Review: Rock Band 3 – Xbox 360

The Rhythm Game genre has been evolving from the days of DDR to the full fledge 4 piece Band games that we know of today. In the wake of the evolution there  has been a considerable flood of ill forgotten sequels that have burned even the most loyal of gamers. One game series in particular seemed to stray from the pack. The game series known as Rock Band. Offering a wide range of customization in terms of your Band Members coupled with Downloadable Music Tracks it seemed the series knew what it was doing. Rock Band 3 has made its official debut. I’ve had a week or so to go through it, from solo to group play. How does this game fair in the ever changing Rhythm genre?


Gameplay
Well after scouring my garage for my wireless guitar and the locating batteries that still had a charge I was ready to rock!!!

Mostly anyways, as I jumped straight into the Band/Character creation. Figured with my Wife going to be playing coupled with Nelson and Jessica coming over on the weekend I should make everyone and create a band. What I was impressed with was just how painless this process really was. In character creation you can load up randomized rockers that sort of resemble the person you are trying to make. Then you can go in and really tweak most anything. I was really impressed with the Weight and Height area, as you can fit most any body style. Also this time around there is a real flushed out face maker. As you are able to tweak from Chins to Cheeks to even location of Nose and mouth. Giving you the options of really customizing your character.

Onwards to the Band creation. There are 2 parts to creating a Band that’s the Name and then there is the Logo. The Logo system is pretty simple to mess with, essentially you have a grip of artwork to choose from and you just align however you want. Though there are layers giving you a little more room to work with creatively. What really makes this game very personal is the cutscenes involving your character in events like creating a logo. They show a brief cut of you and your band drawing the logo up at a dinner. As simple as that may sound it made me smile, giving me an appreciation to the sudo realism behind it. You also have the ability to add or remove band members. Which I thought was really neat. After setting up the band to include Me, My Wife, Nelson and Jessica it was interesting to see us all interact with each other. As it became clear that My Wife and I were inseparable much as we are in real life :)

At this point I was actually ready to “Rock” so I went straight to career mode with my already established band. It’s interesting how the career mode works this time around, there are venues to play at but what separates it is transportation. At the beginning of the game your band is constantly utilizing public transportation, as in the subway. As before the rules are basically the same, try to get 4 stars but hitting all the notes. What was interesting was the Spades that you can collect too. This is a Bonus that is found in Career mode. At the beginning of playing a venue they’ll tell you what you have to do in order to get 5 spades. Examples of this were: Getting a Streak, Using Star Power and sometimes it was even playing a solid solo. I really like this concept because it made each level just a little different adding a little more spice to gameplay.

This time around the difficulty appears to have been tweaked a bit. Now myself I’m a solid Medium difficulty player, I can do hard but I’m just not good at it. Mainly because of our friend the Orange key. For whatever reason this is the one key that I have trouble with. I guess I’m not the only person with the same problem, as Medium mode now features the Orange Key from time to time. What I liked about this was it seemed to be almost a training. Using the Orange Key in not the most difficult way but just getting you used to sliding up and down on the scale.

Just in case Guitar and Drums just wasn’t your thing there is alway the Keyboard. Functions much like the Guitar and Drums though you could always take it into Pro Mode. The newest feature to Rock Band which essentially teaches you how to play a musical instrument. Though there is one catch and that is the hefty price tag that comes with it. As you would need to purchase the right instrument for it. There is 1 Guitars on the market at the moment the Fender Pro Guitar for $150 also a wireless Keyboard for $80. Later on in March of 2011 the ultimate Guitar the Squier Stratocaster will make it’s debut with a price tag of $280. I myself am very interested in this feature though find the price tag just a bit out of my range.

Graphics
I’ve always liked the style that Rock Band has gone with. I felt that it really fit a multitude of music genres. This time around the Game Engine has been redone and RockBand has never looked better. The characters all have their unique flair. Environment effects also have been redone. Which really adds to the atmosphere of the game. The Lip Synching also looks even better then previous titles, which was a shock to me considering how spot on previous titles have been.

Sound
One of the most important features to any music game. This time around though it appears that something has changed for the better. Previous titles have always sounded good but this time it sounds great. With my 7.1 surround sound setup it really adds a very nice atmosphere to the game. Though it appears I might need to change out my guitars as they clicking noise they make really is distracting.

Overall
A really solid addition to the already established Rock Band franchise. With enough features to really make it stand out on it’s own. Be forewarned though that you might want to purchase a Bundle to get the Keyboard with the game so you can try out Pro Mode.