Neversoft’s Must-Do List for ‘Guitar Hero: Metallica’ Players

Lead designer Alan Flores told us about all the extra things headbangers should try in order to put the (double bass) pedal to the metal.

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Neversoft’s Must-Do List for ‘Guitar Hero: Metallica’ Players
(Xbox 360/PS3/Wii, March 2009)

As written by lead designer, metalhead and musician Alan Flores:

Try to play Slayer’s “War Ensemble” on Expert+ drums.
I say try because most people (like 99% of you) will only be able to get through a little bit of the song. Even so, this really has to be attempted to fully understand what a challenge it is. The song starts off easy enough with a couple of accent hits, but once that double bass drum beat kicks in… good luck!

Experience Cliff Burton’s bass lines in “Orion.”
Its funny, “Orion” is the only song that I know of in “Guitar Hero: Metallica” where people actually fight to play the bass. Cliff’s bass lines completely drive the song and there are even a couple of bass solos that he does along the way. Bass playing has never been this fun in a “Guitar Hero” game.

Sing Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy.”
People don’t really think of singing as a challenge in “Guitar Hero,” but trying to mimic Freddie Mercury’s machine gun delivery and wide vocal range in “Stone Cold Crazy” gives you renewed appreciation of the man’s talent.

Drum over a song from The Black Album.
Guitar Hero Metallica has a cheat code that allows you to play an entire song like it’s a drum fill, mapping the drum sounds from the song to your drum kit controller. It’s a really fun mode, but especially fun when playing something like “Sad But True” from The Black Album. Lars’ drums just had this monster-huge sound on that album so it’s really satisfying to plug in a second kick pedal and lay down your own beats when they sound this good.

Check out old Metallica set lists in the photo gallery.
There are a couple of images of old Metallica set lists in the Extras for the game. If you’re in a band, seeing that Metallica didn’t always get paid is encouraging.

Put an alternate outfit on the band and re-watch the “Ecstasy of Gold” intro.
In case you haven’t seen it, the Career mode of the game starts off with the band walking to the stage in slow motion to Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold,” just like they do at their live shows. We have some alternate outfits in the game. I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what they are, but if you put on one of the alternate outfits and re-watch the intro, the band will appear in the new outfits. It’s pretty funny!

Watch the motion capture video of Lars trying to play “The Shortest Straw.”
He had a little bit of uh…trouble.

Write a metal song in the studio
We sampled an ESP Truckster guitar model that James Hetfield plays and an ESP bass model used by Tom Araya from Slayer so your epic metal masterpiece should sound better (i.e. more metal) in the Music Studio.

Check out Metallifacts, learn something new and appreciate the band’s performances.
The Metallifacts mode is a great way to learn about each song in “Guitar Hero: Metallica.” I learned quite a bit once Lars and James added their own personal information to each song. The Metallifacts mode is also a great way to appreciate the band’s performance, the light show, the pyrotechnics and all of the hard work that went into making the game look great. In the Metallifacts mode you can just sit back and watch the band perform; it really is the next best thing to being there live.

Create a set list that reflects your mood.
In Quickplay, you can create a set list of up to six songs and it’s fun to try and theme them. Want to sing songs about the hardships of the road Then make a set list with Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam,” Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page” and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Tuesday’s Gone.” Feeling a bit crazed? Put Suicidal Tendencies’ “War Inside My Head,” Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy” and Metallica’s “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” in a set. You can even try making a set list of the fastest, most insane stuff with Slayer’s “War Ensemble,” Metallica’s “Fight Fire With Fire,” “Disposable Heroes” and “Dyer’s Eve.”

Play “Creeping Death” as a full band.
The song is such classic. When you get to the break, all four members of your band get to shout “die” at the top of their lungs. Truly epic!

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