Nov 12, 2007

Those who shudder at the thought of introducing a console game to their hard drive will be missing out if they discard Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock as another inferior and slapdash port. While shredding on the PC at your desk with a monitor can't match the fun you'll have bouncing around your living room with friends, the PC version is still well worth it for those who haven't experienced the joys of strumming chords, bending notes, and rocking out with the franchises' awesome guitar controller.

Unfortunately, if you've got an older rig, you'd do well to review the game's demanding system requirements carefully. Perhaps if developer, Aspyr had more time to work on optimizing this title, animating colored dots wouldn't require a 2.4 GHZ Core 2 Duo processor to run without the occasional lag spike. Still, even though songs slowed down slightly from time to time, it's not enough to mar the Guitar Hero experience if your system meets the game's heavy processor requirements.

Legends of Rock stays true to its name with actual guitar deities in Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Guns 'n' Roses' Slash, whom you face in boss battles. The fact that it's really their likenesses and freestyle riffing adds to the cream-dream package, but you'll be glad these encounters are limited, as they can irritate: You must defeat them before time is up.