By Stephanie Holland / Editor in Chief
By Stephanie Holland / Editor in Chief
Anytime someone yells out that they want more Whitesnake and Night Ranger in their lives, they must be playing “Rock Band 3.”
The third outing in the extremely popular “Rock Band” video game franchise was released on Oct. 26 with a new batch of classic rock songs and a keyboard controller.
For the unfamiliar, the game involves playing new and classic rock songs on either vocals, guitar, bass, drums and now keyboard.
It is basically an advanced version of karaoke.
However, the fun comes from trying to play the songs on the various difficulty levels.
For example, even on easy, “Freebird” is one of the hardest songs on the entire game, so when it’s finally played at a high percentage, it’s the same feeling of accomplishment as passing a difficult level on a first person shooter.
This latest outing features a lot of classic ‘80s songs including, “The Power of Love,” “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and the aforementioned “Here I Go Again” and “Sister Christian.”
Adding a keyboard opened up a whole new world of music for the game’s developers.
While the keyboard isn’t especially difficult to master, it is more sensitive than the other instruments, so the slightest wrong move will ruin a good streak of notes.
It comes with a strap so it can be played “keytar” style or serious rockers can purchase the stand.Frankly, any table or ottoman works just fine.
The keyboard can also be used to play guitar or bass on songs without a keyboard part.
The other new aspect to “Rock Band 3” is the pro level which is a level up from expert and uses real notes to teach players how to actually play the guitar, bass, drums or keyboard.
For example, the keyboard on pro level does teach gamers how to play basic notes and scales, but it’s doubtful anyone will become a piano virtuoso from repeatedly playing Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting.”
The pro drum kit features added cymbals and the pro guitar has actual strings along with extra rows of the usual multi-colored buttons.
Like previous incarnations, there are a few songs that aren’t very difficult and are on the game just for the fun of playing them.
Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” isn’t very hard to master, but the song is so fun and catchy that it can’t be missed.
This is also true of the INXS hit “Need You Tonight.”
Game developers MTV Games are also constantly adding downloadable songs to their website, so “Lost” fans can rock out to Drive Shaft’s “You All Everybody.”
It was also recently announced that rock legends Bon Jovi will release their new “Greatest Hits” album two weeks early as downloadable content on the game.
“Rock Band 3” also features the three part harmony that first appeared on “The Beatles: Rock Band.”
It gives players the chance to sing lead vocals or harmony and makes it easier for bands to perform multi-vocal songs like “Good Vibrations” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Unlike role playing games or first person shooters, these games aren’t really expected to drastically improve every time out.
“Rock Band” is all about the music, so as long as the producers keep adding popular songs that are fun to play they will always be a hit.
However, the game will never be complete until it features A-ha’s “Take On Me.”
