GH3 First Impressions

The Cons

• Too many startup 'movies.' In the previous versions of GH, you only had to click once to get through all of the little developer movies at the beginning of the game. Now you have to click through each one individually. This feels like a "Microsoft Move" to me.
• The characters are in this strange middle ground where they don't look so cartoony as before, but they also don't look very real. This really isn't that big of a deal except for one thing:
• The singer. I'm convinced that he is the reason for the Teen rating on the game. He looks like he eats babies.
• The songs seem more rhythmic. Yeah, there are too many songs (in my opinion) where you are playing "chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk,..." on your guitar, rather than fun melodic figures. I find these songs less rewarding and more "video game" like.
• This one feels more "video game" like. Some of the rhythmic figures seem really ticky-tack to me, kind of like those stupid one brick platforms in Super Mario Bros. that never failed to screw me over as a kid. I guess I'll get over this one.
• There is a flashing on the "Shanker's Island" stage that can be really distracting until you get used to it.
• After every 50 notes in a streak, a message pops up on the screen congratulating you, which invariably causes me to lose my streak. I like the counter (see below) much better.
  
• The new controller. The good is they made the strum bar softer, but the new "more accurate" fret buttons are way too loud. Plus they are a bit over-sensitive, if you ask me. I miss more notes with that controller than with my other wireless. Perhaps some tweaking will be required... (stay posted for that one).

The Neutral

• The little cartoons in career mode. It's like being in a Gorillaz video. It would've been kind of cool if the in game animations were like this.
• The sound balance seems a bit weird to me. I can probably fix that one in the settings, though, so it gets put here with the neutrals.
• The new menus. I kind of like the old ones better, but I'm glad they didn't just change the colors a la Rocks the 80's.
• Whammy bar calibration. I spent about 5 minutes playing with this, but I couldn't make much sense out of it. Perhaps I'm stupid.
  
• The new star power meter. It's not quite as clear at a quick glance how much star power you have, since you have to interpret the brightness of a bulb along with how many.
  

The Good

• Hammer-ons and pull-offs are easier. Very nice.
• The star power animation is much smoother, meaning my tendency to miss the first note after engaging star power has gone down.
• Clicky, over-sensitive buttons aside, I love the feel of the new controller. And the breakaway neck (and the new on/off switch, for some reason).
  
• The battle mode is pretty fun. Beating Slash (after he had beaten me) was surprisingly satisfying.
• The Master Tracks are really fun to play.
• After about a 30 note streak, a streak counter appears. That can be pretty cool.
• Most importantly, the gameplay is pretty much the same as it always has been. Excellent.