Recently we had the chance to sit down with one of the rocking developers behind Activision's upcoming Guitar Hero: Metallica, easily one of the most anticipated music video games ever to hit the market. Everyone in the office has been huge fans of Metallica's music since we were kids so it's very exciting to have an entire game based off of their life's work. The producer we chatted with gave some deep insight into what it took to develop such a game and how it was working with one of the most infamous rock bands in the world. Check out the full interview below and stay tuned right here to PlanetXbox360.com for more coverage on the title as it nears it's late March release date.
PX360:Take a moment to introduce yourself and explain your position on the Guitar Hero: Metallica development team?
Jody: I’m Jody Coglianese, a Senior Producer here at Neversoft and Project Lead of Guitar Hero Metallica.
PX360: How has it been working with one specific band on this game, instead of what you are used to in the past with the 20+ different artists/music?
Jody: Working directly with one band on Guitar Hero Metallica is a completely different experience than Guitar Hero World Tour or Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which had 70+ different bands. Due to the wide number of bands, each individual band is not able to have the same opportunity to contribute to the game as a whole. If we had a celebrity character in the game, his or her feedback would typically be limited to the character's appearance or presence. With Metallica, they have been really involved with every aspect of the game such as working with us on picking the setlist, which includes both Metallica and non-Metallica songs. I think the band actually struggled more with narrowing down the guest artists’ songs and in-game celebrities than they did with picking their own songs. The guys wanted to include so many artists, such as Slayer, Lemmy and Queen, who they respected and who had influenced them in some way.
Metallica has also been involved with deciding which venues are in the game, how their characters look and their animations, the story and what to include in the extras. In fact, one time Lars was giving suggestions on the HUD improvements! It has been nice to see that Metallica really cares about this game as much as we do. Their full participation has ultimately helped make the most rockin’ Guitar Hero game ever, in my opinion.
PX360: Can you tell our readers any good stories about working with Metallica, anything out of the ordinary?
Jody: One of the times we met with Metallica to show them the latest changes in the game, Lars was telling us that he had been playing World Tour with his kids in band mode and, when they would fail, his kids would blame him. He asked what it meant when his highway would turn red and we had to give him the bad news. He was upset about it, but then asked if we could make that clearer in Guitar Hero Metallica and he even had some ideas on how to do that. Since this was a common complaint with World Tour, we already had a revised HUD for him to look at that day. The fact that Lars was taking the time to get to know the Guitar Hero series and even had ideas on improvement really impressed me.
PX360: What can gamers expect from this Guitar Hero game, is it a "band" game or will it focus on the guitar?
Jody: Guitar Hero Metallica is definitely a band game but it also has a strong guitar focus, which is why we wanted Metallica – their metal style fits the Guitar Hero franchise perfectly.
PX360: Are there any new features you can tell us about that will be included in Guitar Hero Metallica?
Jody: Of course there are new features in Guitar Hero Metallica! I think one of the most important additions is the Expert+ difficulty for the drums. When people started to hear that were doing a Metallica game, the next question was always, “Will there be double bass?” We knew that in order for us to do this thing right, we had to add it. It is definitely something that we will carry forward for all double bass songs in future Guitar Hero titles. Another new feature is the Metallifacts mode where, after nailing a song in career mode, you can replay the song with no highway so you can enjoy the band’s performance while trivia and facts pop-up about the song. It gives extra information about all the songs, such as how guest artists are tied to Metallica, the history behind each song and Metallica, the band.
PX360: If you could only choose one Metallica song to listen to for the rest of your life which would it be and why?
Jody: That's a hard one. I have a few favorite Metallica songs and all for different reasons. For instance, “Fuel” starts off with so much energy that never stops! Another favorite is “King Nothing” because of the bass riff that starts off the song and then becomes the main riff and I also like the message of the song.
PX360: What kind of career mode / storyline is included in Guitar Hero Metallica? What other modes of gameplay are there?
Jody: Metallica did not want the game to follow a chronological history of the band, as we did with Guitar Hero Aerosmith. Thank goodness though - could you imagine starting out playing “Whiplash” or “Seek and Destroy?!” Instead, we structured the Guitar Hero Metallica career mode story around something James told us about. Years ago, when the band was touring in Europe, a start-up band followed them around hoping to open for them one day.
We also listened to fans of the game and changed the career progression model so it has a more open progression. Now players unlock the next tier of songs by achieving a specific number of stars. This allows the more advanced players to progress quicker by five-starring songs and three-star players can still progress, but at a slower rate. Quickplay is, of course, still in the game. However, now every song is unlocked right from the start so if you want to just jump in and rock to a specific song, you can! Other modes that have been in past Guitar Hero games are also included, such as battle mode, face-off, pro-face off, band vs. band, etc.
PX360: Some of Metallica's songs are known to be ultra-difficult (and some have double bass), how will the game compensate for that and allow non-experts to have fun with the game?
Jody: We do have the all new Expert+ difficulty for the drum career. But, to keep the game approachable, playable and fun for everyone we still have a beginner difficulty mode, which allows even my four year old nephew to play along by strumming in rhythm. All the songs are very accessible for players of all expertise.
PX360: What's next for the Guitar Hero team? Are there any other bands that you guys are looking at to approach with their very own Guitar Hero game?
Jody: What’s next?! I can’t think about that yet as we are just focusing on what we need to do to finish Guitar Hero Metallica and getting it out to the fans!
PX360: Will Guitar Hero Metallica include boss battles, if so which ones and who (characters) will you be playing against?
Jody: There are no boss battles in Guitar Hero Metallica. Metallica wanted this game to be more for the fans and less about one of them.
PX360: Thanks for your time, if you could leave us with some parting words about Guitar Hero Metallica (a short pitch to our readers)?
Jody: Guitar Hero Metallica is easily my favorite Guitar Hero game to date! It has a difficulty mode for everyone, including a new Expert+ drum difficulty for those insane enough to want to rock out like Lars, a Metallifacts mode that lets you test your Metallica knowledge, a new drum-over mode, upgraded guitar and bass samples in the music studio, a new, more open progression model and, let's not forget, the mind-blowing setlist, which includes over 25 Metallica songs and over 20 other artists such as Queen, Social Distortion, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Slayer!! C'mon! This game is the best way to get to know and become a fan of an amazing band. And, if you are already a fan of Metallica, then this is the next best thing to being able to perform onstage with them!
