Review: The Beatles Rock Band

If I had to choose just two genres of games to play for the rest of eternity, I would have to pick first person shooters, and music/rhythm titles.  A curious combination I admit, but if there isn’t a new game to play those are the two types of game I inevitably go back to.

With that in mind I was pretty pleased when I received a review copy of The Beatles: Rock Band from Electronic Arts.  Now in all honesty I didn’t know much about The Beatles; I mean I knew their songs, but that’s about it.  So the game, for me, was quite a good insight into the band’s history — and as well as a carefully selected chunk of their massive back catalog.

The Beatles: Rock Band gives you a choice of three modes of play.  The first is Story Mode, the obvious shout-out to the usual Rock Band/Guitar Hero career mode we’re all used to.  The other two are Quick Play and Training.

Story mode is the main attraction here as you are taken through the band’s history, starting with their gig in the Cavern club back in 1963, all the way the though to the band’s last gig on the Apple Corps rooftop in 1969.  In between those you have famous gigs such as the Ed Sullivan show in 1964, the Budokan in 1966 and the trippy yet classic studio sessions at Abbey Road, where some of the Beatles’ best music was produced.  Story mode offers great insight into the band and the stages they progressed through, both visually and musically.  Each venue and stage of the band’s career is represented by a four to seven track setlist, highlighting some of the best music by the band.  Sadly though, major hits like Help and Let It Be haven’t been included in the set list.  Nevertheless, other favorites such as I Wanna Hold Your Hand and Twist And Shout have made it — so it’s not all doom and gloom for the forty five tracks that have made it onto the game.

As is the standard for music rhythm games nowadays, the game supports the guitar, drum and microphone peripherals.  Interestingly enough the game supports three microphones, allowing for some great three part harmonies, which is a great tribute to the band and their vocal style. But with all pleasure comes a little bit of pain, as the game has totally stripped away compatibility with official Xbox LIVE headsets, which was there in both Rock Band and Rock Band 2.  But that aside, the band play in this game is tight and a joy to play.

What I think really makes the game are the visuals. Each stage throughout the story mode is brightly colored and depicts the band well, showing them age as time progresses.  The particularly trippy Abbey Road set lists are possibly some of my favorite ones; the songs I Am The Walrus and Hello Goodbye feature some of the most peculiar visuals I have seen in any Rock Band/Guitar hero game.  Maybe Harmonix was giving Beatles fans a taste of the ‘high’ life the band had back then.  As a whole the visuals are pretty darn good.  The say the fret boards light up when overdrive/Beatlemania is activated really captivate the retro 60′s feel the game is trying to achieve.  The visuals here do the band justice by themselves in my opinion. It puts a great big smile on my face and quite frankly I a not that much of a Beatles fan.

Before this game was due for release Harmonix stressed to the Rock Band and Beatles fans out there that this will be a big tribute to the band, and protect the sanctity of the music.  Now I respect that, but as a result, a lot of classic Guitar Hero functionality is not supported.  The whammy bar has no effect, the sound that indicates you gaining another star as you progress through the song has been removed, and little bits like the sound effect switch on the Rock Band guitar have been removed.  While not a dreadful result, the game just seems a bit plain without them.  Not only that, but drum fills have been totally stripped, and replaced with a single green note to activate Beatlemania.  In the end, the absences of these more classic Rock Band gameplay elements are really the only complaints I have with the game.

All in all, The Beatles: Rockband is a joy to experience.  You can never be sad playing it, and it’s a great tribute to the band and their musical career throughout the 1960′s.  It’s a game that will bring Beatles fans together, be the main entertainment at parties and will sure as heck make people say “Oh — so the Beatles did this track!”

And now, a second opinion, courtesy of One Last Continue’s own Simon Williams.

Ever since I could listen my father has taught me about music, more importantly, the music he listened to.  His favorite band ever was, and still is The Beatles, so I’ve known my fair bit of Beatles trivia, and lots of theirs songs for most of my life.  But I wasn’t sure if I should get Rock Band: Beatles, since their music isn’t a real challenge so for someone like me who plays these type of games all the time:  it’s like loading up the first Guitar Hero game right after playing the latest.  But for the music fan, Rock Band: Beatles is one of the best tributes to any band ever.  This game isn’t for crazy note scores. It’s for the love of The Beatles. When I finally convinced myself of this I went out, got the game, came home and played it from start to finish.

Each song has its own special video that just oozes with real knowledge and real respect for the greatest band ever.  From the opening screams, to the first notes of Twist and Shout in The Cavern at the start of the game, to the dramatic full stop and chilling silence from I Want You (She’s So Heavy) on The Apple Corps rooftop, Rock Band: The Beatles is a gem. There is no game like this and I’m afraid to say there never will be either.  There is no other band in the world with such a vast history as The Beatles.  The pictures and videos you unlock throughout the game  might not be anything really new for the true Beatles collector, but it still adds to the greatness of  Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Okay — I do have some minor gripes with the game.  In my opinion, I Want You (She’s So Heavy) should have been the last song.  It makes an excellent closer, and although the two songs that come after it (Get Back and The End) are great songs, they left me with no sense of completing the game like I Want You would have done.  Add to that, I think there should really have been more songs that were only released as forty five singles included in the game.  The largely album-only songs approach they took just doesn’t cut it and leaves every Beatles fan with at least one song they’re missing.  And really, it wouldn’t have mattered if there were no drums in the song or no guitar because as I said before, this game is not meant to be a challenge.

But compared to the total quality of the game, those gripes amount to nothing.  If there’s one thing you can take from me it’s this: every self-respecting Beatles fan who is also a gamer needs to go out and buy this game now.  There is no doubt that if you love The Beatles, you will love this game.  Really, what are you waiting for?  Go get it now!  Go!

A copy of this title was provided to OneLastContinue for review purposes on Xbox 360 courtesy of Electronic Arts.