Hands up if you were concerned when news broke about Harmonix’ severed involvement with the imperious Guitar Hero franchise? Like a classic movie whose bastardised sequel tarnishes its name, the dissolvement of Guitar Hero’s creators from their greatest love seemed like a recipe for disaster. Especially when control was placed into the hands of Neversoft, the team responsible for the steady decline of Tony Hawk’s. Surely Guitar Hero can’t go the same way?

Well, simply put, no, it can’t. With all of our collective rock spirit, we are ecstatic to announce that Guitar Hero III carries on the rich vein of form that both its predecessors established. Ignoring Rocks The 80s, of course, an experiment best left forgotten. No, Guitar Hero III drives the series on with the flair, flamboyance and free world rock that we’ve come to expect, and grown to demand, damn it.

It all begins with the new guitar itself. Larger and heavier than before, it feels far more realisitic in the hands, while the new strum bar makes fast notes easier than ever. The fact that it’s wireless doesn’t hurt either, no longer will a cable shackle your inner rock God. As with any new peripheral, especially one that makes minor changes to something you’ve used for years, there’s a noticeable period of adjustment. But after a few hours tearing through Career mode you’ll never look back.

Actually, ‘tearing’ through Career mode might not be the right word. Guitar Hero III is considerably tougher than its predecessors. Veterans will most likely dip straight into the Hard difficulty, as did we, and may well be surprised as to how tricky it soon becomes. The opening few sets are comfortable enough, with a handful of great encores and some tremendously well-selected tunes, but when you get down to the later tracks, the heavier, dirtier and more dangerous tunes, you may well struggle. Certainly, Slayer’s Raining Blood and Metallica’s One contain solos so tough your fingers will have to develop new muscles just to keep up. Thankfully, Neversoft has tweaked the hammer-ons and pull-offs, making them easier and more useful than ever, so the more noodling solos become slightly less daunting.

Nevertheless, Career mode is tough, but necessary in order to unlock all the songs. The tougher solos may hinder your progress, but it’s the new boss battles that could have you throwing guitars through TV screens. Breaking up the incessant shredding are three one-on-one rock battles, where fast fingers and clever use of power-ups will win the day. The first of these, against ex-Rage Against The Machine axe man Tom Morello is easy enough, teaching you the basics and allowing you to pick up a few power-ups (which are fired across to damage your opponent’s play). Beat Morello, and you get to tear through Bulls On Parade by Rage. Lovely. Up later is Stoke’s very own Slash, whose amp-melting solo is superb to listen to and play, but astoundingly tough when the shaggy-haired rock God is throwing Lefty Flips and Double Notes at you. If you manage to power through though, you’ll get to rock out to Welcome To The Jungle, a suitable reward.

The final boss battle, though, is nothing short of a nightmare. We won’t spoil who you’re battling, but it’s far too tough, far too unfair and flies in the face of the Guitar Hero ethos. This is a game about expression and creativity, not repeated play and frustration. If the battles were simply one-on-one best-score wins faceoffs, they’d be more than welcome. As they are though, they’re the first tarnish on Guitar Hero’s impeccable record.

Don’t feel too disillusioned though. A small blot on a copy book this pristine makes little difference: Guitar Hero III is a superb videogame. The track listing is amazing, mixing modern indie rock with heavy-metal classics, passing blues and Latino lounge rock on the way. Even the lesser-known songs play beautifully, with well-judged verses and solos. Neversoft has proven its knowledge of rock ’n’ roll is comfortably comparable to Harmonix’.

Also, the inner workings of Guitar Hero haven’t been compromised. One of the complaints levelled at Rocks The 80s was that its songs never made you feel like you were actually playing guitar. The patterns of notes and chords in Guitar Hero III mimic the real thing in a way that only GH and GH II have managed in the past, so when you nail that solo in Knights Of Cydonia, you feel like Matt Bellamy. Except you’re not playing keyboards and circling Hertfordshire on a jet pack.

Rock Band may set a new standard when it arrives next year, but, for now, Guitar Hero III is the pinnacle of the rhythm-action genre. The new guitar, massive song list and commitment to balls-out rock ’n’ roll is what the franchise needs. Keep on rocking Neversoft, you’ve passed with flying colours.

Jon Denton