Guitar Hero: Metallica
Encyclopedia
Guitar Hero: Metallica is a music video game
developed by Neversoft
and distributed by Activision
. The game was released in North America on the PlayStation 3
, Wii
, and Xbox 360
on March 29, 2009 and on PlayStation 2
on April 14, 2009, with a European release in May 2009. Guitar Hero: Metallica is the second game of the Guitar Hero series
to focus on the career and songs of one band following Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
.
The game is based on Guitar Hero World Tour
, with support for lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game has many of the same features from World Tour, including single-player and band Career modes, online competitive modes, and the ability to create and share songs through "GHTunes". In addition to the normal difficulty levels presented in Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero: Metallica provides an "Expert+" difficulty for drums that allows the use of a second bass drum pedal to match the drumming style of Metallica's Lars Ulrich
. The game features 28 master recording
s spanning Metallica
's career and an additional 21 songs selected by members of Metallica. The band performed extensive motion capture
for the game for their in-game avatars and performances. The game includes several extras including behind-the-scenes videos of the motion capture sessions, tour and concert videos of the band, and Pop-Up Video
-like facts for many of the songs on the game disc.
Guitar Hero: Metallica received positive reviews, with critics stating it to be a strong tribute to the band and Neversoft's best work on the Guitar Hero series to date. The difficulty throughout the game was praised, found to be more enjoyable to players of all skill levels than the more-difficult Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
. Reviewers noted the lack of additional downloadable content
, save for the pre-existing Death Magnetic
songs, the cartoonish storyline for the Career mode, and the overall value of the game as some of the negatives to the experience.
using special instrument controllers. The game is based on the band approach presented in Guitar Hero World Tour
, and features parts of lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. To successfully complete songs and score, players must use the instruments to play notes that scroll on-screen in time with the music. For lead and bass guitar players, this is done by holding down colored fret buttons on the guitar neck while striking a strum bar; for the drum players, this requires the player to strike the appropriate drum pad or kick with the bass drum pedal; for vocals, the player must attempt to match the pitch of the notes through a microphone. Players earn scoring multipliers for playing several consecutive notes or phrases correctly, and by correctly completing marked phrases, players can earn Star Power which can be released for a higher scoring multiplier. If players miss too many notes, they will eventually fail the song and will have to retry it.
Lead developer Alan Flores has stated that the difficulty of the game is much harder than previous games and is designed to challenge the hard-core player. To meet the "ferocity" of Metallica's songs, the game features, in addition to the same five difficulty levels in World Tour, an "Expert+" mode for drummers that allows them to add a second bass drum pedal, though results of this mode is not tracked through online modes. Additional drum pedals and a splitter, to allow two pedals to be used, were made available upon the game's release and as part of pre-ordering bonuses. While the game allows two guitar players to play lead and bass guitar, it does not give the players the option to play lead and rhythm guitar, which does not allow for notable "Hetfield/Hammett riff-trading" on certain songs. Lead designer Alan Flores explained that the decision not to track the lead and rhythm (in addition to the single player guitar, bass, drums, and vocals) "was simply a workload issue."
Similar to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
, Metallica presents songs from Metallica's history roughly in chronological order, but it focuses more on the group today than the band's history. The songs in the game are presented in a linear series of sets as with older Guitar Hero games such as Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, instead of the gig progression used in World Tour. However, instead of being required to finish a certain number of songs in each set, the player has to earn a total number of stars (earned from their performance on the individual songs) in a given set to progress to next one. The game's story is based on a band that wants to follow in Metallica's footsteps, and the group accepting them as leading acts for them on a tour; as such, they are better able to order the songs in difficulty comparable to other Guitar Hero games, as Metallica's earlier works frustrate the player enough to "throw the controller against the wall and stop playing". Flores described the difficulty for most of the game to be comparable to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and World Tour after the complaints of the difficulty level in Guitar Hero III, but further noted that the most difficult songs in the games will be very challenging. Real-life venues are used for the game, including The Stone nightclub in San Francisco, the Hammersmith Odeon
in London, Tushino Airfield in Moscow, and The Forum in Los Angeles
, and one final venue representing the pinnacle of Metallica's success. The game was completed before Metallica's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
, and thus does not include reference to this event. The game's interface remain similar to World Tour with some Metallica-based artwork added to it. Two changes have been made from World Tour; individual performance and Star Power meters are now located next to each track on screen instead of grouped together to make it easier to keep track of one's own performance, and when the band's performance is failing, the edges of the screen glow red to indicate this.
