Rock Band 3 Review

Rock Band 3 continues the evolution of the series, offering new instruments and modes of play that bring music closer than ever to reality

Posted by Alex V on October 26, 2010 - 12:00am EST

Much of the core gameplay remains unchanged, but that’s not really a complaint. Players will still compete by earning points and stars on songs, with multipliers and Overdrive still core aspects of the game. Some subtle changes have been implemented in regards to how the game tracks moving parts (ie drum rolls), providing a better reward for getting the set perfectly, but also lessening the punishment for making errors. At this point though, the gameplay formula has been nearly perfected so there isn’t much left to do in that department.

Rock Band 3 also features an in-depth career mode, that lets players take their bands from the small club shows on to the big stage. The game has a detailed stat tracking system for accomplishments (similar to achievements) that follows the band through an entire game and spans all game modes. So between playing offline and online, everything players do will be tracked and tallied for a more well-rounded experience. The game also features a character customization system which has been expanded from previous games. Players are now able to create and fully customize their avatar in very detailed ways, such as hair styles, colors, body types, faces, and other appearance items. Once complete, the created band will appear everywhere in the game – be it the main menu, loading screens, practice mode, or other locations. This works well to really immerse the player in the experience as they are using their own personalized band through the game.

Aside from the basic career mode, there are also new Road Challenges. These are a series of - well, challenges - that the band can choose to undertake. Each comes with a specific victory condition, such as playing the song extremely well to a group of critics in the audience or saving a show after the opening act disappointed the audience. The challenges vary in length, from one to a few songs, which can be customized or randomly generated. All of the successful challenges are tracked, not only as local achievements but also on online leaderboards. The online play itself has seen no changes, but again none were really needed in what is already a smooth multiplayer experience.