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Rock Band isn’t just a franchise anymore, it’s a genre.
The game has become a standard attraction for every gaming household. It’s evolved but discretely enough that reviewing Rock Band 3 is like reviewing Rock Band 2 and vanilla Rock Band.
Rather than go the epic-infused metal route that Guitar Hero has treaded, Rock Band 3 has stretched its horizons to include alternative pieces, decade specific pop songs, rock staples and metal along with helpings of keyboard heavy monsters.
Along with that, they’ve implemented a host of features, not least of which is the much anticipated pro mode.
Pro Mode
The pro guitar hasn’t been in stores, at least not where I live so I haven’t been able to play it but I doubt I really would be able to. The guitar pro mode seems to me like it makes gamers have to work hard to see results. By that I mean actually learn the tabs for the songs and practice the timings. By that point, you might not even need the game anymore, you can just play a guitar on your local street corner.
The pro drums have been a blast. It’s like adding 3 more pads to your existing drum repertoire. It’s easy to get into if you’ve been playing drums on hard/expert already. Overall, pro drums or the cymbal addon is the best part of Pro Mode.
The pro keys are definitely a time investment if you aren’t already a musician. Thankfully, the training mode helps cover that. The keyboard will probably become a great part of the game when people play it as well as they already play guitar. Hopefully there isn’t a drought of songs for it either. For those interested in the keyboard, it’s well made and looks to be of good durable quality.
Pro vocals is harmonizing and that’s just as awesome and fun as it was in The Beatles Rock Band and Green Day Rock Band. Wholly enjoyable.
UI
This UI is a huge improvement to previous Rock Band titles. The inclusion of the personal shell menu for each player means that everyone can change their settings, drop in/drop out, and pick their character without disrupting the band leader choosing what songs to play.
The song database has exploded and the song selection system matches that pretty well I’d say.
Visuals
One could argue that Rock Band has never been a super visual game, all people really need is the ability to see what notes to strike next. Having your personal character play on a mock stage or music video has been a treat, though.
Along with that, Rock Band 3 makes every song look amazing with its range of sepia, black and white, blur, and general groovy effects. The visuals are a step up and that’s always welcome.
Campaign
Rock Band 3 does not have a definitive campaign mode. Rather, everything you do in the game contributes to your goals and thus your whole game campaign. You don’t have to grind set lists to get to the next tier, you can just stay in quickplay or online and rack up the fans that way.
The touring part of the game is fun, though a bit repetitive if you don’t have a large song library to pull from.
Spades are new, each star you get on a song contributes a spade.
Along with that, each venue has specific goals you work towards to unlock spades which track how well you are doing. For instance, some venues may ask you to string together as many overdrives as you can. Another may ask the whole band to score accurately on a certain section.
Overall, this mechanic has been fun and provides a new way for bands to work cooperatively as they finish songs and not just coordinate when everyone has to activate their overdrive.
Of course, if you don’t like it, you can simply ignore it by sticking with quickplay.
Problems
All Instruments Mode is what permits up to 7 people to play the game. Unfortunately, 3 of those players (the vocals) are essentially neutered when it comes to a song.
The game focuses on the other 4 instruments and the vocalists are pretty much playing karaoke except they aren’t even scored.
This is probably due to most of the consoles permitting 4 active controllers at any time. It saddens me, though, to think that the PS3, which can and has handled 7 full-fledged players in some games adopts the same template as the other consoles.
Also, the previously released Stage Kit flat out doesn’t work with Rock Band 3. Hardcore fans may be disappointed in hearing that they can’t have a light display natively attached to their game.
Other Thoughts
The drop-in/drop-out is super smooth and is accessible at almost any time. This includes during songs.
Let’s say a certain song comes up during party shuffle but it doesn’t have a keyboard arrangement. Simply have the keyboardist drop and pick up the bass guitar within a few seconds.
Along with that implementation, load screens are omitted and everything is wicked smooth. Certain moments requiring a load now play a short clip of your band’s hyjinx and the next section starts within moments.
Online is a snap to get into. It’s simple to start playing with random people or your friends.
Final
I have a theory that the first game of an original series attempts to cut a swath for the second game’s eventual arrival and improvements. Then the third game turns out to be crap.
Rock Band 3 has proven me wrong to a greater extent than I would like being that it is pretty much something more than a 3rd iteration if you count the band-specific Rock Band titles.
It changes the playing field without keeping what makes Rock Band so damn fun. The additions are welcome and the revisions tick every box when it comes to problems I had with Rock Band 2. A must play but not necessarily a must buy.
9/10
Parental Guide
Online play can involve the use of a microphone for communication but this can be turned off or put way down. Some songs may be inappropriate for children but there are helpful parental guides when viewing songs to play or purchase.
Accessibility
The instruments are specific to this game and full use of limbs and fingers is almost necessary for enjoyment. Drums in particular require a lot of movement. Vocals and keyboard are more friendly and can be used leisurely. There is no sensitivity option for the instruments.
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