Alright…to be honest, I’m not really that big of a Metallica fan. However, I decided to buy this just for Guitar Hero completion. Turns out a pretty nice package all in all. We have 49 songs all in all; 28 Metallica, 21 from other bands, not counting the compatible Death Magnetic songs (the Wii and PS2 versions have three songs from that, since the DLC is unavailable). Now you’d expect this to be pretty difficult. This is not the case. It’s actually quite easy compared to other Guitar Hero games, disappointing most fans of both the series and the band.

What Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was to Guitar Hero 3, and 80′s was to Guitar Hero 2, Metallica serves as a World Tour variation. Complete with all four instruments, as well as World Tour guitar functions such as open bass notes and mid-sustain notes, it’s a very solid entry into the series. One of the most notable enhancements made from World Tour is star tracking mid-song. Like in the Rock Band series, it displays next to the score how many stars you have earned, and how far you are from reaching the next star.

The hammer-ons and pull-offs are another notable upgrade. Where in World Tour they just felt awkward and, for lack of better words, lucky in pulling off, in Metallica they seem to be a little more stable and constant, without being arguably too easy like in Guitar Hero 3. Nothing much else to report as far as overall gameplay is concerned…if you want to know more about the core gameplay, check out my World Tour review.

The song list should please most Metallica fans, of new and old. It should be noted that it doesn’t have the popular 3 songs from the Rock Band DLC pack for the band (Blackened, Ride the Lightning, …And Justice For All), but it does have Enter Sandman, a song in Rock Band 1 that wasn’t able to export to Rock Band 2. Also bands ranging many genres, including Thin Lizzy (The Boys are Back in Town), System of a Down (Toxicity), and Slayer (War Ensemble) show as guest bands. Playable characters include the members of Metallica, Lemmy from Motorhead (Ace of Spades being the song), and King Diamond from Mercyful Fate (Evil being the song), in addition to the regular Guitar Hero crew of Axel Steel, Judy Nails and the rest of them, not to mention the characters you create.

Overall, it’s a great edition to the Guitar Hero franchise, with arguably the best gameplay engine of the series yet. I’d recommend it to all Guitar Hero enthusiasts, and, of course, any fan of the band. The only real complaints I have are the expected small song list, and the fact that, given you clear songs with a 5-star ranking first try, you only have to pass 16 songs to technically clear Career. Some people might find that to be a good thing, but when the Career starts out with such a dynamic cinematic, it just seems to “finish” prematurely.