POSTED 26/10/10


ROCK BAND 3

Harmonix/MTV Games/EA
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, Wii)

You know those boring tosser musos who moan about fake plastic guitar games, and how we should play “real” instruments instead? Well, Harmonix tell them to suck shit with Rock Band 3 – although they might word it more eloquently. Then again, maybe not – ROCK’N’ROLL!

RB3 has turned pro. With (exxy) hardware, you can learn guitar, bass or drums whilst playing along to fave songs. You can also now learn keyboards, or play using five keys like the old five coloured guitar buttons trick (start on expert, it isn’t much harder than lower levels). It works, but is it fun? Well, when we played keys years ago we wished we were the guitarist. It didn’t take long with the new keytar thingy before ditching it for our trusty Logitech geetaw. Unless you’re Stevie Wonder, Laurie Partridge or one of New Order, playing keys just isn’t very cool. Who wants to emulate Jeffster?

Singletons have a solidified career, with challenges (what sort? Just general challenges) which earn spades (seriously!), meaning unlockables and progression. You’ve also more say in songs you play, rather than predetermined set lists.

The song roster’s ace – Harmonix know how to mix it up, rather than just catering to rock dinosaurs...

However, the highlight is the interface. It’s now near-perfect – pick a song and your stars for all levels on all instruments are viewable. Yay! Players can jump in and out and change difficulty on the fly – all the stuff we’ve been whining for since RB2, basically.

One recent development stops RB3 receiving a perfect score though – orange notes in easy and medium. We can deal, but our less-committed friends freaked out and demanded SingStar. Silly, lazy Harmonix!

Guitar Hero is now so far behind it should be renamed Guitar Yesterday’s Hero; Rock Band 3 rules!

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