Music games have come under a bit of stick of late. The genre ultimately peaked in around 2007 thanks to the massive success of Guitar Hero 3 and the introduction of Rock Band. Since then though, it would be fair to say that there's been a bit of oversaturation of the market. 8 Guitar Hero titles and a further 4 Rock Band games (not including the trackpack discs that were released) in less than 3 years.

Any music game that comes out these days has to do something different to stand out. Activision attempted this with the latest Guitar Hero title, Warriors of Rock, by tacking on a quest mode with a bizarre fantasy storyline. Now it's Rock Band's turn....and with Rock Band 3 Harmonix have gone in the completely opposite direction and have ramped up the realism. They've also knocked it right out of the park.



On the face of it, Rock Band 3 is simply more of the same with a fresh coat of paint. You have your choice of instruments.....guitar, bass, drums and vocals as before. However the big addition this time is the keyboard. Adding a whole other instrument to the game gives you a whole other way to play. The keys feel different enough to the other intruments to justify the addition of another piece of kit and the fact that it can be used as a real midi keyboard means it has a life beyond being a simple game controller.

Vocals are also expanded on over Rock Band 2, however those who have played either the Beatles or Green Day Rock Band games will be familiar with the vocal harmonies. Certain songs offering up to 3 players the chance to use vocals. With that and the rest of the instruments you could be looking at up to 8 players at once!

The gameplay is as stated very very similar to what has gone on before. The notes scroll down the screen and you hit them as they cross the line. Build up multipliers and note streaks to score points. One slight change to the gameplay comes via overdrive. Yes you still hit glowing phrases to earn overdrive, which when activated doubles your multiplier, but this time you will come across phrases which give you double overdrive. This will help with maintaining overdrive for as long as possible.

The game is pretty open when it comes to progress as well. There are challenges for each intrument which earn you "fans" which in turn earns you new instruments and outfits for your band. Also you have the option of other players dropping in and out of the game at their leisure, even mid song.



The closest Rock Band 3 comes to any sort of story mode is probably the Road Challenges. Your band starts off as a lowly garage band and progresses through local tours up to eventually world tours by completing various setlists and fulfilling certain criteria such as accuracy or maintaining overdrive.

The setlist is also extremely varied. Most genres are covered with artists as varied as Amy Winehouse, The Beach Boys, Slipknot and Tears for Fears. Each instrument has it's fair share of tracks tailored more towards them.

As well as adding a whole other instrument, Rock Band 3's other main selling point this time is the fact that it isn't just a video game. This time it's a learning tool as well, thanks to the addition of 'pro' modes. Drums, guitar, bass and keys have various difficulties above expert, which will teach you how to actually play the real thing. It's a steep learning curve and yes it will be expensive with the new drums and guitars as well as the already available keyboard, but it will be fulfilling and can potentially give you a sense of achievement never normally found in gaming.



Speaking of achievements, Rock Band 3 comes with 1250 gamerscore straight out of the box. A lot of the score is obtained by completing the Road Challenges, which can be done with any instrument on any difficulty, but there are a lot of achievements which are instrument specific. There are also some which require you to have some specific DLC tracks.

Rock Band 3 is the new standard in the music genre, but given the state of the genre as a whole, it remains to be seen if it will see the success it so truly deserves. This is a shame. A library of 2000+ songs means there truly is something for everyone and the addition of the 'pro' modes means that this is now much more than just a music game. It will be expensive if you want to get the most out of it, but even playing it with existing instruments will be rewarding.

9/10