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::PUBLISHER::
Harmonix
::DEVELOPER::
MTV Games, Electronic Arts
::GENRE::
Music/Rythm
::RELEASE DATE::
09/09/09
::PLAYERS::
1-6
::LIVE::
Xbox Live play, Leaderboards, Downloadable Content, Co-Op
::COST::
$59.99
::FEATURES::
720p/1080i/1080p, In-Game Dolby Digital, Co-Op, Musical Perherpirals
Good: A dream come true for any Beatles fan.
Bad: The game may not be something you go back to and play often afer the initial thrill wears off.
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Box art
Ed Sullivan Show
Sgt. Pepper
more images >
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The Beatles: Rock Band Review
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Harmonix brings the Fab Four to Rock Band for a undeniably fabulous experience.
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The Beatles are a big deal to some people. Naturally, then, The Beatles: Rock Band is a big deal to some people. As a young child, my father always had The Beatles playing in our house. Even the earliest home videos of me trying to crawl around as a baby have Rubber Soul playing in the background. Help! became a favorite movie for me and my two sisters and we'd watch it constantly. While other kids our age were listening to New Kids on the Block in 1990, we were set on The Beatles. I had planned on marrying Paul, and my older sister, John. Unfortunately, our fandom hit a tiny snag, as our father had failed to inform us that The Beatles were old music. It was a very tragic day in our household when we finally found out that not only had The Beatles broken up almost fifteen years before I was born, but also that my sister's future husband had been killed the year before she was born. Our entire Beatles life had been a lie.
Fast forward to yesterday, when I finally got my hands on The Beatles: Rock Band. Given my history of personal Beatlemania, seeing the Fab Four come alive as I combined two of my favorite things (The Beatles and rhythm games) was like a tiny piece of heaven. I had been concerned that my inner hype about the game and over critical cynicism was going to make the real thing feel like a let down, but The Beatles: Rock Band delivered in every way.
The game is split into two modes: Quickplay or Story Mode. Story Mode leads you through different periods from The Beatles' career. For every song, there is a specific video that plays in the background. It is either a specific venue or a "dreamscape". A dreamscape is Harmonix's dreamed up fantasy world for The Beatles to play in after they stopped touring and went to only recording in the studio. These colorful images manage to perfectly capture the feel of each song and it is worth it to take time to watch the background videos on their own while someone else plays, or during Performance Mode when the tracks are hidden.
The Beatles themselves are perfectly rendered as video games characters. We have already seen popular musicians glorified in rhythm games through Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and all the cameos in Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 5. However, there has always been something a little stiff and awkward about those character models playing along. The opposite is true for The Beatles. John, Paul, George, and Ringo truly come to life on screen with all their unique movements and facial expressions seamlessly recreated in the digital world. Since each song plays the exact same video each time, it may have been easier to fine tune each angle and each shot. Whatever the case, Harmonix pulled off an amazing feat in being able to find a perfect balance between realistic and cartoony looks for The Beatles.
Diehard fans of rhythm games may have heard about The Beatles: Rock Band coming out and wondered if the difficulty would be too easy. After all, when one thinks of The Beatles, they don't think about crazy guitar solos or difficult intricate drum beats. However, the charts in the game for guitar, bass, and drums, while of course not mind-blowingly difficult, are challenging enough to keep each band member interested. The formula for the instruments has not been changed up much from Rock Band 2. The only major difference from Rock Band 2 is that the drum fills and final green note to turn on Overdrive have now turned into a lit up highway under the green note while the song's regular notes continue to scroll followed by a single green note to turn on Beatlemania. This means that if you choose to save your Beatlemania rather than immediately deploy it, the notes will not be hidden and the song will not be disrupted as you wait for the right time to use it. One can only hope that this is a pattern that will continue into Rock Band 3 when it comes out. In addition, the drum trainer from Rock Band 2 is back and surprisingly more difficult.
Another change that will hopefully be permanent to the Rock Band franchise is the new singing engine with three part harmonies. This feature alone pushes The Beatles: Rock Band to the top of the pack in rhythm games. Up to three microphones can be connected to your Xbox, and songs will let you know on their difficulty rating if there is a single melody, two-part harmony, or three-part harmony. Each singer will control a different shaped arrow pointer, so no one will be confused about what to look at. The game shows melody parts as a blue line, first harmony as an orange line, and second harmony as a reddish-brown line. If parts sing different lyrics, the lyrics will appear both above and below the track. In harmonies multiplayer, as long as one singer gets a Fab (Rock Band's "Awesome"), the entire singing track will keep its score mutliplier.
When there is only one part, all three singers can sing along, and the game will award points according to how much of the notes are actually sung between each singer. In other words, it looks for the presence of the correct part, even if it's coming from different singers at different times. When harmony comes into play, singers can break off into their own part and be awarded "Double Fab" for getting a Fab on two parts, or "Triple Fab" for getting a Fab on all three parts. Again, as long as at least one singer gets a Fab on their part, the multiplier keeps going. Whether you are harmonizing with each other, or all singing all one line, the experience of three player cooperative singing is probably the highlight of the game. Many people have stage fright when singing in front of other people, even in their own living room. With three singers, not only is there no chance for stage fright, but also you truly feel like a band. And if your band needs vocal practice, you can turn to the vocals training mode which will allow players to learn each part on their own.
Every time you beat a song to clear particular goals (pass the song, five star the song, five star all songs in a set), you receive special Beatles photos that can be viewed along with facts about the pictures. After receiving a certain number of photos, you unlock rare videos of The Beatles. For any Beatles fan, this behind-the-scenes extra is a real plus.
The Beatles: Rock Band is an incredibly polished game and playing it is a truly special experience. If you are not a fan of the band, then you will be disappointed that the only songs featured on the game are Beatles songs. However, if you are not a fan of the band, then you either should realize that this is a game exclusively about experiencing The Beatles in a new way and take that opportunity to appreciate their music, or you shouldn't be buying the game to the begin with. That said, you probably should buy the game to begin with anyway, even if you don't understand what the fuss is about. There is a reason why The Beatles were so wildly successful and there is a reason why The Beatles chose Harmonix to make their game: there are shining stars in every field who do their jobs well. The Beatles: Rock Band was born out of these two stars.
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If you like The Beatles, buying this game is a no-brainer. If you are neutral or unfamiliar with The Beatles, this game is a great opportunity to experience them in a fantastic new way. If you hate The Beatles music, you should probably steer clear, or at least try it before you buy it.
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