Ah when you thought there couldn’t be anymore music peripheral centric games, here comes another one before you can bat an eyelid. Before you toss this aside as just another music game however, I want all of you to pay close attention because their’s a whole lot new with this one. Rock Band 3 is really trying to raise the bar, and some.
This time around Harmonix is bringing a crazy amount features to the mix, most of which can be seen right from the main menu. There’s drop in and out of online play so when a friend plays with you it won’t drop the game like Rock Band 2 did. An assorting system is in place when selecting a song, this will allow players to make a bunch of custom search’s whether a short song, long song, song from Lego Rock Band, it’s all here. Players can also make and share set lists to make their ultimate playlists.
What’s more fun then that right? Well there’s more. Rock Band 3 will now be introducing a mini keyboard and before anyone out there starts going “that doesn’t sound like fun”, let us tell you now that it is! We had a chance to demo the keyboard and it works very well. It places the long white keys and short black keys as it would the guitar and drum notes in Rock Band. Only difference now is when played on anything above easy, the game alerts you to shift your fingers over for the next set of keys to hit. Sounds complicated we know but once you get the hang of it, it works great.
Not only have they done that but with the help of third party peripheral manufacturer Madcatz, they are introducing real guitars to the series! With a mini adapter from Madcatz, gamers can now plug in the Fender Squier Stratocaster guitar controller that literally has a hundred buttons on it. You can also use the mini adapter to plug in that real guitar you have lying around, cause we all do … Instead of buttons coming down on screen, it is replaced by numbers and sections of which your fingers should be on the guitar, these types of notes should become familiar over time.
Rock Band 3 is also introducing Pro mode, which will give players that really want an expert level of a challenge. This will provide pint point accuracy and could pretty much help you learn how to play a real instrument with real notes being displayed. If your having a huge party or get together Rock Band has you covered this time as well, with the addition of All instruments Mode allowing up to seven players to get in on the action.
This game is shaping up to be the ultimate experience not only for music games but the bridge between actual instrument playing. Time will only tell whether the learning curve for playing a real guitar will be as easy as it looks. We’ll bring you more hands on and info in the coming months but for now Rock Band 3 will be releasing late 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
