Band World Tour, the multiplayer career mode, lives up to all of the hype. We've seen some amazing multiplayer experiences this year, but few things compare to getting a group together, and feeding off one another's energy. That superlative aside, it's also a great split from the linear tradition of music games. Rather than unlocking songs by clearing a checklist, you'll bounce from spot to spot and decide how you're planning to tackle each city and each venue. Sometimes you'll get assigned with a random setlist. Sometimes you'll have pre-set performances with the promise of both big rewards and "all or nothing" stipulations attached.
Most importantly, you'll have choices to make. If you continue to play without changing difficulty levels, you'll play through songs, but you'll begin to gain less and less as you continue touring. Is it worth powering through a setlist to clear it, or can you afford to up the difficulty to gain more fans and cash? They're choices that you haven't been presented with before; this risk versus reward system works well. We wish you could link up with other friends online, but currently, it's not available.
Otherwise, Rock Band's online multiplayer is great. Compared to many sloppily implemented titles, it's got some of the best PlayStation Network functionality of nearly every other PS3 game out there. You can access your PSN Friends List (and send/receive messages) in-game, rather than exiting and going into the menus. You can also send game invites, or check for invites without having hit the XMB menu. We jumped into several online games with total strangers and had no lag in any of our games. If you're not interested in making music with people you don't know, you'll have other multiplayer options. In Score Duel and Tug of War, you'll be able to jump onto PlayStation Network and battle other players.
After putting in our fair share of time on the PS3 version of Rock Band, we're very happy. Aside from the technical hiccups associated with guitar incompatibility --we'd recommend the special bundle if you're dying to play it with friends and family before Christmas, but you really ought to wait if you're holding out for a single instrument and copy of the standalone game-- Rock Band is one of the best titles to grace Sony's console this year. Its PlayStation Network implementation rivals many features found in the Xbox 360 version, and its offline multiplayer is unparalleled. Factor in reasonably priced downloadable content, and you've got the recipe for one of the year's best games, bar none.
