Review: Rock Band 3
Yesterday was the big release of Rock Band 3. Well, for some, it was midnight Monday night. Either way, I’ve finally had the chance to play the latest musical installment and have a few things to say.
I only played the game for about a half hour, but it was enough for me to experience a few things.
First, the career mode is different than before. I’m not sure how to really describe it, but it seems like it’s easier to play in shorter sittings. Most of the sets I’ve had to play were just two songs each, which you can easily do for 15 minutes if that is all you have available.
The next change, which I really like, is that new costume and customizable options become available after achieving goals in game. There is no more money in game. This makes it much easier to gain new looks, in my opinion. You just need to unlock the gear, not see if you can play enough songs to make enough money to open something up.
The ability to instantly join a song or drop out is an amazing feature. I’ve had friends play Rock Band 2 that want to drop out mid song and, when they did, we’d all complain about having to restart the song. Now, that’s not a problem. And if someone does drop out, join in, or change any settings, the game will rewind the song a few seconds so that everyone can catch up.
The song list itself is pretty impressive. Even when doing random pop and 80’s songs, I’ve found ones that I know and can play. If you haven’t checked out the song list for Rock Band 3, yet, you should!
Lastly, there’s the new instrument type: the keyboard. A full 2-octave midi keyboard is provided with the game. You can choose to play either in the standard 5-color mode, or you can go into Pro mode and actually try to play the keys that are shown on the screen. Beware: This is harder than it looks if you can’t play the keys already! But it is also quite fun!
In short, Rock Band 3 looks like it’ll be a great successor to the already great Rock Band 2. I’m looking forward to playing the keys more, which will add a little change to the game. (Note: Only Rock Band 3 songs have the option for keys, so don’t expect to be able to play them in your already massive Rock Band song library.)
The only thing I have not tested is the new Pro guitar, as I did not purchase one. However, you can easily find reviews for that online.
Have you tried Rock Band 3 yet? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!