The music creation mode from World Tour is available, giving the player the option of using tones from Hetfields' ESP Truckster guitar and Slayer
s Tom Araya
s ESP Bass in addition to Metallica drum sounds. The "GHTunes" services, which allows players to share songs created in the music creation mode, is cross-compatible with both World Tour and Metallica. In the new "Drum Over" mode for this game, players can select any song, and play drums without any fixed drum track or without any failure, allowing them to create their own drum line using the song's existing drum kit sounds.
The Battle mode of the game, based on that from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
, has been slightly altered to add Metallica influences; for example, a power-up named "Fade to Black" completely blackens the note tracks for the opposing player, "Trapped Under Ice", which freezes the whammy bar, and an electrical attack called "Ride the Lightning" (based on the "Amp Overload" attack from Guitar Hero III) is added.
, when asked about the game during an interview with MTV
, stated that "the people at ‘Guitar Hero’ and Activision are rapidly becoming our best new friends in the world. You can put the rest of it together yourself." Ulrich stated that the idea for the Metallica-themed Guitar Hero game came from the influence the original Guitar Hero games had on Ulrich and James Hetfield
's children, learning about music and older bands such as Deep Purple
and Black Sabbath
.
The game was officially announced at the 2008 E3 conference during Microsoft
s presentation, along with the announcement that Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic
, would be made as content for download for both Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
and Guitar Hero World Tour
. A trailer for the game is included as an extra feature in Guitar Hero World Tour with "Master of Puppets
" playing in the background and "Ride the Lightning
" as the tagline.
As with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, members of Metallica, including Kirk Hammett
, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield
and Robert Trujillo
performed six songs and band and audience chatter for motion capture
for their in-game avatars; the detailed motion capture
included the band's lip syncing to the lyrics and the motion of Trujillo's hair braids. Ulrich and Hetfield performed additional motion capturing sessions to help the developers. Metallica members appear as their modern day incarnations, but unlockable skins are available to reflect the band's history. Former band members Jason Newsted
and the late Cliff Burton
are not represented in the game as the band felt their inclusion would slight Trujillo. However, the game still includes trivia about both former members. The game includes DVD
-style content such as photos, videos, and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as "Metallifacts", Pop-up Video
-style trivia displayed on screen during the various Metallica tracks. Some Metallica songs in the game have an accompanying video of the band performing the song, with the quality ranging from fan-made videos at small clubs to large-scale video productions. Both Motörhead vocalist/bassist Lemmy and Mercyful Fate
singer King Diamond
have contributed to the game in both providing motion capture for unlockable player characters and providing re-recorded tracks of their songs "Ace of Spades
" and "Evil", respectively due to the original master tapes
not being located for use in the game's production. King Diamond's notable face makeup and jewellery was altered with direct input from King Diamond to avoid offending the religion of any of the business partners involved with the game.
During the game's development, the team encountered problems trying to create the drum tracks. Flores noted they normally try to map a note for every drum beat but could not easily replicate it for the double bass often used in Metallica's songs. As a result, they decided to create a splitter for the bass drum pedal and offer a second pedal with the game to allow the double bass kicks to be retained. The game's career mode, in which the players are part of an opening band for Metallica, is based on a real-life group that followed Metallica during a European tour, eventually becoming enamored by the band and performing in an opening act with them.
No plans have been announced for special bundled versions of Guitar Hero: Metallica with the instrument controllers within North America, though Activision does plan to release Metallica-branded faceplates for existing instrument controllers as well as a double-bass pedal attachment for the drum controller. Guitar Hero: Metallica will also support the wireless microphones from Lips
through a future title patch. A European-exclusive bundle includes the game, wireless guitar controller, and Metallica faceplate.
" as "Lynyrd Skynrd", but the artwork was corrected prior to release. Players that pre-ordered Guitar Hero: Metallica through GameStop
stores received a second kickpedal with pre-orders. Other stores offered Guitar Hero: Metallica-branded drumsticks with pre-orders.
