The Ultimate Rock Band
I gotta be honest the first two RB's never really wowed me. Both the lack of music variety and general novelty would wear off pretty soon. So I wasn't particularly thrilled about the prospect of a new entry, but the sheer polish, variety, and customization gave my attitude a total 180. And it makes it that much worse that the greatest Rock Band experience comes in a time where the rhythm genre has bottomed out and most will never give it a chance.
Unlike Activision, Harmonix seems to understand what their fans love. The career cut scenes and menus overflow with your characters to give the player that much more time with their characters. The only misstep being the unlock method of the clothes that locks out some of the best costume pieces unless you're willing to surrender your social life, and wallet, to the game.
This set list is without a doubt the best variety of songs in any of the games. And I'm pretty sure I have the keyboard to thank for that. Even now most of my favorite songs are still the on disk songs.
As the future of the series, and genre, teeters on the edge of oblivion Rock Band 3 is a near perfect note to go out on.