In concept, “”Guitar Hero”” is probably the dorkiest thing ever invented; a plastic toy guitar, color-coded buttons and jammin’ to catchy rock songs in your living room. But unlike Segways, “”Starcraft”” and Linux, “”Guitar Hero”” has vanquished its dorkiness and has become something no one could have predicted: cool.

The third installment of the series, “”Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,”” takes the first two games and pushes the “”Guitar Hero”” concept to its fullest potential. The game features 71 playable songs, three real-life rock star characters, a new battle mode and online play.

The song line up includes a bevy of popular tracks ranging from Weezer’s “”My Name is Jonas”” to “”One”” by Metallica. The set list makes up for gamers put off by the weak soundtrack and high price tag of this Summer’s “”Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the ’80s.”” The only weak-point is the songs are too mainstream, and the deeper tracks in the first two games are almost non-existent, sans “”Holiday in Cambodia”” by the Dead Kennedys.

The biggest renovation to the series is in the new battle mode. Players will first experience this during the career mode when they take on guitar gods Tom Morello and Slash.

The battle mode features new attacks like doubling the notes your opponent has to play, increasing their difficulty, breaking a string on their guitar or overloading their amp. It may not be the most realistic mode but, when you’re standing in front of your TV rockin’ out on toy guitars, realism probably isn’t exactly what you’re looking for.

The career mode, like the past games, follows your band as you rise through the ranks to become rock legends, which somehow ends in Hell playing “”The Devil Went Down to Georgia.””

Although the game pushes the “”Guitar Hero”” series’ potential about as far as it can go, it’s a huge limitation on gameplay and there’s nowhere left for the series to evolve. The only realistic next step is to drag your actual guitar out from underneath your bed, laugh at the silly stickers you slapped on it during high school and really play it.

The game is available for almost every system out there and comes with a wireless guitar controller. Users have reported issues with the wireless connection failing to detect notes and registering tilt. Although this isn’t all bad news, many of these errors should be cleared up in time for next month’s “”Rock Band.””