A demo version of the game was released on Xbox Live
on March 20, 2009, with four playable songs: Metallica's "Sad but True
" and "Seek & Destroy", Alice in Chains
' "No Excuses
" and Queen
's "Stone Cold Crazy
". All four instruments are playable. There is no Expert+ for the drums in the demo. Metallica made an appearance at the 2009 SXSW Music Festival held a week before the game's release for a "not-so-secret" performance, with demonstration stations set up to allow attendees to play the game. The game was the primary sponsor for Aric Almirola
's Number 8 car in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Relief 500 run during the weekend of the game's release. Two television commercials, in the same style as those for Guitar Hero World Tour that parody the scene from Risky Business
where Tom Cruise
dances in his underwear during Bob Seger
's song "Old Time Rock and Roll
", were prepared for the game and were directed by Brett Ratner
. The ads, which first aired during the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament
, features NCAA coaches Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams
, and Rick Pitino
along with the current members of Metallica.
s, 28 from Metallica, and the other 21 songs from bands that are "their personal favorites and influences from over the years", including those that appeared on their Garage Inc.
album. All of the Metallica songs in the game are from original masters, though locating some masters proved troublesome. Though Metallica were prepared to re-record songs as Aerosmith had done for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
, they were able to find the masters for their debut album Kill 'Em All
in the basement of their former manager Johny Zazula
. While other downloadable content from Guitar Hero III or Guitar Hero World Tour is not usable in Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game will detect and incorporate the songs from the Death Magnetic
downloadable content into the game's setlist (however, the song "All Nightmare Long
" is available in the game as part of its main setlist). The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of the game do not support downloadable content, but include "Broken, Beat & Scarred", "Cyanide" and "My Apocalypse" from Death Magnetic in addition to the game's existing tracks. The 1998 medley of covers of the band Mercyful Fate's songs "Mercyful Fate" is the longest track included in the game, running at around 11 minutes.
Metallica selected songs from their catalog that "pretty evenly represent all the different phases" of the band. Lars Ulrich noted that the band stood up for the inclusion of the band Slayer
against Microsoft
's concerns on the explicit lyrical content of the group's songs. Alan Flores, lead designer for the game, noted that they had originally cleared Slayer's "Angel of Death" but had to pull it at a late date due to pressure on the song's background, instead, at the urging of Ulrich, successfully cleared "War Ensemble" and rushed to include it in the game. Ulrich also sought Mercyful Fate
's "Evil" and "Curse of the Pharaohs" directly from King Diamond, but the latter was unable to find the masters; instead, King Diamond was able to bring the band together, though with Bjarne T. Holm replacing Kim Ruzz on drums, to record new masters for both songs. "Evil" was ultimately used over "Curse of the Pharaohs" due to gameplay-friendliness. Lars stated in Game Informer magazine that he also really wanted Iron Maiden in the game, but the request was denied, which disappointed him. Kirk Hammett stated that the band wanted to have songs from UFO
and The Misfits, but could not get these groups due to legal reasons, and instead settled on songs from Michael Schenker Group
and Samhain
, bands that were started by former members of those respective bands.
Thirty-nine songs from the on-disc soundtrack of Guitar Hero: Metallica will be importable as playable tracks for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
.
noted that with numerous other Guitar Hero titles, Guitar Hero: Metallica could have been "just another way to cash-in on the hype cheaply", but the overall quality of the game shows that "the design team adores Metallica". Simon Parkin of EuroGamer
stated that Guitar Hero: Metallica "sets the benchmark" for future band-specific games from either Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
Reviews have primarily praised the game for a "stellar" set list that "[reads] like the quintessential 'Best Of' track list for the band", and consider "the best hit to miss ratio of any music game to date". The difficulty of the songs was also warmly received, with reviews noting that Metallica's songs can "[translate] really well to a plastic guitar", and that "the songs here are a treat on any skill level". However, the game still provides a difficult challenge for experienced players, and the introduction of the Expert+ difficulty for drums and the Drum Over mode were seen as good additions. Reviews commented favorable on the new career progression, noting that one can complete the career mode without having to play "Metallica’s earliest, shreddiest, most brutal stuff", and allows the player to "skip right past the early stuff and quickly get to the big tracks".
The overall presentation of the game was highly praised, noting that "a lot of care was put into making sure this was a die-hard fan's game" and praising the devotion to the motion capture work done by the band. The added features such as Metallifacts and additional behind-the-scenes videos were attributed to "ensuring that this isn't just a slapped-together take on World Tour with Metallica songs".
