Harmonix recently announced that Rock Band 3 would be making its way to store shelves for Christmas, but unfortunately offered zero details as to what we can expect in the third installment. Speculation has run rampant that Rock Band 3 will be a quantum leap past the first two versions, supposedly featuring the ability to teach gamers how to play an actual instrument. While that would be a monumental achievement, there are still a few elements I would like to see implemented that don’t merit a parade but would be awesome nonetheless.
Add Value to DLC
Downloading new music for your Rock Band sessions is one of the strong points of the franchise, offering over 1000 tracks that cover a wide-range of genres; a little something for everyone, which is great. What is not great is how the DLC is utilized within the multiplayer environment; or should I say, not utilized?
I have over 500 DLC tracks on my system. I have played so few of them with pickup bands that it is frightening. People are so flummoxed by this system they have resorted to changing their player name to something like DLC 320 so others know they at least have some DLC options, even though their selection probably doesn’t match the others.
DLC as it currently stands is a debacle.
People who invest money into DLC should be grouped with other like-minded players. Surely this is not beyond the scope of what the Rock Band servers can do, and if so, I highly recommend Harmonix upgrade their system. Why have I never been grouped with a single person who has The Who or the Chilli Pepper’s Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic album? Why am I stuck in a little bubble? Why have I not been rewarded for being a loyal customer, spending hundred of dollars on new songs, only to be cast adrift on an empty sea?
To further enhance DLC, it would be great if a player could send out a request; for instance, let’s say I want to play some tracks from the Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic. I click the Chili Peppers name in a menu. If other active players have their Chili Peppers filter flagged, they will receive a request to join a pickup band.
However Harmonix decides to tackle this, tackle this they must. DLC is running at half of its capability because it doesn’t properly hook players together with the same songs, so your investment is minimized as you once again find yourself playing Livin’ on a Prayer for the 2,000th time.
Streamlined Interface
The interface that powers current versions of Rock Band is fairly effective but still needs a lot of work. For instance, it shouldn’t take around 5-6 presses of the Back button to return to the Main Menu from the career screen. Music lists should be collapsible and have more sorting options and returning to a session after pausing the game should initiate a brief timer before the notes bash you over the head. Another nice feature would be the ability to delete songs from within Rock Band in order to free up space, instead of having to hunt for the track from the Memory section of the dashboard.
Increased Customization of Character and Instruments
You can never go wrong by offering players a more robust character creation studio. While passable, the current system is still pretty limited. I’m sure a lot of players would love the ability to alter the look of their instruments beyond simple color choices.
Customized & Saveable Set-List
So you’ve downloaded hundreds of news songs for Rock Band and want to create the ultimate set-list that you can return to again and again. Sorry, not possible. Currently, your only option is to create a custom set list every time, from scratch. It would be much better if players could save their set-list and load it up whenever they want. Hell, make the graphic for the set-list look liked a mix-tape on cassette and your aesthetic is complete.
More Informative Practice Mode
I’m really trying to get a handle on the more difficult Expert songs and have basically hit a wall that is taking me forever to penetrate. Namely, those sequences of notes where the screen is ablaze with countless notes. It is here where people have many different techniques for handling these sequences, but Rock Band as a game is of little to no help. Sorry, but a next to useless tutorial on Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs just doesn’t cut it at the higher levels. I’d like to see more guidance, more suggested techniques, perhaps a few videos of how to handle the most challenging sequences.
Pink Floyd & Led Zeppelin
Just get this deal done so we can all get on with our lives.
What would you like to see in Rock Band 3? Let us know in the comments below!
