Rock Band 3 is simply perfect. It's the final evolution of the music games, the perfect harmony between game and study, the perfect party experience and an awesome game. Everything is packed with love and attention, from the smaller thing to major features. If you love music and videogames, buy it and love it.
Rock Band was Solid, and Rock Band 2 was great. But Rock Band 3 is something else. The guys behind Harmonix really knew what they were doing when they were behind the computer on this masterpiece. With the introduction of the keyboard, a more family friendly marketing and style, amazing list of songs on disc and in store, and more to the franchise than any other game had to offer, Rock Band 3 just may be one of the greatest music rhythm games of all time. Guitar Hero may have came first, but Rock Band was always better in every way. And that is more than evident with this great game.
The most impressive aspect of Rock Band 3 is the degree to which it blurs the lines between videogames and playing instruments for real. The pro modes for drums, keyboard and guitar/bass (requiring the pricy Pro Guitar controller - essentially a real guitar you can plug into your console) really are just like playing the real deal, so if you want to get into things to such a level then the game is powerful enough to offer you that option.
As a game, it excels also. There are a myriad of modes to work your way through, both single and multiplayer, including comprehensive practice modes for each instrument, and with over 4000 downloadable tracks to choose from there's enough content to last you a lifetime. I'm still playing it after almost three years, at least. Of course, the most fun to be had is with a group of friends all playing together in the same room, but the experience is only slightly less satisfying when held online with internet people.
It's difficult to see how Harmonix could have improved upon Rock Band 3 in any way - it is the ultimate refinement of its genre. The game is so definitive that they've stopped making Rock Band games and are now making one based on Fantasia instead. The best music/rhythm videogame.
Everything you ever wanted from a music title, and so much more besides. It doesn't matter how you want to play Rock Band 3, just know that you really do need to play it.
It may be far less glamorous than new setlists and instruments, but the revamped user interface that underlies the whole experience is the game's most unqualified success. Fixing nearly every problem from previous installments, and layering in a whole new career structure, the new format is brilliant.
It's Rock Band as usual, but its newly implemented Pro Mode shows that people who have been unchallenged so far can have their share of fun. Bundled with a whopping 2000 songs waiting for you optionally, this game could be worth a sin.
There's a lot to love about Rock Band 3 and there's been some awesome DLC already released…it's just that to get the full experience, you're going to need to drop some major dollars.
Rock Band 3 is very easily the best music game ever made. Why? The reasons are endless. The new keyboard controller, along with backing vocals, means up to 7 people can play at once. While the keyboard isn't always the centre of attention in most songs (sometimes only making a brief appearance), it is still a fun addition and can actually teach you to play keys. There is also the opportunity to invest in the pro guitar controller, which for the longest time has been the genre's biggest gripe. Why don't you play a real gui..WHAM! It is the next best thing to learn to play bar tutoring. There's thousands of songs to play (which is all fully exported from previous titles) which can range from pop to death metal, from the 50s to now. The range is simply unrivalled anywhere else. And combine that with a smart menu design meaning finding the songs you want isn't a chore, you got a game that is as close to making you feel like you're playing in a band as you can get.
Whether you're playing alone, with friends, online or offline, real guitar or plastic controller, 4,000 songs or just the 83 on-disc, just know that you absolutely must buy and play it if you have even the slightest interest in music games, music or just gaming in general. The more you put into the game, the more you get out.
What do you need to do to experience the newest experience in music games? Buy more expensive instruments (or at least add-ons). In a dying genre, how long do you expect these to last you? The keyboard is nice and works well, just granted that playing 20+ keys on a 5 color track may want you to go pro from the start. They did not release the "real" pro guitar on release day, holding off for 2011, but the other guitar is nice and MIDI capable, but still, it is a bit of a surprise the Harmonix held off the release of the squier, but that will be out soon enough. Overall, this game breathes new life into it, but still, with a dying music genre of today, this may the the first, and last game to use these features.
I was looking forward to this game and really wanted to like it. It doesn't even seem like it was made by the same people who developed RB1 and 2 and that's a huge disappointment. @ First of all, this game crashes a lot, not just for me but for quite possibly the majority of people. I play online a lot and I haven't run into anyone who hasn't crashed yet. There are two kinds of crashes. One is at a particular loading scene with roadies pushing crates. It will completely lock up your system and you'll be forced to power down. The other is the game closing itself randomly. One second you're navigating or playing and the next you're looking at your dashboard. I don't know if there are any plans to fix these bugs but I don't understand how the game was released in this state. This couldn't possibly have been a surprise to the developers. @ Secondly a lot of personality was taken from the game, especially in the way of characters. Character names are no longer seen online. They don't get introduced at the start of a session. You can't create an attitude for them anymore either. The animations look stiff to me. They also have a lot of bugs. @ Onto gameplay. RB3 doesn't have any real objective or direction like the previous titles did. World Tour is gone so now the 2 main modes are quickplay or challenges. The challenges were the worst, least played part of RB2 yet they decided to run with them. They tried to put a new face on the challenges by giving them a tourlike roadmap and instituting a spade system for doing well at each 'mission' but the whole thing is only 10 sections long. Also, you will find yourself sacrificing high scores in order to successfully complete a lot of them. This should have been a side gig next to World Tour, it feels like a lazy replacement. @ Competitive modes have been abolished. And for what reason? I have no idea. I think a lot of people were expecting an improvement in score duel, like normal note highways, but they completely got rid of it. At some point a meeting took place where they all decided it was a good idea to remove this classic feature. I'm still scratching my head. @ No fail can now be used throughout the game to finish songs, unlock achievements and post scores to the leaderboards. No fail is certainly great for parties and fine if you want to play through a song that you know you can't pass but that's where it should end. Rock Band 1 was the most successful of the series and there was plenty of failing. Most people think they want something for nothing but when they get it, the perceived value is low. Trying to beat a song is a powerful motivator to play more often. Killing incentive is not the answer to lagging sales. @ The music video modes are blinding. They come up often. Granted they may not affect everyone negatively but there are an awful lot of people complaining. There should be an option to avoid them and it's hard to believe this didn't occur to anyone during playtesting. @ The Endless Setlist. I don't know why they bothered to include it without World Tour. The point of World Tour was to unlock the Endless Setlist, get your icon and acheive "Immortal Status." But now you can play through the ESL right from Quickplay without unlocking it. You will not get an icon when you're done. Makes sense, I guess since you can play with no fail on and literally not have to do anything except for hit "next song." @ The setlist. A lot of people are going to say that's a subjective point. There are definitely a handful of incredible songs in this game. The rest? Let's just say that finding a 83 songs with good parts on guitar, bass, drums, vocals AND keyboards must have been an extremely difficult task and it shows. Better luck next time. @ That brings me to the keyboard. I'm mixed on this. A new instrument is fun. On the other hand, it's not so fun when you have a massive amount of DLC and only 80 songs have a part for you to play. Additionally, keyboard parts tend to have lots of dead space. They're often used as accents to songs. The Doors DLC is very good for keyboards, we'll see what else comes down the pipeline. â
This game was a HUGE letdown, i love the second and i gave it a 10/10 for its amazing set list and how realistic the tabs were. The only thing that is good about the third one is for how realistic its tabs are, and how many song are available for download. I bought the pro drums for 130 bucks and they would randomly fall apart, and hit notes aromatically without me even playing them. I sold them to gamestop and i got a new one, and i got the same problem. Right now i am heading to gamestop to get as much money as i can to get for this worthless game.