The Beatles: Rock Band
I just read that Guitar Hero 5 was comfortably outselling The Beatles: Rock Band. The fuck is up with that? The only thing that seems interesting about that game is the questionable use of Johnny Cash and Curt Cobain as playable characters. On the other hand, The Beatles: Rock Band is easily the best gaming experience I’ve had all year.
You have to understand that this is completely different from a game like Guitar Hero: Metallica or even that Rock Band: AC/DC pack. This is no simple track pack, this is like a documentary. A documentary game. Everything was designed to take you on a journey through the Beatles’ career. From the breathtaking opening cinematic to the final credits of story mode, it’s obvious an incredible amount of care went into making this title possible.
The main feature is the story mode. You start out playing in clubs in England, and play in all the big venues you’d expect, Ed Sullivan, Shea Stadium, and Budokan. After that, as we all know, the Beatles went studio. The game’s answer for that are these sweet dreamscapes that are somewhat interpretative of the lyrics or reflective of the Beatles films. All in all, the game provides a delightful glimpse at what it was like to live through the Beatles.
There are 45 songs in the game. That’s fine. Sure, it would be nice to have more, but these are 45 great songs. I’m sure Harmonix wanted to maximize DLC sale, and I can’t blame them. Everything sounds great and it’s all charted well. The big new feature is vocal harmonies, and I can’t imagine going back to a game without them. Playing and singing is incalculably fun, you really have to try it.
I’m bored of writing this. Have been since I started. I shouldn’t have to write this. You know how you feel about the Beatles. If you like that music at all, buy this freaking game. Even if you don’t like video games, buy it. It’s so good.