Some early details have emerged on next year’s update to the Guitar Hero: World Tour franchise, Guitar Hero: Metallica. Like GH:WT, this will be a full band game, with vocalist, bassist, guitarist, and drummer positions. It’s due in March 2009.

The first few Metallica songs from the tracklist have been revealed:

• Enter Sandman
• For Whom The Bell Tolls
• Fuel
• Hit The Lights
• King Nothing
• Master of Puppets
• No Leaf Clover
• Nothing Else Matters
• Sad But True
• The Unforgiven
• Where I May Roam

You can refer to the Metallica Wikipedia page for reference as to which Metallica songs were the most popular, at least in mainstream music. Surprisingly, their mega-hit “Enter Sandman” wasn’t their biggest charting song (#16), but rather “Until It Sleeps” (#10). Go figure.

Like Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, this game isn’t all Metallica songs. It will also include bands that “toured with” or “were influenced by” Metallica, as well:

• Alice In Chains: No Excuses
• Bob Seger: Turn The Page
• Judas Priest: Hell Bent For Leather
• Kyuss: Demon Cleaner
• Lynyrd Skynyrd: Tuesdays Gone
• Mastodon: Blood and Thunder
• Michael Schenker Group: Armed and Ready
• Samhain: Mother of Mercy
• The Sword: Black River

Some interesting details from an interview with Metallica:

Flores: I think their interest in the project really fueled it. Both Lars’ and (singer) James (Hetfield’s) kids play Guitar Hero and they were really excited about it. They wanted to do it and, of course, we wanted to do it, so it made sense.

Ulrich: I think my kids decided for me. I was first introduced to Guitar Hero in my house about a year ago by my kids (sons Myles, 10, and Layne, 7; he also has a 1-year-old son, Bryce, with his girlfriend, actress Connie Nielsen). They became big fans of Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and all the bands I grew up on. It seemed like this was the first video game that really brought the family together.

We were all sitting there and we were all sharing it. It wasn’t something that was just about the person playing, it was about everybody. It became a collective thing. This thing on a worldwide basis was obviously turning into a phenomenon. There is a saying in Metallicaland: “This is what we call a no-brainer.”

Hammett: I don’t play video games very much, but I love what Guitar Hero does for young kids, actually kids of all ages.

Here’s a quick summary of what we know so far about Guitar Hero: Metallica.

• Fully standalone, no importing or exporting of songs. Presumed compatible with existing World Tour DLC for the Death Magnetic album if nothing else, but that’s a total guess on my part.
• Expert “plus” mode for drumsets with two bass pedals.
• Game will have a “more realistic” look than GH:WT.
• Due to high difficulty level of early Metallica songs (and for that matter all Metallica songs as far as I can tell) the career won’t be in chronological order.
• Like GH: Aerosmith, you’ll be able to play in favorite Metallica venues, tracking the history of the band with the Metallica in-game avatars. There will be trivia and movie clips with the band.
• Boss battles are back, with themed Metallica attacks :(

All in all, it sounds like a completely standalone game that’s essentially a reskin of Guitar Hero World Tour with a new set of songs, much like Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was to Guitar Hero III. It’s unclear if they’ll address any of the gameplay and design complaints people have with GH:WT.

I have mixed feelings about this game. I’m not a big Metallica fan, although I have enjoyed their songs in previous games, such as “One” in GH3, “Battery” in Rock Band 2, and “Enter Sandman” in Rock Band 1. Of course I’ll buy it either way. To their credit, Metallica does seem to really get the impact these games are having on music:

Hammett: I have a sneaking suspicion that the video game industry and the record industry are going to eventually just merge into one big thing. That’s cool in that it gives you a different sort of dynamic, a virtual aspect of the delivery of music rather than it just being one-dimensional. It’s enabling the artists to present the music in a very new and different and modern way.

Ulrich: It’s unfolding as we are watching. It is definitely the new frontier. We put out Death Magnetic the day it came out on downloadable format for the game, and it’s been through the roof and reception has been incredible.

Certainly, as I have seen with my kids, it is a way to get kids passionate and involved in music. … I just look forward to March when I can show that to my kids. In between arguing with them about homework and vegetables and whatever else, I can say, “Hey, look, maybe you are thinking Dad is a complete dork, but he’s got his own video game.” And at least that’s worth something.

These games are the MTV of this generation. Remember when MTV used to play music?