Gaming Music: Metallica, AC/DC, & Van Halen

Before now, music games only scratched the surface of rock. Free Bird? War Pigs? Monkey Wrench?! That's stuff for some high school talent show. Now's the time to go balls-deep into rock! With band-centric music games! Welcome to 2008!

I popped in Guitar Hero: Metallica first. Logos. Logos. Logos. Usual menu options: Quick play, Practise, Options. I go for Career. Shit gets real off the bat with Metallica entering their venue and *dramatic pause* YOU ARE METALLICA! And you open it up with "For Whom The Bell Tolls". Assuming you don't suck, you then get to encore "The Unforgiven".

You/Metallica, Rock! Inspiring a boy (also you) in the crowd to start up a band. This brings you to your character. You can choose among Guitar Hero's standard roster of cartoon rockers. I usually go with Izzy Sparks for his David Lee Roth-ness. But! Now there's a Create-A-Rocker option. Ok. Let's check that out.

Boy, are there a lot of options. Past the opening Male/Female selection. You can pick your music style. Punk. Rock. Heavy Metal. Goth. Classic (seemingly late 60's, early 70's rock). Etc. I go with classic. From there, you can edit body size, shape, and color. Clothes (shirts, pants, shoes, hats, etc.). Tats. Band name. Band logo. Edit instruments (guitar, bass, drums, mic). Plus more! Again, there's a lot of options. I spend waay more time on it than I expected. Maybe even wanted, due to the numerous loading screen and the game chugging to loading the various scrolling items.

Once I rebrand my Guitar Hero mainstay band, Sexual Misconduct, into a Metallica cover band and create The Stir-Man, complete with bald head, country beard, hoodie and track pants, it was time to hit the road (in our Mystery, Inc. Van labeled " 'Tallica, Jr.") to a Metallica live event and audition for the "opening act" slot. We win the slot and an opposing glam, 80's, hair-metal band look pissed. I guessing they're the bad guys here.

At this first venue, there are no Metallica songs to cover. So, first, I chose Alice in Chains' "No Excuses". Second, I go for Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone". Not sure why, but playing the song felt "special". Kinda like I wasn't playing it but experiencing it. Fitting since I'm led to believe that the song holds a special place in James' heart.

I back out and check out the extras. Under videos, there's a lot of backstage/concert stuff. In the gallery, there's pictures of old posters, tickets, patches. I'm talking old. One is a flyer for a concert with Metallica, Twisted Sister, and a third band that has slipped my mind. This stuff is really cool for any fan of Metallica. I just wish you could zoom in on the flyers/tickets/etc. so you can actually read some of the smaller print or just get a better overall look at them.

Oh, there's also an option to listen to various songs while info tidbits pop up. I did this for Tuesday's Gone. Some interesting stuff. Background on Lyn Skyn. Their influence on Metallica. Well worth reading. But then it ends by stating that Lyn Skyn's Free Bird ended Guitar Hero II. Kinda out of nowhere. And not near as important/interesting as the rest.

I decided to check out AC/DC Live! next. I've never played Rock Band before, so I was looking forward to seeing how the original Guitar Hero devs "improved" on their GH formula. Usual menu options. I notice a "Calibration" option. Never having done a calibration, I check it out. You strum to visual and audio cues to help set a proper lag between video, music, and strum-ness.

Back in the menu, I skip career (not wanting to spend so much time with create-a-band/character, if that's what happens) and go straight to "Quick Play". I head directly to "Hell's Bells" like a parent dragging their kid to the Indiana Jones ride at a Disneyland opening. And...

And.....

And....I fail. Hard. I don't know what the fuck just happened. I couldn't hit shit. I even saw the notes coming. And I still couldn't hit them. I give "Jailbreak" a try. Though I fare better, and finish the song, it was still pretty bad. Did I fuck myself over with the calibration? Is it that the notes are thin rectangles, and not GH's round circles, giving less room for error/timing?

I had planned to stop there, but my failure pushed me to pop in Guitar Hero: Van Halen. To see if I fared better back under the GH style. I go to "Quick Play" and chose "Ain't Talkin' Bout Love". My favorite Van Halen song. Very familiar with it. And I start off fucking it up! Why? Due to a difference I didn't even notice between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Not the note shapes, but in how the notes scroll on-screen. In GH, the notes scroll in from back of the screen to front. In Rock Band, they go from top to bottom.

I didn't realize this going from GH: Metallica to RB: AC/DC, but, back in GH's world with Van Halen, it was fucking up my song. Now realized. I make whatever needed mental adjustments and BAM! I'm rocking out to Van Halen. Telling bitches, "I got what you need".

Next is the so damn cheesy yet so damn fun "Jump". Then "Runnin' with the Devil". Playing these songs, it makes me think of just why I like Van Halen. I think it might be because they're rocking out, yet seemingly light-hearted about doing it (as oppose to Metallica's more heavy-handed-ness). Almost a sort of parody of 70's/80's rock but with good songs backing it up. Kinda feel the same way about Foo Fighters for their era.

Of course, there are various songs from secondary bands. Queen. Foo Fighters. Even Billy Idol's White Wedding (which I look forward to playing). But then there's a speed bump. The Offspring's "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy"). Strumming through the songs and hearing that damn song kick in.....I let out a sigh. It doesn't fit. Kinda ruins the vib of the game.

Compared to that of Metallica's, the extras disappoint with no vids or gallery to be found. Just lyrics and a "Van Halen Soundboard". I'm missing the point of this soundboard. Press two differing colors in differing order and 3 second long guitar solo plays. I felt lost in this "extra".

From my quick experience with GH: VH, it certainly feels like less of a game directed by a band for their fans as GH: Metallica does. GH: VH feels decidedly "hands-off" in Van Halen-ness. But it's got Van Halen songs you can Guitar Hero to, which, I suppose, is all one would want from a game such as this, but, damn, if the game just feels lacking in the frills and whistles extras of the Metallica version.

How bout that last sentence, eh?