I'll start out with the admission that I am a fan of The Beatles. Admission is the first step in dealing with a problem, correct? I will also admit that my fandom may have perhaps skewed my review a slight bit. If that is a problem and you are looking for an impartial review, please stop reading. Anything that contains The Beatles is alright by me. That said, let us continue...
Musical greatness is a topic that is avidly and passionately argued by just about everyone. Even if you are not a fan of The Beatles, I think you would be hard pressed to deny that The Beatles had a great influence on rock and roll as a whole. The fact that The Beatles: Rock Band exists makes a statement. It makes a statement for the greatness of The Beatles, but it also makes a statement for the medium of video games. Arguably the greatest band of all time has granted full access to their legendary catalog and allowed and inside look to a video game company. That is saying something...
Let's start with the game itself. What we have here is pretty standard Rock Band stuff. There are really no surprises in terms of delivery and gameplay. The game is still played with plastic instruments, and you still pretend that you are musically talented while playing it. You have your basic quick play mode and what is called the Story Mode. The Story Mode follows The Beatles from their early days in the Cavern Club to their drug ravaged sessions at the Abbey Road studio. Each act in the story mode chronicles the band's life in the respective eras through introduction videos and song choices. Depending on the number of stars you unlock after playing each song, you unlock new photos of the band or actual clips of the band during that era.
Where this game differs from other Rock Band releases is in the presentation of the portrayed band. This is The Beatles we are talking about here. This is not a hodge podge of Harmonix created rock star avatars that are thrown together onstage to strum along to your favorite Paramore song. Harmonix really stepped their game up on character designs. The character models seemed much more lifelike and soulful than in other Rock Band releases. Perhaps this can be attributed to having an actual human being to compare the avatars to. Regardless, the attention to detail is impressive. In addition to quality character models, it appears that Harmonix put in some overtime to make the characters actions as musically accurate as possible. A number of times I noticed George's hands on the fret boards performing hammer-ons at the appropriate times or Paul moving his hands up and down the fretboard with the actual notes of the bassline. Previous Rock Band games seemed to ignore this important point. The Beatles: Rock Band made the in game avatars look and act like the real musicians they portrayed.
The settings in which the game took place provided the Harmonix team with some unique visual challenges. Each section in the story mode found The Beatles in an appropriate venue for era. The actual live venues provided quality matches when compared to their real life counterparts. It was quite obvious that pain staking detail was poured into the the virtual Cavern Club, The Ed Sullivan Show set, Budokan, Shea Stadium, Abbey Road Studios, and the Apple Corp rooftops. Even though the level of detail in the live venues was as impressive is it was, the Abbey Road sessions made the game shine. The Beatles quit touring prior to the Abbey Road Studio sessions and started writing more psychadelic music. The Harmonix team made respectful use out the their granted artistic license and developed incredible fade in/fade out dream sequences to match each of the songs from these era. The sequences ranged from the dark and moody blacks and whites of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, to the bright lights of Here Comes the Sun. These dream sequences alone make The Beatles Rock Band a must play for any fan of the band.
I think it is quite obvious that I really enjoyed this game, but as with any title, there are some things that really frosted my tail. First off, the same few crowd characters were used and re-used throughout the songs in each era. This is the freaking Beatles...you know, the band that started the screaming, chasing teenage girls thing? A bad that continues to sell mass amounts of records nearly 40 years after their existence. I think some more fan animations were in order. Another point of contention for me is the lack of guitar straps on the characters. Seriously, are you going to tell me that The Beatles never used guitar straps? Ever? Finally, the song choices. Seriously, no Hey Jude? No Eleanor Rigby? Then I realize that we still need to be milked for money via downloadable content. It makes sense now!
I must recommend this game to any fan of music, otherwise I would not be able to sleep at night. Obviously, this is a must play for fans of The Beatles. Unless your hate kittens, your Grandma, and rock and roll, you will pick this game up. Even my wife likes it (and she thinks video games are for stupid boys).
