As a true convert to the Rock Band / Guitar Hero genre of video games, I looked to the release of The Beatles Rock Band game with much anticipation. I know I've discussed them before, but as a real musician, I initially scoffed at this line of games. Until I played them. Completely addictive, lots of fun with family and friends. And at least as far as the drums and vocal parts go, they can actually approximate the real deal. (The bass and guitar parts don't really help with your musical skills, other than perhaps with certain rhythms).
Anyway, The Beatles Rock Band takes the familiar Rock Band / Guitar Hero formula and makes it all Beatles. The remastered Beatles music is given the Rock Band treatment.
As a Game
It mostly follows the Rock Band format of guitar, bass, drum and vocal capabilities with Novice, Medium, Hard and Expert levels to choose from for each. Between 1-6 people can play at the same time, so there is great versatility with numbers and friends won't feel left out. Also, each player sets their own level, so I could play Expert bass while a friend who has never played before could play with me on "Tomorrow Never Knows" as a Novice drummer. You can just Quickplay certain songs if you want, or you can challenge yourself through the Story option (the same as the Tour option on the previous games), where you have to work your way through The Beatles' career. This is extremely well done. You work your way through various historical gigs/locations through the Beatles story, starting at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and finishing on the rooftop of Apple Studios for their last performance together in front of an audience. The songs you are required to play are also chronological, which makes sense. You start on the easier tunes like "Twist and Shout" and "I Saw Her Standing There" and wrap up with "Come Together" and "Get Back."
Generally speaking, this is a little easier than the traditional Rock Band. While some tunes are definitely challenging (I did fail out a couple of times), the hardest songs here are not nearly as difficult as the hardest tunes available on regular Rock Band. For instance, my wife being out of town this weekend, I played the game most of the day yesterday solo and already won the entire Story feature within about 4 hours. I hopped around from vocals to bass to guitar to drums just for variety, and was able to get through on either Hard or Expert levels on any instrument with little difficulty (granted I have put in more time than I would like to admit perfecting my general Rock Band skills). On the regular Rock Band game, getting through the Tour option (which I have done as well) took a lot more time and effort.
One other complaint is that the game only comes with about 40 songs. But as they do with Rock Band, they plan on having more Beatles songs available for download in the coming months. My understanding is that in each of the coming months, they will have an entire Beatles album available for download for Beatles Rock Band. I think the rest of Abbey Road (the tunes not already available with the game) is on tap for October. Whatever. I'll pay. It will be fun to be able to play the albums from start to finish. (One of the most fun times I have had with regular Rock Band was in Houston months ago playing with my buddies Jim, Louie, Bryan and Kyle as we worked our way through The Cars' debut album in its entirety).
One funny change they made: yes, you can fail out. But unlike on the other Rock Band games, the crowd does not boo you off the stage when you fail out. You just fail out. Hey, you don't boo the freakin' Beatles!
The only real addition to the game format is the ability to sing harmony vocals. Instead of just one vocalist, the game allows you to have up to three vocalists who dare to re-create the harmonies of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.
Last night I played a Let It Be-era set trying to play bass while also singing with a mike stand. That is challenging. I was able to stay alive playing Medium level bass and singing Hard level vocals. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. Lots of fun too.
For Beatles Fans
Now, for Beatles fans this is a wonderful goldmine. First, it looks beautiful. With thoughtful and thrilling era-appropriate backgrounds (from Hamburg to psychedelia) and cartoons throughout the game, it is a visual masterpiece. They unearthed rare studio chatter from throughout the band's career, and so as you are waiting for each song to load up to play, you get to hear all of this chatter that is related to the song you are about to play. Nice. As prizes for advancing in the Story game and for scoring high points on songs, you unlock rare photos and even video clips to view. The video clips are awesome. So far I've unlocked a rehearsal take of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" when preparing to perform on Ed Sullivan, some fun goofing on a train while on their first American tour and a rare, fan-club only Christmas record. Great stuff.
Also, if you want to pay for the deluxe set, you can get reproduction instruments to use (my favorite has to be the McCartney Hofner bass). You don't have to buy the instruments since the game works fine with the regular Rock Band instruments (and likewise, the special Beatles instruments will work on other Rock Band / Guitar Hero titles), but the true fan needs the Beatles instruments.
Gameplay: *** out of ***** (when compared to other Rock Band titles available)
As a Beatles tribute: **** out of *****
No comments:
Post a Comment