ZOMG! OMGOMGOMGYES! 5 STARS ON NOTB!

That’s right! I JUST got 5 stars on Number of the Beast on EXPERT! I got 395,191 points and 95% of the notes! Today I had been busting some of my high scores on songs like “Cult of Personality,” “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” and “The Metal.” While I was on a “roll” I figured I should try NOTB. On my first try, I busted my old high score by about 20,000 points (I got 359,939 points) but still only had 4 stars. I tried it again and was doing GREAT but my dad interrupted me towards the end and I screwed up. I guess third time’s the charm because I nailed it on that third try. I freaked out and forced my brother to come and witness the score so my friends couldn’t tell me I cheated or let someone else beat it :P Now I only have one more song to go (Raining Blood) until I have gotten 5 stars on every Expert career song.

Extreme Progress [GH]

I’m amazed at how far I’ve made it when it comes to my skills as a Guitar Hero player. Just over a year ago I was struggling to beat ‘Beast and the Harlot’ on Expert, and now I’ve almost beat TTFATF. I have 5 stars on every song in Career Mode on Expert, save but two songs: Raining Blood (4 stars), and Number of the Beast (4 stars). I just can’ t seem to get the last few points necessary for 5 stars on those songs! I also have trouble with some of the bonus songs, TTFATF not included either! For instance, “The Way It Ends” is REALLY hard… I haven’t beaten that on either… All in all, though, I’m pretty impressed with my own skill, and am suprised that I got so good with so little effort. Most people I play with think that I practice for hours every day, but I really only play 4-5 songs just for the fun of it most of the time! On Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I have 5 stars on every expert song, and I’m not sure about GH2, cos my little brothers broke the disc… again. I’m getting ANOTHER copy tomorrow after I get my paycheck lol…

GH: World Tour

I haven’t gotten to play World Tour much, but I like what I see. My friend got GH:WT for Christmas, but only has the Guitar, so I stopped by his house to play it for about an hour. They’ve got a [i]big[/i] selection of songs to play and all of them are great. The slide bar is hard to master and I haven’t gotten the hang of it. I like the new feature where sometimes there is a sustained note with other notes you have to play while keeping the first sustained, as well as the fact that GH followed Rock Band with the ability to gain Star Power while you already have Star Power activated. Expert has moved up a notch on many songs, thanks to the addition of the slidebar, and I think it will be quite a while before a large majority of players have very many 5 star performances on the harder songs! I can’t wait to play it more and would love to try out the drum set.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

The latest installment in the Guitar Hero series has gone portable. Guitar Hero: On Tour is for the Nintendo DS, and consists of a DS cartridge, a guitar grip that plugs into the Gameboy Advance slot, a pick-stylus, two sheets of stickers, and an adapter for the original DS. The guitar grip has 4 buttons, green, red, yellow, and blue, but that doesn’t mean Hard and Expert difficulties will be a breeze. They throw in plenty of chords, and it’s hard to strum accurately at fast speeds, since there’s no actual strum bar. Instead, players strum by moving the pick-stylus across the touch screen. Star Power is achieved in the same way as previous Guitar Hero games, but to activate it, you need to yell or blow into the microphone, or press one of the buttons on the DS. Every song in Career mode is also available in “Guitar Duel” mode. This is similar to Guitar Battles, but you can only activate 1 attack at a time, and you can choose which one by tapping it on the screen. There are various battle items, most which damage your opponent, but a couple (The “shield” and the “difficulty down” items) assist you directly. Overall, the gameplay is pretty fun, though of course it’s nothing compared to the actual console games, but for a portable, it’s quite decent. Activision has already announced a sequel, Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades. Not much has been said about it, but the title hints that the music will span several decades, and Activision has said that players can “sample” On Tour Decades songs with their original On Tour if a friend has the sequel.

Crankin it up on Hard: Guitar Hero II

I recently got GH2 for the X-Box 360. I breezed through Expert, finishing up the career with 5 stars on 31/48 songs. I went through on Hard, and I got 5 stars on all the career mode songs (Though it took me about 7 tries to get 5 stars on Psychobilly Freakout. I’m not working on Easy and Medium, getting 100% Gold Star rating on all of the songs, then I’ll return to Expert to attempt getting as many 5 star ratings as possible (I want to unlock that log guitar!). I heard from a friend that a Guitar Hero player is considered “Pro” when he can get a 5 star rating on over half of the songs on Expert, and since 31 is definately more than half (24), I guess I’m pro… Lol. However, I can’t confirm that as a fact, although it makes sense to me. Anyways, I’ll continue honing my skills and hopefully, I’ll one day master the only song on GH2 that I can’t beat on Expert…: Jordan!

