by Nick Caramico

Let me begin by saying I am a huge fan of Harmonix and it’s Rock Band franchise. Over time I have limited my video game playing to mostly music games, with Rock Band 2 always near my Xbox. In this post, I will highlight features of the newly announced Rock Band 3, along with some of my views on the game.

Keyboards

The biggest thing to me about RB3 is the addition of a new instrument: Keyboards, or as Harmonix is referring to it simply as “Keys”. I have been waiting for a keyboard peripheral for a while and I think it is a great addition to the franchise. The keyboard controller itself is a fully functional, real two-octave MIDI instrument.  In normal gameplay, any key can be pressed in the corresponding colored area. In the new PRO mode, gameplay changes drastically, but more on that later. Physically the keyboard can be played either on your lap, on a stand, or worn with a strap “keytar” style.

PRO Mode

Harmonix has been working on RB3 for over 2 years and this feature must have been very time consuming to develop and chart. Every song in RB3 will have the traditional difficulties ranging from Easy to Expert, but will also add a PRO difficulty. PRO difficulty will be played on either the keyboard, drum controller with a cymbal attachment, and on two new PRO guitar controllers. The new Fender Mustang guitar (pictured below) is also a fully functional MIDI instrument as well as game controller. The other controller will be a Fender Squire Stratocaster guitar that is a real guitar that can be used in game. Outside of the game, it can be plugged into an amp and used as a real guitar. In PRO guitar mode, notes will be labeled as what position the players fingers must be in. PRO mode features its own difficulty tiers and on PRO Expert, Harmonix has said that a player will be playing the actual notes of the song. So for example, if you play a song on PRO Expert Keys, you could sit down at a “real” keyboard and you could play the actual notes in that song. Same goes for Guitar and Drums. PRO Drums will use a new 3 cymbal attachment to separate cymbals from drum notes.

Setlist

With any music game, the setlist is a big part of the game. Harmonix has made a point to include songs that highlight the newly added Keys, but did not select songs solely on that purpose. Some major songs include “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, “Crosstown Traffic” by Jimi Hendrix, “Break on Through” by The Doors, and “Lasso” by Phoenix. The game will ship with 83 songs on disc with nearly 2,000 songs available through DLC and other games at launch. Out of the 22 songs announced as of this writing, most are from the 80’s but Harmonix has stated a focus on newer music, which is always a good thing to mix it up.

Everything Else

Graphic are hugely improved in this game and it just looks very polished. Instead of boring static loading screens, your fully customizable band members from Career mode will be involved in short scenarios. The band members will be walking down the street, riding in a bus, and other things that make the experience a little more visually interesting.

Sorting of potentially 2,000 songs could be painstaking to find one song you are looking for. They have added very in depth song sorting to sort by location, genre, decade, instrument compatibility, and several others with any combination of those. For example, you could filter “metal songs from the 80’s that are difficult on drums”, You can also give your own ratings to songs and sort by that. Lower rated songs are less likely to appear in random setlists.

Three part harmony vocals from The Beatles:Rock Band and Green Day:Rock Band returns here and a console controller is not needed, as an instrument controller can select vocal options as well. This allows for up to 7 people playing at once.

Rock Band 3 will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and Nintendo DS on October 26, 2010 . For more information on Harmonix, Rock Band 3, and news on its release go to www.rockband.com