty tough. If you’ve mastered the basics from Guitar Hero II, you’ll be fine for GHIII but they’re still worth checking out (and you get an achievement for completing it).

So, being a rock god and guitar hero may not be everyone’s cup of tea… in Iceland! In New Zealand however, GHIII is ripping up my XBL friend’s list like nothing I’ve seen since Halo 3 was released a couple of months ago. And one of the coolest aspects of the game is that there is so much you can do with it. The game’s versatility gives you the option to choose between being an anti-social, guitar rock god by playing the solo game in career mode or you can choose to take your guitar shredding skills online and rip it up with your best friends or complete strangers if you’re that way inclined. The various game modes include Co-op Career and Multiplayer where you can choose the ‘Pro Face Off’ option and battle it out head to head with other gamers.

There are four difficulty levels in Guitar Hero III also consistent with GHII which are Easy (beginner’s mode), Medium, Hard and Expert. Expert mode truly is for the real rock gods among us and as you progress through each level of the game, the songs become a lot harder with more notes and chords being introduced to challenge you. The cool thing about completing the different career modes is that with GHIII there is a new feature introduced called ‘Battle Mode’ which sees you battle it out against prominent Guitar Heroes in the world of Rock like Slash (from Guns n’ Roses) and Tom Morello (guitarist for Rage Against The Machine). It’s a nice touch but boy do I really dislike Slash for some reason after playing this game ?

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock boasts an awesome set list including such legendary tracks as ‘Paranoid’ by Black Sabbath, ‘One’ by Metallica, ‘Black Magic Woman’ by Santana and also includes a few songs from more recent years such as ‘When You Were Young’ by The Killers and ‘Miss Murder’ by AFI. The complete set list is included alongside this review.

I absolutely love Guitar Hero III and I never would have guessed that I’d have this much fun with a plastic guitar! GHIII will be a great addition to that Xmas stocking. Guitar Hero III is available now in all good gaming stores and comes highly recommended. Buy it, play it, love it – because you will!