Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

Saying it right now; I bypassed Rock Band 2. So due to the publishers inability to give Australia a local release of the game, I look at Rock Band 3 as a massive leap forward; since the only foundation of the series I have to draw upon is the first game.

Rock Band 1 was released way back in 2007, though I first encountered the beast of a rhythm game the following year in 2008. I loved it, thinking it far superior to the hack Guitar Hero: World Tour that had just come out. However I did have some issues with the game, issues I was forced to live with for two years.
I found the world tour aspect of the game awesome; so much in fact I forced my best friend and at the time girlfriend to play with me, despite them being no where near my obsessively high level of experience. It was good though, as they were able to play at a different difficultly as me, however, this only lasted up until a point when I was unable to gather more fans to progress unless those playing with me made the step from medium to hard.
This was my major issue with the original, the fact I had to be playing with other people in order to enjoy the world tour mode of the game.

Fast forward to Rock Band 3. It's the first new RB title I had played since 2008, and although the major issue I had with the original had been resolved in RB2, I hadn't played it.
I fully embraced the new game mode, in where you can play the new world tour variant either by yourself, with others over xbox live or locally.
So basically, when I say world tour, I stretch the truth in terms of Rock Band 3's main game element.
This time around you can choose to start a road trip in a certain area of the U.S, and only later on as you unlock things such as a private jet are you then able to go to other Countries and perform.
Each road trip has different destinations, which sees you play between two and three songs at once. Each road trip, or playlist, has three tiers of awards you can earn, each unlocking new gear you can use to customize you're rocker/band members.
To unlock each reward, you must earn a certain number of what appears to be Spade cards, or simply spades. You obtain these gems by rocking out old school and earning up to 5 stars per song. In addition to this is a separate challenge for each venue you play. There are only a handful that switch with every venue, but they mix the gameplay up a little, giving you a goal to try to obtain with every song you play. They vary from trying to get a flawless streak, to how many times you can employ overdrive. Some are more easy than others, and with certain songs some can be down right frustrating.

Luckily however, the game gives you the choice of three different sets to play with each venue you visit. There is of course the pre-set setlist, you then have the option to either go with a randomly generated set list based on songs in you're rock band library, or choose the songs yourself. Each option gives you the choice of different genres, decades, duration, downloadable content or game.

Which brings me to the song library. With the addition of the keyboard controller for rock band 3, Harmonix have included several keyboard/piano/synth heavy songs, even in a few instances opting to include songs that omit guitar entirely.
Here in lies possibly my only issue with the game as a whole, the songs that come preloaded on the disc.
I am a huge fan of the songs from the first RB, and am happy I was quickly able to import said songs into RB3. However the songs already on the disc this time around were less than as impressive.
Of course there are a few standouts, including yet even more Maiden, but overall I find myself attempting to avoid the RB3 songs, opting more for the RB1 songs and downloaded content. It's something I can't quite put my finger on, but, I feel that the addition of wanted to have most songs feature keyboards tarnish a little of the edgyness that Rock Band 1 had in terms of songs.

Which brings me to the actual use of the keyboard controller. In terms of build, it's strong, sturdy and easy to use. Now, I give Harmonx big props for introducing something new, but I just feel a little unsure about using something so new. I of course am speaking about the pro key mode, wherein it's like actually playing a real keyboard. Attempting to play just normal rock band style keys seems a little silly to me, where you'd only be using four keys rather than the entire keyboard itself.
In any event, I'll now mention the Pro mode. Now, I have only been able to use the Pro Key mode so far, I'm yet to obtain the Pro Guitar to try out the Pro Guitar and Bass modes. So I can't really say much, though what I will say is I very much like how the game attempts to introduce you to simple keyboard playing at some level. I'm a little unsure whether it would actually teach me how to play in terms of a real instruments, but, I have to say I can't really be bothered to try and master the thing.

What about how it looks? Well, too this day Rock Band 1 still looks pretty good, still having a much better engine than all of the previous Guitar Hero games.
In saying that; my eyes popped when I saw the visuals of RB3. The engine has obviously been refined and made to be even more stunning. The character models are more realistic, though still retaining a very plastic look. The animations are a little more lifelike, however facial features can appear quite blank and zombie like.
I will say this over the first one however, and is that the loss of the grain filter. One thing I liked about the first games visual was the fact it looked like some dirty old music video, and that is something that has been lost with the clear image visuals of the third one. In saying that however, that look is still retained when the game switches back into it for certain parts of certain songs.

So all in all, what do I think about Rock Band 3? It's the third proper entry in an already aged franchise, in a genre that is sadly reaching the end of its appeal.
Despite all that however, I think Rock Band 3 is a strong game, and is defiantly not given the credit it deserves, especially when the mass gaming public are concerned.
Rock Band has the guts and brass to try new things, have a little attitude in its presentation, and doesn't take it self too serious.
The addition of the Pro mode certainly gives this silly genre a little credibility among the musically talented community. By setting itself up to assist in the teaching and learning of actual instruments shows that it's just not all about pretending anymore. Though the argument still remains, with the inflated price of the tools in which to use these modes, why not just invest in the real thing?

Despite everything, Rock Band 3 is awesome. If you're even remotely into music, or music games at all, drop that dead Guitar Hero stuff dead on the floor and check out some Rock Band, after all, even people only realized it comes from the makers of Guitar Hero, it might actually sell.
All in all, awesome game in an awesome franchise.

Gameplay: 9
Sound: 9
Graphics: 8
Repeatability: 10