It's probably safe to say that very few Guitar Hero 3 owners have played multiplayer without going online. The price of the first party RedOctane guitar lists at almost 80% of the cost of the game and guitar bundle, so buying a second guitar is almost as expensive as buying the game a second time. Nyko looks to take advantage of that high price point by making their fully-compatible Frontman guitar available at roughly half the price. It's a great deal and the guitar functions surprisingly well, given the track record of previous third-party guitars.

Visually, the Frontman guitar takes on the styling of a Fender Telecaster. The only other immediately noticeable difference between it and the first-party guitar is the placement of the plus and minus buttons. In order to keep the Telecaster look in place, they moved these buttons to the opposite side of the whammy bar so that they could take on the appearance of the knobs found on the real guitar.

Just like the first-party guitar, the Frontman takes full advantage of the Wii Remote, mounting it into the body from a compartment in the back and utilizing both the speaker and the accelerometer for error sounds and star power tilts, respectively. Thankfully, both of these features translate perfectly to the game. It's impossible to differentiate between the two different guitars when looking at only those features. The same can be said for strumming; the Frontmanis responsive and has the same crisp click that the first-party guitar (and franchise in general) is known for. This is good and bad, as I was secretly hoping that the problem I refer to as re-strumming would be solved; that is, when you strum particularly hard and release the bar, a second strum is registered on the rebound. Guitar Hero players have already been forced to get used to this phenomenon, so it's not really a negative with the Nyko guitar.

The main flaw in this guitar doesn't become apparent until we leave the body and head up the neck. The size of the buttons is odd. They are so small relative to the neck that it's easier than it should be to completely miss on an attempted push. The neck itself is 1 1/2 inches wide at the green button, which is 7/8 of an inch wide. Compare this to the same measurements on the first party guitar, on which the neck is 1 3/8 inches wide, and the green button is a full inch. The result is a significantly larger space between the edge of the neck and the beginning of the button on the Frontman guitar.

So how does this affect actual gameplay? Many players, especially those with small hands, use just their fingertips wrapped around the neck to press the buttons. When the buttons are further away, fingers have to be wrapped around even farther which can force the adjustment of an entire play style. Also, smaller buttons in general will often result in missed presses. I found myself pushing on blank plastic and missing notes a bit too often.

Even with the button size issue, it was still possible for me to adjust to the guitar and play just as well as I can with the first-party guitar after a dozen songs or so. Combine that with the great budget price point of the hardware and the Nyko Frontman guitar is a good buy. Guitar Hero III players looking for a second guitar should definitely consider it. It would also make a wonderful bass guitar to add to the Guitar Hero World Tour set when it ships next month.