The game was criticized for the lack of downloadable content beyond the existing Death Magnetic
album, and its price was also called into question, costing the same as World Tour but with fewer songs. The career mode's "cartoon storyline" describing the player's Metallica's-wannabe band was seen as being out of place in the game and was considered as the game's "biggest weakness". Chris Roper of IGN
noted that the PlayStation 2 version of the game suffers from several graphical problems, including poor video compression, the inability to read or zoom in on handwritten tour and lyric sheets, and some stuttering on the display on the note highway, and considers it the weakest release across all the game's platforms. Roper also cites video compression and problems with viewing the extras in the Wii version.
As of March 2010, the game has sold 1.5 million copies worldwide, with approximately 1 million copies from North American sales.
Pushead
has designed the faceplate that comes with the solo guitar edition of the game.
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
developed by Neversoft
Neversoft
Neversoft Entertainment is an American video game developer, founded in 1994 by Joel Jewett, Mick West and Chris Ward. Neversoft is best recognized for their line of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk skateboarding games, known as the Tony Hawk's series...
and distributed by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
. The game was released in North America on the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
on March 29, 2009 and on PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
on April 14, 2009, with a European release in May 2009. Guitar Hero: Metallica is the second game of the Guitar Hero series
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
to focus on the career and songs of one band following Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a music video game developed by Neversoft and distributed by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, with a Wii version developed by Vicarious Visions, a PlayStation 2 version by Budcat Creations and with a PC and Mac version by Aspyr Media...
.
The game is based on Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...
, with support for lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game has many of the same features from World Tour, including single-player and band Career modes, online competitive modes, and the ability to create and share songs through "GHTunes". In addition to the normal difficulty levels presented in Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero: Metallica provides an "Expert+" difficulty for drums that allows the use of a second bass drum pedal to match the drumming style of Metallica's Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
. The game features 28 master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
s spanning Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
's career and an additional 21 songs selected by members of Metallica. The band performed extensive motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
for the game for their in-game avatars and performances. The game includes several extras including behind-the-scenes videos of the motion capture sessions, tour and concert videos of the band, and Pop-Up Video
Pop-up Video
Pop Up Video is a VH1 television show that "pops up" bubbles — officially called "info nuggets" — containing trivia, witticisms and borderline sexual innuendos throughout music videos. The show was created by Woody Thompson and Tad Low and premiered October 27, 1996. For a time, it was the...
-like facts for many of the songs on the game disc.
Guitar Hero: Metallica received positive reviews, with critics stating it to be a strong tribute to the band and Neversoft's best work on the Guitar Hero series to date. The difficulty throughout the game was praised, found to be more enjoyable to players of all skill levels than the more-difficult Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game, the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall...
. Reviewers noted the lack of additional downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
, save for the pre-existing Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on September 12, 2008 through Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album to feature bassist Robert Trujillo and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin, making this Metallica's first album...
songs, the cartoonish storyline for the Career mode, and the overall value of the game as some of the negatives to the experience.
Gameplay
Guitar Hero: Metallica, like other games in the Guitar Hero series, allows players to simulate the playing of rock musicRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
using special instrument controllers. The game is based on the band approach presented in Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...
, and features parts of lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. To successfully complete songs and score, players must use the instruments to play notes that scroll on-screen in time with the music. For lead and bass guitar players, this is done by holding down colored fret buttons on the guitar neck while striking a strum bar; for the drum players, this requires the player to strike the appropriate drum pad or kick with the bass drum pedal; for vocals, the player must attempt to match the pitch of the notes through a microphone. Players earn scoring multipliers for playing several consecutive notes or phrases correctly, and by correctly completing marked phrases, players can earn Star Power which can be released for a higher scoring multiplier. If players miss too many notes, they will eventually fail the song and will have to retry it.
Lead developer Alan Flores has stated that the difficulty of the game is much harder than previous games and is designed to challenge the hard-core player. To meet the "ferocity" of Metallica's songs, the game features, in addition to the same five difficulty levels in World Tour, an "Expert+" mode for drummers that allows them to add a second bass drum pedal, though results of this mode is not tracked through online modes. Additional drum pedals and a splitter, to allow two pedals to be used, were made available upon the game's release and as part of pre-ordering bonuses. While the game allows two guitar players to play lead and bass guitar, it does not give the players the option to play lead and rhythm guitar, which does not allow for notable "Hetfield/Hammett riff-trading" on certain songs. Lead designer Alan Flores explained that the decision not to track the lead and rhythm (in addition to the single player guitar, bass, drums, and vocals) "was simply a workload issue."
