The beginning of the end for one of the best music series in history.
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When a game is destined to become a failure, it is often seen from the league. For example, Rambo: The Videogame is a good example. The fans of the mythical Stallone films were finally wishing for a game to match the character and what they gave us was one of the most traumatic experiences I have ever had with a video game.
However, at the time of Rock Band 3’s release, no one predicted the magnitude of failure commercial. They only sold 7,400 units between all platforms (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and the Nintendo DS), which is crazy if you think about it. To contextualize, the first Rock Band sold 4 million units, and the first Guitar Hero, 11.8 million. Considering that the game sold such a ridiculous amount, if we add to this the countless peripherals that were also released alongside the game, this was not just a failure, but a disaster of epic proportions.
However, it was a game that received a very positive critical reception, with a 90 in Metacritic and to which we gave it an 8. Practically all the media and specialized magazines presented it as one of the best games of the series. Peripherals that came with the launch, including the MIDI adapter allowing you to connect your own instruments, the keytar and professional guitars with 102 buttons, were praised as a bridge to start playing real music. And is that Harmonix made people learn to play real instruments.
Only if we think back can we see what went wrong. From the release of Rock Band 2 (2008) to Rock Band 3 (2010) we had: The Beatles Rock Band, Lego Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, Rock Band Mobile y Green Day Rock Band. And if we talk about the Guitar Hero franchise, we had: Band Hero, DJ Hero, World Tour and many others. The song packs came out on sale at the Xbox Store every week and the players had reached an extreme saturation point. Sales were declining. The general opinion was that a single main line of Rock Band and Guitar Hero It would revitalize everything, but, well, the general opinion was wrong.
To this we have to add the topic of peripherals. I for example i bought the keytar for reasons I can’t fully explain, but the drum kit with additional cymbals, the two professional controllers, etc, were something that just couldn’t justify the purchase or the space in my room, let alone at those prices. The peripherals also came from many other games, platforms and genres, since Guitar Hero had started a kind of trend in those years.
But I think the most important thing was that Rock Band 3 was a very niche game. Rock Band 3 was a game created for music lovers who wanted to bring their skills to video games. It was basically a music game that really would allow you to improve in the real world. Rock Band 3 was for a game made for real musicians and not for the general public, including myself.
When we look back it is obvious to see that Rock Band 3 couldn’t do anything but fail, to get up five years later and fail again. But, having been one of the 7,400 people who bought Rock Band 3, I was too blinded by how damn wonderful everything was. The 83 songs that the game included were more varied, and I always liked that about Rock Band. And it is that this installment of Rock Band was not only rock and heavy metal, but you also had classics from the 80s such as Dire Straits – “Walk of Life” The Huey Lewis and the News – “The Power of Love”.
The Turn way It was a rehash of the previous installment, but it was nice to get back on the bus and hunt for fans and achievements to show off with our Live buddies. It was the perfect game mode to give fans something to come back for. We may never see another Rock Band, that there is no new encore for this great series, but with Rock Band 3 y Rock Band 4 we have some impressive ending themes that will remain in our memories forever.
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