The Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises – are considered by many to be the most influential video games of the first decade of the 21st century. First released in 2005 it seemed as if air guitarists of a generation could finally unite. I remember the first time I picked up my plastic guitar and fretted along to a track. The whole idea of being a mini rock god in my bedroom just seemed to work.

However, that was a long time ago and a long time before they decided to milk the cash cow dry. Over the past number of years it seems as if we have been inundated with rock games. If I bought a new guitar each time a new game came out I reckon I would own about ten by now. To make things worse this year we have not one but two releases and you better believe it both are aiming to reach the number one spot on your Christmas list. I managed to get my hands on a copy on an early edition of Rock Band 3 to find out if I should still be rocking on.

As mad as it seems there is a reason for all of these games; Rock Band and Guitar Hero (and their sequels) are in fact the creations of separate rival software developers – Harmonix and Neversoft; and in numerous ways they have their own distinct diverse approach on how to make a rock and roll video game great and how to sell it.

Take Rock Band for example. Rock Band has always aimed for maximum playability with a large selection of pop rock type tracks. When they have gone for serious rock they usually pick tracks that are well known and they provide strong online support. Also in my view on the easier difficulty level the player is never actually really tested. Contrast this with Guitar Hero and Neversoft who seemed to cater mainly for the serious rock fanatics. Anyone who has played Band Hero will recognize their disappointment at going online and finding out that there was little if any online tracks to support their foray into popdom. Try too tackling Band hero on easy and your wrists will be sore. It might be a game but it doesn’t play nice.

Check out their titles too, once Neversoft and their publisher Activision realized that they had a market in plastic guitars they seemed almost like a bat out of hell-bent on riding the rock train until the wheels came off; delivering a new title almost every year – often with just new tracks and tweaks being the whole USP. Thank heavens for the term ‘market saturation’ because when the rock train was about to terminate at the next stop they turned their hands to the Vinyl and came up with the admittedly very polished DJ Hero. Out went the classic rock and in came the classic Hip-hop. Contrast this with Harmonix and the very incredible looking Beetles Rock Band – they always seem to go for quality over quantity.

To be fair to Neversoft they do have a flair for spotting innovative design because each new release of a ‘Hero’ has brought something new, however small and Rock Band 3 has capitalized on each and every aspect that they brought that worked. They also listened to their many fans

Game Play remains the same as before; successfully complete a song by using your controllers to strike the correct notes in time with note tracks shown on the game screen; or, in the case of the vocalists, to sing in the relative pitch to the original artist. Each player has a performance meter, which increases when correct notes are hit and falls when notes are missed; a band performance meter represents an average of all players. If a player’s meter should drop to zero, that player will temporarily drop out, silencing their part, and the band’s performance meter will start to drop. If the band’s meter hits zero, the band will fail the song and be booed off stage, and can either restart or change their difficulty level.

Rock Band 3 allows for several players, locally or for the first time online, to play the roles of lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals. I was pleased to see that Rock Band 3 had support for backup vocal harmonies with the lead singer (a feature previously introduced in The Beatles: Rock Band), and one playing an electric keyboard. (Yes it’s not just a new guitar you will need to buy this time).

Talking of which, it has often been a personal criticism that to plough the amount of time that you need to in order to get good at this game you are far better learning to play the guitar or drums in real life. Well this is a criticism put to rest because although this game is compatible with existing guitar controllers from previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. Mad Catz has just produced a new guitar controller, based on the Fender Mustang with real strings. Instead of five colored buttons, there are 6 buttons across 17 different frets, culminating in a total of 102 buttons to play. This idea is quite exciting me, as this game could redefine the whole term ‘fun learning’.
So on to playability. The game features a more in-depth career mode; and as before you can design your own character.

Reportedly the career mode includes over 700 career goals. The game also includes some 83 songs, ranging from Evanescence to Bob Marley and I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of my original downloaded content from previous Rock Band games transferred quickly and without additional cost. This gave me the feeling that this title is all about consolidating your Rock Band music. And that can only be a good thing. Tracks from the actual titles though such as Rock Band 2 required the purchase of a key but the transfer was quick and simple. I am always taken aback by Rock Bands online support and at time of writing there was over 2,000 songs available in the store for download. One word: wow. Developers of Guitar Hero should take note.

I found the game play to be rounded and a decent enough internet connection is all you need to ensure online play. Although, personally I found many tracks lacked sufficient challenge. The storyline was literally non existent – we all know the score: group of gang-banger wannabes decide to form a band and you have to help them scale to heights of success.

I do have a few gripes. Firstly the graphics – I was disappointed. Whilst functional they are no where near as polished as they should be, even if you were to take Band Hero which was out over a year ago and put these titles side by side graphically it would be stronger.

Secondly for me the sound mixer could have done with some refinement. For example I found it hard hear the vocal track if you are singing or vice versa. Guitar Hero 5 eradicated that problem ages ago. I couldn’t help but wonder why it is still here.

So what’s my view? – Well, despite its faults if you are going to get a Rock Band game then this is the title to get. In terms of game play and online support it has a much stronger, richer library. It is also the game you will return to and download tracks for and complete. More importantly it will keep you entertained without doubt through Christmas.

By Junior Smart