Similar to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a music video game developed by Neversoft and distributed by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, with a Wii version developed by Vicarious Visions, a PlayStation 2 version by Budcat Creations and with a PC and Mac version by Aspyr Media...
, Metallica presents songs from Metallica's history roughly in chronological order, but it focuses more on the group today than the band's history. The songs in the game are presented in a linear series of sets as with older Guitar Hero games such as Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, instead of the gig progression used in World Tour. However, instead of being required to finish a certain number of songs in each set, the player has to earn a total number of stars (earned from their performance on the individual songs) in a given set to progress to next one. The game's story is based on a band that wants to follow in Metallica's footsteps, and the group accepting them as leading acts for them on a tour; as such, they are better able to order the songs in difficulty comparable to other Guitar Hero games, as Metallica's earlier works frustrate the player enough to "throw the controller against the wall and stop playing". Flores described the difficulty for most of the game to be comparable to Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and World Tour after the complaints of the difficulty level in Guitar Hero III, but further noted that the most difficult songs in the games will be very challenging. Real-life venues are used for the game, including The Stone nightclub in San Francisco, the Hammersmith Odeon
Hammersmith Apollo
Hammersmith Apollo is a major entertainment venue located in Hammersmith, London. Designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, being re-named the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962...
in London, Tushino Airfield in Moscow, and The Forum in Los Angeles
The Forum (Inglewood, California)
The Forum is an indoor arena, in Inglewood, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. From 2000 to 2010, it was owned by the Faithful Central Bible Church, which occasionally used it for church services, while also leasing the building for sporting events, concerts and other events.Along with Madison...
, and one final venue representing the pinnacle of Metallica's success. The game was completed before Metallica's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, and thus does not include reference to this event. The game's interface remain similar to World Tour with some Metallica-based artwork added to it. Two changes have been made from World Tour; individual performance and Star Power meters are now located next to each track on screen instead of grouped together to make it easier to keep track of one's own performance, and when the band's performance is failing, the edges of the screen glow red to indicate this.
The music creation mode from World Tour is available, giving the player the option of using tones from Hetfields' ESP Truckster guitar and Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
s Tom Araya
Tom Araya
Tom Araya is a Chilean musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer...
s ESP Bass in addition to Metallica drum sounds. The "GHTunes" services, which allows players to share songs created in the music creation mode, is cross-compatible with both World Tour and Metallica. In the new "Drum Over" mode for this game, players can select any song, and play drums without any fixed drum track or without any failure, allowing them to create their own drum line using the song's existing drum kit sounds.
The Battle mode of the game, based on that from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game, the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall...
, has been slightly altered to add Metallica influences; for example, a power-up named "Fade to Black" completely blackens the note tracks for the opposing player, "Trapped Under Ice", which freezes the whammy bar, and an electrical attack called "Ride the Lightning" (based on the "Amp Overload" attack from Guitar Hero III) is added.
Development
Guitar Hero: Metallica was revealed to be in production when an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities discovered mention of the game in Activision's 2008 SEC filings, slated to be released in "fiscal 2009". The band was approached in April 2008, who quickly agreed to the game as a "no brainer". Development for the game began in the second quarter of 2008, according to lead designer Alan Flores. Two posts made to Metallica's website in June 2008 also referred to the "not so top secret GH thing", and that Guitar Hero players could expect "a pile of 'Tallica songs." Lars UlrichLars Ulrich
Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...
, when asked about the game during an interview with MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, stated that "the people at ‘Guitar Hero’ and Activision are rapidly becoming our best new friends in the world. You can put the rest of it together yourself." Ulrich stated that the idea for the Metallica-themed Guitar Hero game came from the influence the original Guitar Hero games had on Ulrich and James Hetfield
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
's children, learning about music and older bands such as Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
.
The game was officially announced at the 2008 E3 conference during Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
s presentation, along with the announcement that Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on September 12, 2008 through Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album to feature bassist Robert Trujillo and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin, making this Metallica's first album...
, would be made as content for download for both Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is a music video game, the third main installment in the Guitar Hero series, and the fourth title overall...
and Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...
. A trailer for the game is included as an extra feature in Guitar Hero World Tour with "Master of Puppets
Master of Puppets (song)
"Master of Puppets" is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the title track and was released as the first single from their album of the same name....
