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"  2005&amp;#039;s Guitar Hero wasn&amp;#039;t the first video game that involved synchronizing movements with music\u2014Dance Dance Revolution has been whipping kids into shape for years. Unfortunately, DDR also necessitated listening to songs that sounded like The Chipmunks singing Mr. Roboto. With Guitar Hero, you had Hendrix and Sabbath instead of bizarre Japanese techno. So while the original concept\u2014see, strum, repeat\u2014was more out-of-the-box than innovative, Guitar Hero simply rocked, pushing games from nerdy to party. Now, just two years after the first Guitar Hero, we&amp;#039;re already on Guitar Hero III (actually the fourth release), putting the series&amp;#039; release schedule somewhere between that of a Saw sequel and a national holiday. The difference this time around? Harmonix, the studio that created frat boys&amp;#039; favorite game since Madden, jumped ship to create the multi-instrument, karaoke-ready Rock Band, leaving Activision to pick up the pieces and reprogram the entire face-melting experience (click here for head-to-head hands-on video).  The result, we&amp;#039;ve found after a full weekend of jamming, is that GH3 holds few surprises for series veterans. Like its predecessors, the newest incarnation lets you strum a plastic guitar (though this time a heavier, less toy-like Les Paul) and hit frets in time with an on-screen cascade of notes. Time it well, and you progress through the game, unlocking more songs and impressing pals\u2014simple, fun, but not quite easy. However, like a classic-rock radio station, it&amp;#039;s this very sense of familiarity makes the game so alluring. At this point, the people know what they&amp;#039;re getting into when they lay down $100 for a Guitar Hero game. And they like it. The gameplay changes are mostly welcome. There&amp;#039;s a new &amp;quot;Battle&amp;quot; mode that allows you to sabatoge your opponent\u2014broken strings throw you way out of sync, which is a good thing if you&amp;#039;re too good at the game. And, for the first time, there are &amp;quot;Boss&amp;quot; levels, where you face-off against real-life guitar heroes such as Slash from Guns &amp;#039;N Roses.  Still, the measure of any Guitar Hero game is its playlist, and these songs may be the best yet. Obvious choices abound (you&amp;#039;ve got your obligatory Metallica track), but a few surprises keep things interesting (even at their grungiest, Sonic Youth&amp;#039;s no-wave squeals hardly bring to mind arena-rock theatrics). So, yes, GH3 is very, very fun, and likely one of the best games of the year. Still, there is this unavoidable feeling of having done it all before\u2014so much so that it almost feels like a copout, with little reason for the new game to exist other than as an excuse to add tracks (and compete with Rock Band). That continues to make it hard to shake the feeling that GH sequels such as this couldn&amp;#039;t be sold as simple add-on packs, or even downloadable tracks. (Not a Megadeth fan? Pay for just the songs you like. That would certainly give Harmonix a run for its runaway money.) Still, it&amp;#039;s hard to complain for one simple reason: The games are almost too much fun. And as long as that stays true, the series will continue to have plenty of goodwill. (As an aside, when it was first announced that GH3 would mark the series&amp;#039; Wii debut, we were hoping that Activision might take advantage of the system&amp;#039;s unique motion-sensing capabilities. After all, how cool would it be if your guitar-wielding sprite jumped when you, the homely toy-holder, leapt from your living room floor? And Pete Townsend-esque smashing would make for one helluva bonus round. Unfortunately, the Wii version is essentially the same as the PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360 games, with minor graphical and audio differences.) \u2014Seth Porges TEST DRIVE: Guitar Hero III vs. Rock Band (with Video!)PLUS: GH3 Makes PM&amp;#039;s Top Games of E3 2007 "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a2251/4230044/>