Let's face it, Guitar Hero is a phenomenon that is somewhat getting out of control. It took the world by storm almost four years ago, placing the player in the shoes of a rock God and making them shred their way to stardom on a cheap, plastic peripheral. Since Guitar Hero the first, we've seen two numbered sequels, an 80's compilation, an Aerosmith collection and, of course, Guitar Hero's answer to Rock Band in World Tour. If there's one major positive that comes out of these unique rhythm games, it has to be that music benefits. After the release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the eponymous band saw a forty percent rise in their catalogue sales. However, if there's one band that simply does not need helping moving records it has to be Activision's latest Guitar Hero acquisition. They're one of the best selling metal acts of all-time; I speak, of course, of Metallica.

You hear right, the band responsible for mega-hits like ‘Enter Sandman' and, more recently, ‘All Nightmare Long' have finally had their career recognized, and stylized by the billion-dollar franchise in Guitar Hero. While Aerosmith had the honours of the first game devoted entirely to them, it's now Metallica that is justified in saying their game is simply the best – and possibly one of the best releases in the series since Neversoft took the reins; provided you're a Metallica fan. Do not get me wrong, it goes beyond Metallica when it comes to selling points with the inclusion of ‘Expert +' for capable drummers out there simply unsatisfied with the supposed ‘not hard enough' expert modes from World Tour. This new difficulty, available only to percussionists, allows players for the first time to utilize a double-kick pedal – and I'll go right ahead and say it, you must be a competent drummer to be successful here as having all four limbs flailing simultaneously does take an impressive amount of co-ordination. When it comes to the drums, give me hard mode and we'll call it fair play, but able Lars-wannabes will no doubt tackle the challenge, learn a lot and definitely have a heap of fun.

Unless you've been trapped under ice (yep, terrible I know) for the better half of a decade, you must know how the Guitar Hero series works. You, guitar peripheral in hand, are presented with the challenge of pressing the coloured fret buttons whilst strumming, matching the on-screen prompts as they scroll down the highway. For some it is a breeze, while others can struggle to a humorous degree. On occasion, you can build up your star power meter by successfully playing a chain of notes that have an electric blue aura about them; you can then activate it by tilting your plastic axe vertically in the air (oh yes, you rocking beast you), this acts as a two times multiplier on top of your current multiplier. And of course, since World Tour, you're not only limited to playing guitar. As I mentioned earlier, you're able to tackle the drums (which play in the same fashion as the guitar), and you can test your pipes on the microphone which, I suppose, is quite similar to Sony's Singstar, only on this occasion with a much better catalogue of music.

So as you see, there's a lot of variety in ways you can tackle your Guitar Hero experience. For those who lack any experience with the series, they can use beginner to hone their timing before turning it up a couple notches to a higher difficulty. The game will likely be harder for casual gamers than World Tour was, simply due to the intensity of Metallica's catalogue, which includes their earliest thrash work from Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning up to their nu-metal effort, St Anger, so this makes the learning curve a tad steeper than one would expect. That being said, it's still a great game to pick up and play, for casual gamers who'll feel safe on easier difficulties and of course seasoned veterans, who'll feel like regular Golden Gods as they tear hard and expert a new one.

Guitar Hero: Metallica has also seen a few changes to the formula this time around, when it comes to the career mode. While the game still maintains the odd nonsense cut scenes that so randomly bookend each ‘gig' or story piece, the player's progression relies on the amount of stars you achieve from each song. For example, the more competent you are as a player, the more stars you'll get; the quicker you get stars, the quicker you unlock the next venue to play a larger selection of songs. The aptly criticized gig format of World Tour has been trashed, as Neversoft take an applauded backward step to the much more practical venue themed format, where your locale determines the song choices. Of course, if you're simply too impatient to unlock all of the songs yourself, they're all available from the get-go in Quickplay mode.

If there's one thing that Guitar Hero does well, it does bring people together. It's quite possibly the ultimate party game. Now, I understand not all of us are fortunate enough to have real world friends; and luckily, Guitar Hero: Metallica has a robust online component. It allows you and your friends at home (or online) to take on another band somewhere else in the world through the magic of the internet, band versus band. You can also partake in battle modes and, staples of the series' multiplayer, face-off and pro face-off. It's a real blast to play with mates, and you'll get your share of laughs.

Visually, Guitar Hero: Metallica is slick, and it definitely has all the charm of past games in the series. All of the boys from Metallica look very smooth as their video game selves. It's amazing the amount of work that went into the mo-cap process of this game, don't believe me? Then you can see for yourself, because included in GH: M are a number of unlockable ‘behind the scene' videos that show the process in action. If there's one thing that makes this game all the more special for Metallica fans, it's seeing that the legends themselves were so hands-on and devoted to sculpting the product to such an immaculate level. Completion of some songs also gift you official live bootleg footage of Metallica playing to thousands of faces (all of which I envy), it's a really nice bonus for Metheads.

Metallica isn't the only band on offer here. A score of other bands that have either influenced, or been influenced by, Metallica appear to compliment the eponymous group's selections from their extensive catalogue, spanning the twenty years of their career. Bands such as Slayer, Foo Fighters and even Alice in Chains lend their music to the game; every song a master track. Motorhead and Mercyful Fate even ventured back into the studio to re-record their hit tracks ‘Ace of Spades' and ‘Evil', respectively. While it's always a subjective matter, I'd consider the track listing of Guitar Hero: Metallica to be the best the series has seen. Though with only 49 master tracks, it's considerably shorter than World Tour which features 86; which makes one seriously consider whether that can justify the game's asking price, which isn't really what you'd expect from something which is essentially an ‘expansion'. Though, if you're a Metallica fan, the game could retail for an arm and a leg and you'd still be a willing buyer – though, you'd render yourself fairly rubbish at the game!

Another thing that doesn't aid Guitar Hero: Metallica's undersized set list is the sad omission of downloadable content. The game does detect and incorporate Death Magnetic downloadable content into the game's set list, so that adds a few more tracks into the fray. Though, very disappointingly, no other downloaded content can be used in the game.