Rock Band 3: First Look

It seems Harmonix and MTV are really kicking it up a gear for their next installment of the Rock Band franchise. Rather than just adding a new feature here, and a few new characters there; they’re really trying to push music rhythm games forward and from what we’ve seen and heard so far we’re rather impressed.

The game will feature keyboard play, which is something a lot of fans have been waiting for now for quite some time. Sadly, the peripheral will only allow play between two octaves, but I’m sure with all the third-party creations you can purchase online, it’s only a matter of time before a full-length one is born. It also seems that it will double up as an organ, accordion, or even synths, given its keytar-like shape. In addition to this some songs will allow up to three-part vocal harmonies - much like those seen in The Beatles: Rock Band – which totals to seven players all able to play simultaneously.

Not resting on the novelty of a new instrument, perhaps the most exciting part of Rock Band 3 will be the implementation of a “Pro” mode. This isn’t just another difficulty setting, but a chance for those looking to turn their video game skills into actual music playing skills a reality. Within this mode you’ll see certain notable differences that take the basic rhythm game concept and step it up a notch. Pro Drums will allow you to distinguish between different tom-toms, as well as expand your playing with up to three cymbals. Pro Keyboard will take pitch into account, allowing, with practice, a pitch-perfect performance. Pro Guitar, which also doubles up as Pro Bass, will make use of strings as oppose to a flappy plastic strum bar.

It simply isn’t enough that you have the instruments behind you if the songs presented to you aren’t very good, but we doubt this will be the case here. While we don’t know too much about the setlist just yet, we know the game will feature 83 songs from 83 different artists, spanning fifty years. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though, combine this with the current downloadable content available for the Rock Band series, as well as future song packs, come release date you’ll have over 2000 tracks at your mercy. Pretty impressive.

The Career Mode will feature over 700 goals and rewards, a leaderboard and social networking connections so that friends can follow your progression on websites such as Facebook and Twitter if they wish. There will also be a party mode, which will allow for constant dropping in and out of songs, including varying difficulty levels.

The game will hopefully hit stores in time for the holiday season on Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in North America, Europe and New Zealand. There will also be a separate DS version on its way. All current Rock Band instruments - including those from The Beatles: Rock Band - will all be compatible. Expect prices to be pretty steep.

Official Rock Band 3 Trailer

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed