Xbox 360 Demo round-up: Guitar Hero: Metallica and more
Posted on 24th Mar 2009 at 09:33 by Alex Watson with 2 comments
As it's the middle of the month, and I only have cash for practical things, over the weekend I fired up the Xbox 360 to see what free demos were available. First up: Guitar Hero: Metallica. The last band-specific Guitar Hero focussed on Aerosmith, and was a mediocre mid-tempo effort. The graphics achieved the impressive feat of making Steven Tyler & co. look even more like zombies than they do in real life, and there was a distinct lack of soul and care to the whole enterprise.
Judging from the demo, GH: Metallica will be a much better product. For starters, it's based on the Guitar Hero World Tour engine so the graphics are much improved, both technically and in terms of art direction. Whereas GH: Aerosmith was cartoony, colourful and cluttered, GH: Metallica uses Left 4 Dead-style desaturated colours and film grain to give the visuals some bite. The character models of the band look far more realistic than before, and the developers have reduced a lot of the visual clutter - the note streak you're on is subtly illustrated with a skull-embossed plectrums to the right of the fretboard and the rock meter is less intrusive. The game also works in artwork from Metallica's albums - the fist from St Anger punches upwards when the song ends, for instance.
Judging from the demo, GH: Metallica will be a much better product. For starters, it's based on the Guitar Hero World Tour engine so the graphics are much improved, both technically and in terms of art direction. Whereas GH: Aerosmith was cartoony, colourful and cluttered, GH: Metallica uses Left 4 Dead-style desaturated colours and film grain to give the visuals some bite. The character models of the band look far more realistic than before, and the developers have reduced a lot of the visual clutter - the note streak you're on is subtly illustrated with a skull-embossed plectrums to the right of the fretboard and the rock meter is less intrusive. The game also works in artwork from Metallica's albums - the fist from St Anger punches upwards when the song ends, for instance.