Looking Forward to Rock Band II

I read in the GameInformer magazine recently that Rock Band II is already deep in development and slated for release this September. I can’t wait for all of the new features, especially the Solo Bass Tour (Finally)!!! You’ll be able to play any songs on your hard drive from the first Rock Band, as well as grab tons of new DLC that will be available on launch day. Rock Band II will also create challenges based on the different songs on its hard drive. For instance, you may face a challenge consisting of songs from a certain artist, or a specific genre or difficulty. Characters can switch between instruments, and solo-mode works just like the multi-player World Tour from the first Rock Band. They’ve also made the guitar buttons less noisy, and the strum bar won’t be so ’squishy.’ The bass-kick for the drums will be much more sturdy, and the pads will be quieter, as well as more sensitive to the force you hit them with, allowing for more dynamic drum fills. There will be solo-lines for every instrument this time around, not just the guitar. Oh, I almost forgot: PS3 users, wait your turn, the X-Box 360 gets it first!

Guitar Hero Aerosmith Rundown

Overall, I give Guitar Hero: Aerosmith 3.5/5 I love the songs, and the new stage set up is sweet, but the game itself is pretty much Guitar Hero 3 with new songs. The game’s not difficult compared to its forerunners, even on Expert. I beat it in about two hours, and only failed one song because my little brothers were running around the house screaming like madmen. For those who like Hammer-ons and Pull-offs, this is definately your game. Almost every song has HOPOs galore. I’ve started working on getting 5 stars on every song and have already gotten over halfway through with that. It does have good replay quality, I keep coming back again and again to play it, I can’t get enough of Aerosmith. The interviews are also cool, and definate keepers for die-hard Aerosmith fans.

Practicing TTFATF

I’ve been practicing Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert lately on GHIII on my X-Box 360. I’m still having alot of trouble getting the intro nailed down, my fingers just can’t seem to move fast enough. Once, I taped down the green button and made it through the intro only to fail 89% of the way through the song… <.< I know the tape is cheating but I’d like to be able to complete it at least once :P

Guitar Hero III: Wii Online Play

So apparently, GHIII has some online play, where you can battle head-to-head with other players accross the world, or do some awesome co-op shredding. I haven’t got any friends, but if you want to add me, my code is:

17191 447 0103

Don’t forget to comment with your friend code so I can add you.

Edit: I no longer own a Wii (My brother stole it), and I don’t have X-Box Live so I can’t play online anymore….. Good riddance….

My GHIII Experience

I got Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Nintendo Wii five days after it came out. I launched straight into Hard mode (I’d had plenty of experience on GHII though I never owned the game… I can play expert on GHII) to unlock all of the songs. In a couple of hours, I’d beaten all of the songs except “Raining Blood” by Slayer, and the battle against Lou of course. So, frustrated, I played at it over and over. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get past the part I was stuck at (Mosh I). So, to vent some steam, I played through Career Mode on Medium to unlock the ultimate goal: “Through the Fire and the Flames” by DragonForce. Finally unlocking this song, I foolishly thought I could beat it on Hard. I failed miserably at 2%. I toned it down to Medium and made it through with only three stars. Sad. Next, I played on Easy, and let me say, if anyone capable of playing hard doesn’t get five stars on TTFATF, they need to go beat their heads into a wall and stay there… Anyways, I practiced some more, but still couldn’t beat “Raining Blood” on Hard. I decided to give TTFATF another shot and went into practice mode to nail the intro. Let’s just say I still haven’t quite “nailed” it, but I can play through it without failing. At the end of the song, I was sweating like no tomorrow. Playing difficult songs takes alot out of you!

 Overall Review of GHIII:

 I enjoyed the gameplay. Guitar Hero III has a great blend of classics and newer music, ranging from “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns ‘N Roses to “Miss Murder” by AFI. They’ve even got Slipknot (“Before I Forget”) and Metallica (“One”)! I have to say, they didn’t have very many of what we would call Rock Anthems like GHII did. There’s nothing as classic as “Carry On Wayward Son” on the set list, and all of the Extra songs are foreign to me (as in I’ve never heard of band nor song before). The online battle function is pretty much awesome, though on the Wii it’s rather hard to find a match. Overall, I’d give Guitar Hero III four stars. I know I’ve still got plenty of enjoyment to squeeze out of the game.