While not on the grand scale of, say, the two multi-disc Grand Theft Auto soundtracks, this Companion Pack for Guitar Hero III is not without merit. Xbox 360 owners get the 11-song album and three exclusive songs to play in Guitar Hero III (sorry Sony and Nintendo axe grinders).

But after playing through the massive 71 songs in the game, you expect more than 11 songs on the soundtrack - and you expect the "big ones" to boot. My point here is that if Rockstar Games and Interscope Records can put out soundtracks with most of the big songs from San Andreas, Activision and... Interscope Records should be able to pull together something similar for the Guitar Hero III soundtrack.

Don't get me wrong, this disc has a good list of songs, including "Cherub Rock" by Smashing Pumpkins, "Slither" by Velvet Revolver, and "3's & 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age. Older songs include "Kool Thing" by Sonic Youth (did I just call Sonic Youth old?) and "Cult Of Personality" by Living Colour. But really, lets be honest here - you should own the above-mentioned songs already.

The real reason to plunk down the change for this is "Putting Holes in Happiness" by Merlyn Manson [Nick Zinner Remix], "Tina" by Flyleaf and the speed metal remix of "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" by Steve Ouimette - the album's highlight.

And maybe I am getting a little old and grumpy, but I miss liner notes with my CDs. Considering this is a physical disc, they could have included the lyrics with the nice concept art of the playable guitar heroes.

To get the exclusive songs playable in the game you must register on the Interscope site and input a number included with the music CD. The Xbox Live download codes were not available at first, but I had no problem getting my three in-game tracks downloaded to my Xbox 360.

For your playing pleasure is "Carcinogen Crush" by A.F.I. , and two of the above mentioned, "Putting Holes in Happiness" and "Tina." Oddly we are not treated to being able to listen to "Carcinogen Crush," maybe because the song will be on the December EP.