I myself never thought a Guitar Hero: Metallica game would ever be actually released to the public. Even just the sight of a Metallica song in a game was like spotting pink polar bear in Florida. Metallica is a band that likes to keep their license where it is.

In career mode you start as an up and coming band trying to get the opening spot on Metallicas world tour, a real life story.  You create you character (same process as GH World Tour) and get started. Basically the character you created plays all of the non-metallica songs (like Queen, Bob Seger, S.O.A.D.) and all the Metallica songs you will play as Metallica with you character nowhere in sight. Not a big turn-off but all the GREAT songs are the Metallica ones, sorry other bands. I would like to see my created character on stage a bit more but I get it. I wish there were more songs and the story mode was longer, you can easily go through the story mode twice in a few hours.

Player creation is very extensive in most parts and lacking in others. The players in GH Metallica consist of exaggerated human features. The hair styles are the same as GH World tour with the addition of a few Metallica styled hair dues, I still wish I could have a Mohawk that isn’t 10 feet tall! You can change the proportions of your face and body, although when creating your physique you seem to find yourself being either too skinny, too fat, or too muscular due to the exaggerated style of the game you cant find a happy medium.

As with the previous GH games, you can customize more than you character. There is an awesome instrument customizer with everything from the paint job to the strings to the very extensive logo maker to put stickers on.  With the logo maker you can make custom tattoos or lay on an already created tattoo that they made with a huge selection of Metallica themed layers. The creation process in GH Metallica is very extensive and very full; it will keep you entertained with its odd masks and outfits for hours.

The gameplay plays out like any other music rhythm game. The notes come across the screen and when the hit the sweet spot you play it on you guitar controller. The controller that comes bundled with the game is the same that comes with the GH World Tour game. There is talk of a Metallica skinned plate to clip on over the regular guitar, but it’s a little lame that they didn’t include that in the box like with GH Aerosmith.

Be aware that GH Metallica will be one of the most intense and METAL experiences you have ever played in a music rhythm game, and not only for the guitar! In the song selection menu you will see a little skull and cross-drumstick icon next to the song, telling you that you will inevitably need add-on double bass pedal (that comes with a pre order) to even attempt to complete the song. Metallicas bass guitar riffs will also keep you on your toes. This game will give the most experienced Guitar Hero players a big run for their money.

The thought of no downloadable content (DLC) is a huge huge bummer. Sure they have an amazing selection of songs in the game but there are a TON that I would gladly pay for as DLC, including more S&M songs, and THEIR version of Bob Segers On The Road….ETC. Leaving those out is a huge mistake on Activisions side.

The 4-player co-op in this game is like the other GH games, AWSOME. It’s a great party game, a little weird family game since it rocks out so hard, but your metal head friends will gladly make a drive to your house to rock out METALLICA STYLE! Online 4-player co-op works flawlessly as well.

Achievements are cleverly named, all after hit Metallica songs and band members. There is a bit more co-op achievements than I expected but there is enough for you achievement hunters to get you hunt on.

The background performances in this game are on a ridiculous level of amazing! If I could just go through all the Metallica song without playing and just watching the performance, I would! Every performance is specifically designed for each song; the movements of each band member are dead on including the bass player Robert Trujillo’s spinning helicopter move that he does during Seek & Destroy.  Everything to the lighting effects in No leaf Clover, to the multiple camera angles and jump cuts, to the way each band member plays to the camera is amazingly done makes this game stand out from the other Guitar Hero games, and HD gaming makes it look that much better.

In all Guitar Hero Metallica is not just another rhythm game, with the song list, extra creation features, and the attention to detail in the performance presentation, this is a must have for Guitar Hero lovers and a collectors item for Metallica fans…….like me!

Pros:   Extensive character creation

            Song list

            Character models

            Band signature behaviors

            Background performances

            Metallifacts on each song including lyrics

            Metallica!!!!

Cons:   No DLC!

            No DLC….

            The great song list is too small

            No DLC!

9/11