Since we reviewed Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock earlier today, it would only seem fitting to continue by writing up our review for Rock Band 3 on the Wii and DS. The approach with Rock Band has been quite different than Guitar Hero. Instead of coming out with a game every single year, Harmonix decided to wait awhile before releasing RB3 and included a slew of new features.

Wii Version

By now most of you probably know how Rock Band/Guitar Hero are played so I’ll touch on only the features that set RB3 apart. One of the core, new features in Rock Band 3 is the Pro Mode. This mode allows you to hook up more realistic instruments to play songs with such as a 25-keyboard, guitar with real strings, and even adding cymbals to the existing drum set. All in all, you can learn to play the real drums, real guitar, and piano all with Rock Band 3. This is the main draw that Rock Band 3 has over Guitar Hero which sticks with the normal 5 button guitar and standard plastic instruments. We didn’t receive any of the new instruments with our review copy so unfortunately didn’t get to try out the new hardware, but it’s still a great selling point for the game.

Graphics for the game are pretty standard and the game is fluid except for some longer than usual load times here and there. The load times to get in between menus and songs is probably my biggest complaint with RB3 over Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock.

DS Version

The DS version is like the other handheld editions of the RB games in the past. You’ll see the same interface that you normally would on the Wii while playing but you can now switch between instruments on the fly. So if you’re playing the guitar on the touch screen, you can toggle to the right and start playing the drumline or bass line. It’s mostly just a rhythm matching game and doesn’t allow for much beyond that which isn’t the most fun.

Overall, I was a little disappointed in Rock Band 3. The load times are a big issue and since we didn’t receive any hardware with our copy, it really handicapped what we could try out with the new instruments. And if you want to fully experience Rock Band 3, you’re going to have to shell out a lot of cash to get the real guitar and the game. Despite having some really amazing, promising features/hardware, Rock Band 3 is just not as practical.

Rock Band 3 Wii gets a 7.0/10
Rock Band 3 DS gets a 5.0/10