" playing in the background and "Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 27, 1984 through the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on November 5, 1987 and was most recently certified 5x platinum on June 9, 2003...
" as the tagline.
Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield
James Hetfield
James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...
and Robert Trujillo
Robert Trujillo
Robert Trujillo is an American bassist who currently plays bass in Metallica. He has also played in Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Black Label Society, and with Jerry Cantrell and Ozzy Osbourne.-Career:...
performed six songs and band and audience chatter for motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
for their in-game avatars; the detailed motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
included the band's lip syncing to the lyrics and the motion of Trujillo's hair braids. Ulrich and Hetfield performed additional motion capturing sessions to help the developers. Metallica members appear as their modern day incarnations, but unlockable skins are available to reflect the band's history. Former band members Jason Newsted
Jason Newsted
Jason Curtis Newsted is an American bassist known for his work with Metallica, Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. Joining Metallica in 1986 after Cliff Burton's death, Newsted remained a member until 2001, making him the band's longest-serving bassist...
and the late Cliff Burton
Cliff Burton
Clifford Lee "Cliff" Burton was an American musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the American heavy metal band Metallica....
are not represented in the game as the band felt their inclusion would slight Trujillo. However, the game still includes trivia about both former members. The game includes DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
-style content such as photos, videos, and behind-the-scenes footage, as well as "Metallifacts", Pop-up Video
Pop-up Video
Pop Up Video is a VH1 television show that "pops up" bubbles — officially called "info nuggets" — containing trivia, witticisms and borderline sexual innuendos throughout music videos. The show was created by Woody Thompson and Tad Low and premiered October 27, 1996. For a time, it was the...
-style trivia displayed on screen during the various Metallica tracks. Some Metallica songs in the game have an accompanying video of the band performing the song, with the quality ranging from fan-made videos at small clubs to large-scale video productions. Both Motörhead vocalist/bassist Lemmy and Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
singer King Diamond
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen , better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Grammy Award nominated Danish heavy metal musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his extensive vocal range, in particular his usage of falsetto. He is the lead vocalist for both Mercyful Fate and the eponymous King Diamond...
have contributed to the game in both providing motion capture for unlockable player characters and providing re-recorded tracks of their songs "Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades (song)
"Ace of Spades" is a song by the English band Motörhead, released in 1980 as a single and the title track to the album Ace of Spades. The song spent 12 weeks in the United Kingdom Singles Chart, peaking at #15.-Overview:...
" and "Evil", respectively due to the original master tapes
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
not being located for use in the game's production. King Diamond's notable face makeup and jewellery was altered with direct input from King Diamond to avoid offending the religion of any of the business partners involved with the game.
During the game's development, the team encountered problems trying to create the drum tracks. Flores noted they normally try to map a note for every drum beat but could not easily replicate it for the double bass often used in Metallica's songs. As a result, they decided to create a splitter for the bass drum pedal and offer a second pedal with the game to allow the double bass kicks to be retained. The game's career mode, in which the players are part of an opening band for Metallica, is based on a real-life group that followed Metallica during a European tour, eventually becoming enamored by the band and performing in an opening act with them.
No plans have been announced for special bundled versions of Guitar Hero: Metallica with the instrument controllers within North America, though Activision does plan to release Metallica-branded faceplates for existing instrument controllers as well as a double-bass pedal attachment for the drum controller. Guitar Hero: Metallica will also support the wireless microphones from Lips
Lips (video game)
Lips is a video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. The game was released on November 18, 2008 in North...
through a future title patch. A European-exclusive bundle includes the game, wireless guitar controller, and Metallica faceplate.
Promotion
Initial box art for the game released in February 2009 had misspelled "Lynyrd SkynyrdLynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band prominent in spreading Southern Rock during the 1970s.Originally formed as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1964, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tune, Freebird...
" as "Lynyrd Skynrd", but the artwork was corrected prior to release. Players that pre-ordered Guitar Hero: Metallica through GameStop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
stores received a second kickpedal with pre-orders. Other stores offered Guitar Hero: Metallica-branded drumsticks with pre-orders.
A demo version of the game was released on Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
on March 20, 2009, with four playable songs: Metallica's "Sad but True
Sad But True
"Sad but True" is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the fifth and final single from their eponymous fifth album, Metallica....
" and "Seek & Destroy", Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1987 by guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell and original lead vocalist Layne Staley. The initial lineup was rounded out by drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr...
