Game #9 – Rock Band 3

Publisher: EA Games/MTV Games

Developer: Harmonix

Platforms: PS3/360/Wii/DS

Release: October 2010

Harmonix have been kinda quiet since 2008. Sure, they developed Beatles Rock Band, and helped develop Lego and Green Day Rock Band...but for the most part, have been quiet. And then in the middle of the year, Harmonix unveiled Rock Band 3 – easily the most ambitious title Harmonix have ever released, and one of the most daring titles in a genre that has become stale lately.

Rock Band 3's biggest additions are mostly hardware based – with the addition of a keyboard opening up an entirely new slate of music to be included as future DLC. The biggest addition in this regard? The “Pro” instruments – recreations of full instruments to push to the next level, even going as far to teach you how to roughly play and understand a song for reals...well, that's the idea, as soon as the instruments are released!

But what I really dig about Rock Band 3 is some of the gameplay changes added, which as someone who enjoys this type of game, is much appreciated. For starters – there's drop in/drop out multiplayer now, across all game modes, which is a godsend for multiplayer, or for people who want in on one song. Fail a song? You can restart now from where you failed. The interfaces are now much more slicker, if not slightly more annoying. And as expected, the soundtrack is great.

Otherwise, Rock Band 3 is pretty much just how instrument based rhythm games should be – the additions to the game are incredibly appreciated, and the idea of pro instruments will be interesting to see just how they impact the genre. At least Harmonix don't have to worry about including “XTREME HARDCORE METAL” themes anytime soon...