By Anthony Kennedy
The Beatles: Rock Band
Publisher: Harmonix/MTV Games (PS3/360/Wii)
In an industry full of huge licenses, Harmonix scored arguably the biggest mainstream license that exists: The Beatles. Deciding to one-up Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise (a series the Harmonix developers helped create), they shot for the stars figuring if you’re going to lock bands down to an exclusive contract, you might as well get the biggest, most influential band of the last fifty years. No doubt costing them some big money, but there’s little doubt that The Beatles: Rock Band is worth, no matter the price.
The Beatles: Rock Band delivers with superb graphics and gameplay tweaks that satisfy the curiosity of even the most-jaded Rock Band fans. On the PS3 and 360, Paul, John, George and Ringo are amazingly rendered. Harmonix took special care to show the various looks the Beatles displayed as they aged. From the clean cut teen bopper group debuting on the Ed Sullivan Show to their long haired, ‘70’s hippie look in their later years. As a generation-spanning vehicle, the game makes its gameplay so approachable that it’s impossible to deny any player the chance to experience all the songs on the game disc.
Harmonix’s newest game scales a wall that lesser developers would shudder to even glance at: tackling the storied career of arguably the world’s most popular band. To do this, the developers dumped the normal World Tour mode, instead letting players work their way through The Beatles’ career. The game’s not a documentary, although key Beatles trivia, photos and audio can be unlocked by reaching specific milestones or in-game achievements. The Beatles early years in Rock Band has players traversing the world to key concerts i.e. Shea Stadium, the Ed Sullivan Show, Budokan, etc. The second half however is the true gem of the game, as all of the Abbey Road songs are played in the famed studio background that then meld into a psychedelic acid trip video, played against backdrops that are more interpretive of the mood and tone of the music.
Another departure from the traditional Rock Band model is the inclusion of the new three part harmonizing gameplay element. Using up to three microphones, band members can work on their vocals to sing different parts of the song while the other players work on the instrument side, jacking the potential band member list to six. Unfortunately, though, singing through those songs could get a little tiring for those players who don’t have an Xbox Live or PlayStation Network account, because Beatles: Rock Band includes fewer on-disc songs than gamers are used to seeing.
While the Beatles are a great band, it is almost criminal that the publishers only included 45 tracks on the disc. Especially since the game focuses on just this one band. No doubt Harmonix plans on releasing more songs via DLC with “All You need is Love” being the first. This small downer isn’t exactly helped by the fact that Beatles: Rock Band seems easier than previous Rock Band outings. Harmonix was likely just trying to make the game more approachable to anyone who wanted to be exposed to The Beatle’s song catalogue, but for Rock Band veterans who’ve grown accustomed to the challenge Rock Band gameplay possessed, Beatles: Rock Band might be a bit disappointing.
The Beatles: Rock Band does everything it needed to as a game, both to live up to hype a game based on the Fab Four would generate while opening up vast (and impressive) Beatles song catalogue to a new generation of would-be musicians. Regardless of song list length, this is the Beatles and it’s Rock Band. Cop this now.
Out of 5
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