' "No Excuses
No Excuses
"No Excuses" is the lead single off American grunge band Alice in Chains's third EP, Jar of Flies . The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box , Music Bank , Greatest Hits , and The Essential Alice in Chains .-Composition:The song's sound is a departure from some...
" and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
's "Stone Cold Crazy
Stone Cold Crazy
"Stone Cold Crazy" is a song by English rock band Queen from their successful 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack. The song is the eighth track on the album. Although the song was never released as a single, it was played live at almost every Queen concert between 1974-1978...
". All four instruments are playable. There is no Expert+ for the drums in the demo. Metallica made an appearance at the 2009 SXSW Music Festival held a week before the game's release for a "not-so-secret" performance, with demonstration stations set up to allow attendees to play the game. The game was the primary sponsor for Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola
Aric A. Almirola is a Cuban-American stock car driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. He currently drives the #88 Unilever/Grand Touring Vodka Chevrolet Impala for JR Motorsports. Almirola attended the University of Central Florida working on a degree in mechanical engineering before leaving to...
's Number 8 car in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Goody's Fast Relief 500 run during the weekend of the game's release. Two television commercials, in the same style as those for Guitar Hero World Tour that parody the scene from Risky Business
Risky Business
Risky Business is a 1983 American teen comedy-drama film written by Paul Brickman in his directorial debut. It stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay. The hit film launched Cruise to stardom.-Plot:...
where Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
dances in his underwear during Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
's song "Old Time Rock and Roll
Old Time Rock and Roll
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is the title of a song by Bob Seger featured on his 1978 album Stranger in Town and released as a single in 1979. It is a nostalgic look at the music of a previous generation. The song was featured in the Tom Cruise film Risky Business and gained widespread fame because of...
", were prepared for the game and were directed by Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner is an American film director, film producer and music video director. He is best known for directing the Rush Hour film series, The Family Man, Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist. He was also a producer on the Fox drama series, Prison Break.- Early life :Ratner was...
. The ads, which first aired during the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament
2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
The first and second round games were played at the following sites:First and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 19 and 21, 2009-Qualifying teams:-Brackets:Results to date * – Denotes overtime periodAll times in U.S. EDT....
, features NCAA coaches Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams
Roy Williams (coach)
Roy Williams is head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of North Carolina. After averaging nearly an 80% win percentage in 15 seasons at the University of Kansas, he became the eighteenth head coach at North Carolina when he replaced Matt Doherty in 2003...
, and Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino is an American basketball coach. Since 2001, he has been the head coach at the University of Louisville. He has also served as head coach at Boston University, Providence College and the University of Kentucky, leading that program to the NCAA championship in 1996...
along with the current members of Metallica.
Soundtrack
Guitar Hero: Metallica features 49 songs based on master recordingMaster recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
s, 28 from Metallica, and the other 21 songs from bands that are "their personal favorites and influences from over the years", including those that appeared on their Garage Inc.
Garage Inc.
-Disc two:These tracks are a collection of B-sides from artists Metallica were inspired by, throughout the early years of the band.-Personnel:* James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar on "Whiskey In the Jar"...
album. All of the Metallica songs in the game are from original masters, though locating some masters proved troublesome. Though Metallica were prepared to re-record songs as Aerosmith had done for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a music video game developed by Neversoft and distributed by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, with a Wii version developed by Vicarious Visions, a PlayStation 2 version by Budcat Creations and with a PC and Mac version by Aspyr Media...
, they were able to find the masters for their debut album Kill 'Em All
Kill 'Em All
Kill 'Em All is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 25, 1983. Since its release, it has been certified 3x platinum by the RIAA, having sold over 3 million copies in the United States alone.-Music:...
in the basement of their former manager Johny Zazula
Johny Zazula
Jon Zazula, also known as Jonny Z or Jon "the well is dry" Zazula is the owner of New Jersey's legendary Rock'n Roll Heaven record store and founder of record label Megaforce Records...
. While other downloadable content from Guitar Hero III or Guitar Hero World Tour is not usable in Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game will detect and incorporate the songs from the Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on September 12, 2008 through Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album to feature bassist Robert Trujillo and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin, making this Metallica's first album...
downloadable content into the game's setlist (however, the song "All Nightmare Long
All Nightmare Long
"All Nightmare Long" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, the song is released as their fifth single from their ninth album Death Magnetic, and their forty-fourth single overall. The single was released on December 15, 2008...
