You've probably heard of Guitar Hero, even if you've never played it. In a nutshell: it's essentially a glorified puzzle game, where you must keep time with a popular rock song in order to win. The game's aim is not to turn you into a musician, but to make you feel like a real musician. There's something winning about the combination of classic rock songs that everybody knows with nonstop "musical action" to make you feel like you're making the music happen yourself... that just works.

Guitar Hero's stroke of genius is its signature guitar controller, which makes the whole thing come together. Oh, you can play it with the standard video game controller, but using a controller shaped like a real guitar while hitting buttons or making motions that look like you're playing a real guitar -- it helps you feel the music like you're really rocking out. Activision even included a set of realistic stickers that you can apply to your "Gibson Les Paul" guitar. A new touch for the third entry in the series is that the guitar is now wireless, letting you shred all over your house, if you like. The model I used for this review demonstrated an impressive range.

When you first start up Guitar Hero III, you'll be treated to the first in a series of anime-style cartoons that breathe a teensy bit of story into the game's Campaign Mode. Choose from eight avatars to play as, though this number grows as the game progresses, and customize their look and on-screen guitar. An in-game Store provides the ability to purchase upgrades and additional guitars, outfits, characters, songs, and more. Perhaps best of all is the inclusion of a long-awaited Co-op Mode, so you can play through the campaign with a friend.

Your accuracy is also reflected in an on-screen "Rock Meter," which you must keep filled or the audience watching you and your band will boo you from the stage. A computer animated rock band plays the music on the screen as the notes cascade towards you, showing you which ones to hit, in which order, and when to hit them. A whammy bar on the guitar controller lets you add some personal flavor to the longer notes.

Power-ups and bonuses come for consistent accuracy in the form of "Star Power." Star Power is a boost that doubles your points, but it's on a timer so it doesn't last forever. You activate it by flipping the guitar into the air so that the neck is up -- a truly clever twist. You'll quickly learn that your best bet is to let fly with Star Power when you have a guitar-heavy part or solo.

Score enough points and you'll get challenged to a guitar duel, where you fight off against an AI "rock legend" who you'll "fight" against in a rock 'n' roll answer to "Dueling Banjos." You have to see this to truly understand it, but the simple explanation is that you're powering up to shoot lightning bolts at your enemy by hitting the notes just right, including some truly complicated combos. You can also do this with a friend, going head-to-head in a rock-off.

While the game is wildly successful at making you feel like a real guitar player (especially if you're not one), you do have to have some level of musical ability to keep time with the songs anyway, so some musical sensitivity, at least, is vital to playing the game. If you're hopelessly uncoordinated and can't even clap along at a concert, then you've got no chance.

The guitar controller that came with the game I used had some minor issues with the fret buttons on the neck. Several times as I was playing, one button or another wouldn't respond unless I mashed them down really hard. Hopefully this was a hardware glitch that's not universal.

All in all, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock builds on everything that made the first two games work, enhances the action with next-generation graphics, and adds in a bunch of new features that are smart and fun enough to be worthwhile. And it's got enough great rock hits to keep you rocking all night.

A definite winner.

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