Rock Band 3 Review

[Jedi_Amara]

[Frozencry]

[admeister]

[moonhead]

Anywho, ignoring the arguments about plastic instrument reviews.

[Jedi_Amara]

[devonuto]

[Benza]

[Michael Kontoudis]

Our review makes it very clear what elements of the package are being taking into account when evaluating the game's worth.

Adam offered up a clear and unambiguous disclaimer and I don't see how anyone can be confused over the scope of the review.

It will be up to each and every reader to decide how useful such a review is. I suspect that, for many people, the review will be very informative and of great assistance. For others who are most interested in the new hardware, well, they may want to direct their attention to the write-ups which evaluate the keyboards and dongles and what-have-you.

[JP2daMC]

No one is confused over the scope of the review Michael. Only confused as to why this scope was so limited. It cuts out the main two changes to the game over RB2 and then makes it sound like not much of an upgrade. A tad offensive to the developers.

No one asked for a review of the peripherals, only how the game works with them.
_________________

“Committed to gaming mediocrity and no platinum trophies.”

[Michael Kontoudis]

[Benza]

Still though, when someone ends up buying a keytar, let us know how it goes though, cause keytars are fucking awesome.
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[Jedi_Amara]

[Benza]

[Eyce]

I'm not weighing in on the debate about the review, but I have to help out fellow forumers with the amazing Rock Band Network here.

360 Info:
Australian/New Zealand accounts can't access it, American and UK accounts can. All US/UK songs downloaded to the xbox are able to be played from the Australian/NZ account. Search the internet for ways on making International Gamertags, Maximus Cards for your Microsoft Points transactions.

PS3 Info:
Australian accounts, to my knowledge, are able to download the same RBN songs Americans and UK'ers can. The PS3 RBN DLC is purely based off songs already released on the 360 framework, so there's roughly 5 a week added to the PSN each week. As it's classified as regular DLC, Australians should be able to download the songs fine with no International accounts.
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[moonhead]

[Googol]

^ The RBN is a pretty big feature, but it's by no means a critical point to owning the game. I can understand your disappointment, but the reaction seems a bit harsh.

@ Michael - we have a perfect understanding of the scope of the review, and we don't think it's being deceptive. However, this doesn't stop it from being an incomplete review. It can be helpful for some people, I understand your point, but reviewing it with no coverage of the new instrument, the new game mode or a sweep over the multiplayer, which is how the game is most likely played, is just ridiculous. It's like you're reviewing Rock Band 2's features, not Rock Band 3 features. And the whilst most people probably won't be using Pro mode, or the keyboards, those people will be most likely look into buying the latest Guitar Hero instead. Pro mode and the keyboard are what make this game different to Guitar Hero 6, and not covering them (or the multiplayer) is missing the point of a review - to give a good idea of what the game's like, its quality and how it compares to other games in the same genre. To put it bluntly, this review fails to deliver important information about the game that are critical to people's enjoyment of it. In that respect, the review fails.

If you can't deliver a review that covers all aspects of the game, especially game-crucial features, then it shouldn't be reviewed at all. They're not minor things, they're major changes to the game's gameplay.

Also, Palgn may be staffed by volunteers, but it's still a major website, and reviews are taken into account by Metacritic, Gamerankings and somesuch. You've got a certain obligation to deliver reviews using ALL peripherals, you're a game reviewer on a game reviewing website, you should be able to do that. If you can't (like in this case) then don't review it. If you want to let people know about the current Australian experience, well you've got me there. Perhaps an extended preview? A scoreless review? Regardless, it's review missing huge amounts of important coverage.
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I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. — Steven Wright

One hundred zeroes are better than one.

[light487]

[light487]

[moonhead]

[IISpacebreakII]

[Googol]

Okay, maybe it isn't pointless, that's going too far, and as I said earlier it's a fair point that some people would get some use out of the different style of review. And yes, PALGN staff are volunteers, I know they're not rich, I'm not an idiot.

The thing is, Pro mode and the keys are such major new features that they really need to be reviewed. They're not throwaway new features, they're what distinguish the game from the others - and in the end, we read reviews of sequels to see what's new, not what was in previous games. If it was useful to you, fine. I'm just saying that the omission of Pro mode and keys in this review is a very significant one.
_________________
I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. — Steven Wright

One hundred zeroes are better than one.

[JP2daMC]

Myself and others are allowed to - with respect for the reviewer and for PALGN - to think this is not a complete review and give our feedback as to why, again with respect.

I personally think the reviewer has an obligation to the game being reviewed and the developer who makes it to review the key features of that game. In my opinion, this review doesn't even consider half of the game's content.

And others are allowed to think the opposite.

Robust debate and feedback is the basis of society and it's why we engage in it every day. Hell, our politicians do it in Question Time. The exchange of opinions and ideas makes us consider things we otherwise wouldn't.

So with that said, I enjoyed your views even if they aren't always the same as my own.
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“Committed to gaming mediocrity and no platinum trophies.”

[goodbye]

I've bought into Rock Band over the last few years so it doesn't neccessarily have to be the massive dent in your budget all at once. There's no requirement to go all or nothing so pick & choose and add as you go.

Personally I've only played one song on RB3 on guitar so far as I've been that solidly playing keys or drums/vox. If I didn't have the guitar, I wouldn't miss it. The guitar I used is a guitar hero one I've had a year or two now, the mic can be any usb mic (RB: The Beatles comes bundled with SingStar mics) so it's also not like they're building up a list of otherwise useless instruments so that you have to buy a certain set. Anyone with Singstar or a GH (this gen that is) guitar can just get in on the software to get started. GH games can use the RB drums but not the reverse, so if you have the RB drums you're covered for both series' (no matter how many people at EB tried to tell me different, just try it yourself - works fine on PS3 at the very least).

Also, keytar is awesome, the satisfaction of literally learning a new instrument is so worth it. Even for old songs that have synths or keys charted as guitar or bass, playing on the keyboard brings them new life altogether when before it was just kinda off-putting playing an apparently plastic guitar-shaped piano.

I'd be frustrated if I couldn't get any RBN songs just because others can, but honestly I've only bought 3 so far and that's been all that's interested me. The Aus PSN features the same songs the same week that the rest of the world does (so basically every week another song from four bands you've probably never heard of and yet another track from Jonathon Coulton).

On the slowdown - I play really frequently but I'm a troglodyte and don't have an LCD so I never experience it. I've played with friends on their plasmas or LCDs and yep, we get it occaisionally but I've found that RB3 does it far less often than RB2. In fact it's pretty negligable in comparison and nowhere near gamebreaking in my experience, maybe other platforms/people have it worse.

[Jedi_Amara]

[Nic_231]