Review: Guitar Hero Metallica Solus (Xbox 360)

Author: Tigervamp | Date: June 30, 2009

This could easily be one of the shortest reviews of all time with the comment of “Guitar Hero: Metallica is Guitar Hero: World Tour plus lots of Metallica tracks”. This is a little unfair, although not entirely inaccurate, and the fact this does contain many tracks from one of my favourite bands of all time makes this worthwhile.

Anyone familiar with previous Guitar Hero (and Rock Band) games, even those who aren’t die-hard fans of the band, will appreciate the quality of Metallica’s songs. When I say there are a lot of Metallica tracks in this game I really mean it. This features 28 Metallica songs in total (the PS2 and Wii versions have a few extra tracks) compared to a paltry 17 from Aerosmith on their own Guitar Hero game, although that does have an additional 7 tracks to unlock. I don’t have major issues with any of the included Metallica tracks but it felt like something was missing, in what can otherwise be described as a greatest hits collection, and I realised that missing element is Dave Mustaine.

The true reason will remain a mystery but I really hope Mustaine hasn’t been deliberately cut from this collection due to personal squabbles as that’s an incredibly childish excuse for denying fans some of their favourite tracks. The missing songs by Mustaine are The Four Horsemen, Jump on the Fire, Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, The Call of Ktulu, and Ride the Lightning which is especially confusing as they use that very term in-game. There are other tracks which I feel should have been included but most of all Blackened and Lepper Messiah. The main issue I have is that while the overall song list is of a pretty high standard I can’t help but feel that lower quality tracks from recent albums have been included at the expense of some genuine classics.

The graphics are identical to those in World Tour which is no bad thing as even though sequels come with expected improvements the background graphics are much less important than the music itself. As I’ve said there aren’t too many complaints about the songs on offer but I would like to add that I find the system of choosing the supporting acts to be flawed. Instead of thinking “what would be the ideal bands to support Metallica?” they thought “what bands have supported Metallica at one point and we are able to get hold of their songs?” and I understand why this is the case but it’s a shame. The term “supporting act” has been used loosely with bands included that happened to play alongside Metallica at large rock festivals such as Donington. I feel it’s a stretch to claim that the other bands at that festival were merely there in support of Metallica regardless of their headline status.

Despite a few niggling issues if you liked World Tour you’ll like this and it’s a no-brainer for Metallica fans. With the inclusion of some truly epic tracks this will also appeal to those who enjoy this type of game first and foremost but are perhaps more casual fans of the band.

8/10

3 Comments »

Comment by Vince

2009-06-30 12:30:14

I guess ‘Blackened’ is missing due to its inclusion in Rock Band as DLC, but other than that where was ‘Ronnie’, ‘Until It Sleeps’ and ‘Trapped Under Ice’? In fact there are so many songs that should have been there but weren’t.

I personally think GH:M is a thousand times better than GH:WT, World Tour felt stale in comparison to Rock Band thanks to the game lacking any kind of crowd noises during the songs which just makes it feel like your playing along with an album, not rocking out in front of thousands of fans. Thankfully this is back in for GH:Metallica, and as for the choice of supporting artists I think it was an excellent list. About 50% of those songs are by bands that influenced Metallica, or songs they covered (Turn the Page FTW!) while the rest consists of some of the amazing modern acts that have supported the guys over the years, notable inclusions there are Kyuss, SOAD and Machine Head.

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Comment by Tigervamp

2009-06-30 13:18:49

I understand where you’re coming from on the supporting artists but on a personal level if I could choose the best supporting line-up for Metallica it would include Iron Maiden, Guns N Roses, Megadeth (although, there was never any chance of that one happening).

It’s not that I don’t like the songs included, it’s a very good collection, it’s just that while I loved playing Tuesday’s Gone (mainly because I love Happy Gilmore!) I don’t feel that Lynyrd Skynyrd, as great as they are, should be a supporting act for Metallica. I can say the same about Queen, one of my favourite bands but for me it wasn’t the right choice.

In some ways I’d have been happier with a supporting song list made up of Norwegian Black/Swedish Death metal even though that isn’t particularly to my taste.

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Comment by Rees

2009-06-30 21:39:19

Totally agreed with both of you here. I fall into the “those who enjoy this type of game first and foremost but are perhaps more casual fans of the band” category.

Even so, I should point out that firstly, Vince informs me that Stone Cold Crazy is actually in there because Metallica quite often cover it, and secondly, I’m pretty sure I heard Trapped Under Ice at some point. Perhaps all the Metallica got to me though and I’m just imagining it!? (Quite likely)

Anyway, Guitar Hero: Metallica blows World Tour out of the water, in fact it’s almost up there with Rock Band. Definitely recommended for anyone with more than a passing interest in Metallica and music games.

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