Musical greatness is a topic that is avidly and passionately argued by just about everyone. Even if you are not a fan of The Beatles, I think you would be hard pressed to deny that The Beatles had a great influence on rock and roll as a whole. The fact that The Beatles: Rock Band exists makes a statement. It makes a statement for the greatness of The Beatles, but it also makes a statement for the medium of video games. Arguably the greatest band of all time has granted full access to their legendary catalog and allowed and inside look to a video game company. That is saying something...
Let's start with the game itself. What we have here is pretty standard Rock Band stuff. There are really no surprises in terms of delivery and gameplay. The game is still played with plastic instruments, and you still pretend that you are musically talented while playing it. You have your basic quick play mode and what is called the Story Mode. The Story Mode follows The Beatles from their early days in the Cavern Club to their drug ravaged sessions at the Abbey Road studio. Each act in the story mode chronicles the band's life in the respective eras through introduction videos and song choices. Depending on the number of stars you unlock after playing each song, you unlock new photos of the band or actual clips of the band during that era.
Where this game differs from other Rock Band releases is in the presentation of the portrayed band. This is The Beatles we are talking about here. This is not a hodge podge of Harmonix created rock star avatars that are thrown together onstage to strum along to your favorite Paramore song. Harmonix really stepped their game up on character designs. The character models seemed much more lifelike and soulful than in other Rock Band releases. Perhaps this can be attributed to having an actual human being to compare the avatars to. Regardless, the attention to detail is impressive. In addition to quality character models, it appears that Harmonix put in some overtime to make the characters actions as musically accurate as possible. A number of times I noticed George's hands on the fret boards performing hammer-ons at the appropriate times or Paul moving his hands up and down the fretboard with the actual notes of the bassline. Previous Rock Band games seemed to ignore this important point. The Beatles: Rock Band made the in game avatars look and act like the real musicians they portrayed.
The settings in which the game took place provided the Harmonix team with some unique visual challenges. Each section in the story mode found The Beatles in an appropriate venue for era. The actual live venues provided quality matches when compared to their real life counterparts. It was quite obvious that pain staking detail was poured into the the virtual Cavern Club, The Ed Sullivan Show set, Budokan, Shea Stadium, Abbey Road Studios, and the Apple Corp rooftops. Even though the level of detail in the live venues was as impressive is it was, the Abbey Road sessions made the game shine. The Beatles quit touring prior to the Abbey Road Studio sessions and started writing more psychadelic music. The Harmonix team made respectful use out the their granted artistic license and developed incredible fade in/fade out dream sequences to match each of the songs from these era. The sequences ranged from the dark and moody blacks and whites of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, to the bright lights of Here Comes the Sun. These dream sequences alone make The Beatles Rock Band a must play for any fan of the band.
I think it is quite obvious that I really enjoyed this game, but as with any title, there are some things that really frosted my tail. First off, the same few crowd characters were used and re-used throughout the songs in each era. This is the freaking Beatles...you know, the band that started the screaming, chasing teenage girls thing? A bad that continues to sell mass amounts of records nearly 40 years after their existence. I think some more fan animations were in order. Another point of contention for me is the lack of guitar straps on the characters. Seriously, are you going to tell me that The Beatles never used guitar straps? Ever? Finally, the song choices. Seriously, no Hey Jude? No Eleanor Rigby? Then I realize that we still need to be milked for money via downloadable content. It makes sense now!
I must recommend this game to any fan of music, otherwise I would not be able to sleep at night. Obviously, this is a must play for fans of The Beatles. Unless your hate kittens, your Grandma, and rock and roll, you will pick this game up. Even my wife likes it (and she thinks video games are for stupid boys).
I've never been a huge fan of Beatles music, but this game was accessible to me, and encouraged me to try out more. I haven't purchased it yet, but am looking forward to grabbing it soon. Great review :)
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