As a long time of both The Beatles and Guitar Hero-style games, I was overjoyed the day the “rumour” of a Beatles Rock Band game became reality. It’s a straight fact that almost every band ever featured in guitar rhythm game owes some thanks to the band that started it all. I was worried whether or not they would be able to do the material justice, despite “endorsements” (read: walking onto stage at the Xbox Press Event and waving for a few seconds) from the surviving Beatles. To my great relief, they have managed to create a game that is fun, beautiful, and unexpectedly deep.
The enjoyment felt by playing a music-rhythm game is something you just have to try for yourself. No, obviously you’re not really playing, but if air guitar can have a World Champion, you can enjoy holding some coloured buttons down while you strum a plastic toggle switch! The game features 41 songs spanning all 8 years and 14 albums, from “I Saw Her Standing There” to “Get Back” and everything in between. And I mean everything. Some of the songs I think could have waited for DLC (“Good Morning” and “Lucy”, for starters), but for the most part they have selected a variety of amazing tracks from their prodigious collection.
The songs are unique and beautiful, and the design of the game does not disappoint. All of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games thus far have had more or less the same look and feel. The game is beautiful, and it’s been carefully crafted to showcase all aspects of the Beatles universe. The attention to detail is virtually unsurpassed in any “branded” game. The cinematics are reason enough to do the Story Mode, let alone the rest of the game. Almost every sound in the entire game is actual sound, right down to the opening note of “Getting Better” for the menu sounds. Just before and after a song plays you get little snips of the boys in the recording studio, and it’s almost always an actual outtake from the recording session for that song. Beatles nerds rejoice.
Even the song levels themselves are inspired. The first four “eras” (the band is divided into eight stages covering about 12 months from each year the band were recording) are just live venues, but once you get past the touring years, you get a whole new game. Each song starts off in the studio, but then transforms into a brilliant colourful scene that is different for every song. The choreographed vignettes are expansive and gorgeous. I find myself missing notes because I’m too captivated by the psychadellic scenes of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
I am most impressed by the sheer depth of the game. You can play the game in the four standard positions (guitar, bass, drums, vocals), plus you can also double or even triple the vocals for certain songs. Three part harmonies? Yes we can! I can see a day when as many as seven people may be rocking out at the same time in my apartment. Even if you don’t have any friends and you aren’t in the habit of luring homeless people with food (just promise punch and pie), you can still spend all those lonely nights playing this game. The achievements and rewards are plentiful and even innovative. There are the standard “beat the game” or “beat the game on Awesome” achievements, but there’s also ones for doing certain songs perfectly with specific instruments. I will get the one for beating “I Saw Her Standing There” on bass with 100%. Beating songs will earn you behind the scenes photos, which as you collect opens up bonus movies. There are hundreds of hours of rock to be had. As if that wasn’t enough, downloadable content in the form of full albums begin to roll out next month.
If you have never played a music/rhythm game like Guitar Hero, you can’t go wrong to start with Beatles: Rock Band. This game doesn’t merely repeat the same formula with a Beatles track pack and a few backgrounds. Every aspect of the game oozes the Beatles style. It looks, sounds and plays like you want a Beatles game to. For a modest investment ($250 sounds like a lot, but it comes with a…mic stand?) you too can continue the 40+ year tradition of pretending to be John, Paul, George or Ringo.
