Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

I hated Metallica. Loathed them, even. So I find it strange how I can't stop playing this darn game! I bought this apprehensively, costing £39.99. Big gamble.

I got home, called my 12 year old ('Tallica fan) brother through, connected the guitar and the drums, me on drums, and played career mode. After a (relaxingly brief) load, the screen slowly lit up with fireworks.

Rob Trujillo, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammet (Wow, I know their names now!) walking in slow motion to the tune of Ecstasy of Gold. On stage. Bells begin to toll and the awesome bass riff of For Whom The Bell Tolls begins. This was great, followed by the masterpiece that is The Unforgiven.

The graphics look pretty much the same as World Tour, but slightly sharper. The HUD has changed, though. Your individual rock meters are now beside your note track. There is now a system similar to Rock Band that tells you how many stars you have. Then there's the more minor details, such as the slider notes are no longer connected with purple string, instead opting for grey, and the bass pedal for the drums is now a purple bar with white segments.

The motion capture is another strong point, as are the character models. The weakest link in the graphics is the crowd, which is still fairly rubbish and low-res. The instruments are well modelled, but the guitars do not have branding.

The song choice is also excellent, only about 50 tracks but you'll play most of them again and again. There are classics like Tuesday's Gone by Lynyrd Skynyrd and great heavy tracks like Frantic. There are a few mistakes in myt mind though. War Ensemble by Slayer is a total mess and they missed out St. Anger because it has swearing in it. The Death Magnetic compatibility is welcome, but All Nightmare Long is already with the game.

The lag that I found whilst jamming with the drums in World Tour is (thankfully) no more, and there is less emphasis on slider solos. The singing is also more entertaining, thanks to the heavy metal theme.

This game should keep you entertained for ages, until GH5 comes out, probably. There is a wealth of extras, the best being Lars trying to mo-cap The Shortest Straw, and him saying Youtube in a funny way. Less songs than GH:WT but here there's more I'd play again and again. Highly recommended 9.5/10