same old game; just added new expensive peripherals...is that worth your money?
what is new....basically nothing; there is a new mode that replace the tour mode; and there is the new pro mode, where you will play your instruments at a more realistic pace, using all the buttons on the new keyboard peripherals (99 dollars extra...i wish that you could just use a 39 dollars midi keyboard) or the weird guitar with buttons instead of strings, that adds to the drum set (you need more cymbals thou, so is an extra 40 dollars for the 3 cymbals on top of your regular drumset).
Now if you think that you can learn to play guitar or keyboard with RB3, sorry but you are on the wrong track; the experience on the drum is almost perfect, but even using the guitar and the keyboard at pro level will not make you anything closer to be able to perform on a real instrument, other than doing few simple arrangements of the popular songs that you can play in RB3.
The guitar has buttons instead of strings; and if you ever tried to play a guitar, you know that the main pain is to get the string right with your fingertips, so that is part of the experience of playing and learning to play that you will miss on this expensive toy; maybe you will learn how to position your hands for a chord, but from that to say that you know how to play there is a bit of difference.
Anyway is a good start if you plan to have fun and learn the basics of the guitar.
The Keyboard is somewhat similar to the guitar; the layout is the same of a 2 octave real keyboard (used maybe by dj's or synth lovers; to play decently with 2 hands you need at least a 4 octave keyboard); and following the screen you will be able to pull some nice tunes, but you will play with one hand, so you will be able to mimick some moments of the song but you will be light years away from properly playing the song on a real piano or keyboard, using the left hand to do the harmony and the right to do the lead part.
The drum experience is as close as you can get to play the real one; bar none; but is the same as it was in RB2, so if you go pro mode, you will just get more pads to hit; sounds harder than what it is but if you can play at hard level on RB2 and score 5 stars there, the pro mode will be an extra challenge to keep you busy for a bit more, and learn some new tricks, in case that you wanna rock with a real drumset.
The vocal is fun with the 3 parts harmony, but very limited; still does not get a good analisys of your skills but just track the tone; so if you can't hit a note you can just sing like the singer from crash test dummies and score perfect; no matter if you hit the real tone that you should hit or if you say in facts what you are supposed to say, since the engine does not care if you say the words or just say na na na all the time.
The game is ok; same as the previous with more lights and the extra of the vocal system seen in beatles RB (3 voice harmony); new tracks, and the capability to import all your previous songs gives you a good run for your money (compared to the competitor guitar hero); so you get extra tracks on top of whatever you had in the previous 2 games, plus whatever DLC you bought.
In the end; if you do not have the previous 2 games and beatles RB, this is a must buy with a rating of 10; but if you have the previous games and the instruments already, prepare yourself to buy the new keyboard, the cymbals and the "real" guitar (that will cost you with the game almost as much as a squire guitar plus a midi keyboard) on top of the game; to add very little innovation to the game (other than having people making fun of you playing a piece of plastic like a rockstar....unless you go for singing or drumming).
If you know how to play an instrument you will get nothing from this game, other than from the drum that is the best experience ever made in a videogame; if you wanna learn an instrument, just play a real one, learning the basic 8 chords (that covers 80% of the songs made in the last 30 years) either on a guitar or on a keyboard, and buy this game only if you wanna learn solid drumming.