" is available in the game as part of its main setlist). The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of the game do not support downloadable content, but include "Broken, Beat & Scarred", "Cyanide" and "My Apocalypse" from Death Magnetic in addition to the game's existing tracks. The 1998 medley of covers of the band Mercyful Fate's songs "Mercyful Fate" is the longest track included in the game, running at around 11 minutes.
Metallica selected songs from their catalog that "pretty evenly represent all the different phases" of the band. Lars Ulrich noted that the band stood up for the inclusion of the band Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
against Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's concerns on the explicit lyrical content of the group's songs. Alan Flores, lead designer for the game, noted that they had originally cleared Slayer's "Angel of Death" but had to pull it at a late date due to pressure on the song's background, instead, at the urging of Ulrich, successfully cleared "War Ensemble" and rushed to include it in the game. Ulrich also sought Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
's "Evil" and "Curse of the Pharaohs" directly from King Diamond, but the latter was unable to find the masters; instead, King Diamond was able to bring the band together, though with Bjarne T. Holm replacing Kim Ruzz on drums, to record new masters for both songs. "Evil" was ultimately used over "Curse of the Pharaohs" due to gameplay-friendliness. Lars stated in Game Informer magazine that he also really wanted Iron Maiden in the game, but the request was denied, which disappointed him. Kirk Hammett stated that the band wanted to have songs from UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
and The Misfits, but could not get these groups due to legal reasons, and instead settled on songs from Michael Schenker Group
Michael Schenker Group
The Michael Schenker Group is a guitar-oriented hard rock band formed in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist, Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1992. After that, the Michael Schenker Group was reformed.The...
and Samhain
Samhain (band)
Samhain was an American rock band formed by singer Glenn Danzig in 1983, immediately following his departure from the Misfits. Samhain played in more of a deathrock and heavy metal-infused style of horror punk than Danzig's previous band. By 1987 Samhain's membership evolved into a new band,...
, bands that were started by former members of those respective bands.
Thirty-nine songs from the on-disc soundtrack of Guitar Hero: Metallica will be importable as playable tracks for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is a music video game and the sixth main entry in the Guitar Hero series for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles. The game was released September 24, 2010 in Europe, September 28, 2010 in North America and September 29, 2010 in Australia...
.
Reception
Guitar Hero: Metallica has received favorable reviews from game critics, and has been described as the best Guitar Hero game in the series since Neversoft took over development of the franchise. Ben Kuchera of Ars TechnicaArs Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
noted that with numerous other Guitar Hero titles, Guitar Hero: Metallica could have been "just another way to cash-in on the hype cheaply", but the overall quality of the game shows that "the design team adores Metallica". Simon Parkin of EuroGamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
stated that Guitar Hero: Metallica "sets the benchmark" for future band-specific games from either Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
Reviews have primarily praised the game for a "stellar" set list that "
The overall presentation of the game was highly praised, noting that "a lot of care was put into making sure this was a die-hard fan's game" and praising the devotion to the motion capture work done by the band. The added features such as Metallifacts and additional behind-the-scenes videos were attributed to "ensuring that this isn't just a slapped-together take on World Tour with Metallica songs".
The game was criticized for the lack of downloadable content beyond the existing Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on September 12, 2008 through Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album to feature bassist Robert Trujillo and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin, making this Metallica's first album...
album, and its price was also called into question, costing the same as World Tour but with fewer songs. The career mode's "cartoon storyline" describing the player's Metallica's-wannabe band was seen as being out of place in the game and was considered as the game's "biggest weakness". Chris Roper of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
noted that the PlayStation 2 version of the game suffers from several graphical problems, including poor video compression, the inability to read or zoom in on handwritten tour and lyric sheets, and some stuttering on the display on the note highway, and considers it the weakest release across all the game's platforms. Roper also cites video compression and problems with viewing the extras in the Wii version.
As of March 2010, the game has sold 1.5 million copies worldwide, with approximately 1 million copies from North American sales.
Pushead
Pushead
Pushead is an artist, record label owner, and writer within the hardcore punk and heavy metal field. He has created artwork for many bands, artists, and athletes including Metallica, the The Misfits, Dr. Dre, Travis Barker, and Craig Johnson. He has designed many record covers, T-shirts,...
has designed the faceplate that comes with the solo guitar edition of the game.