The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360)

...experience for those who enjoy the likes of Singstar and Guitar Hero. Unlike previous releases in the series, which have generally allowed you to bring your songs along with you, this is an entirely stand alone product

The game comes in three packages. Game only, at around £30-40, for those who already have instruments. For an extra £80, the Value edition uses the same instruments as on previous versions of the game. There's also a premium ...
...losing nothing by playing with the standard instruments, so it's a lot to lay out on a few extra bits of plastic.

The Beatles themselves surely need no introduction, being the biggest selling band of all time, and this game comes with the endorsement of surviving members Paul and Ringo and Apple Corps, the company they founded back in the sixties to look after their intellectual property rights.


== Gameplay ==
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Introduction

Rock band has been around for a while now, offering an excellent co-operative experience for those who enjoy the likes of Singstar and Guitar Hero. Unlike previous releases in the series, which have generally allowed you to bring your songs along with you, this is an entirely stand alone product

The game comes in three packages. Game only, at around £30-40, for those who already have instruments. For an extra £80, the Value edition uses the same instruments as on previous versions of the game. There's also a premium edition with authentic looking instruments for the especially nostalgic for a whopping price of around £180. In all seriousness though, you're losing nothing by playing with the standard instruments, so it's a lot to lay out on a few extra bits of plastic.

The Beatles themselves surely need no introduction, being the biggest selling band of all time, and this game comes with the endorsement of surviving members Paul and Ringo and Apple Corps, the company they founded back in the sixties to look after their intellectual property rights.

Gameplay

It essentially plays in the same fashion as previous Rock Band games; you have a scrolling track with the notes you've got to hit and you either sing, press the buttons on the guitar controller and/or hit the drum pads in time the the music. Success and you'll rack up a big score when you get to the end of the song. Failure, and the audience will boo you off stage in disgrace; well, at least if you've not turned the no-failure mode on. Instead of overdrive you can now induce Beatlemania by hitting the streams of white notes which will drive the crowd, including the obligatory screaming girls, wild with excitement.

As well as the basics, the game adds a new feature allow you to sing vocal harmonies with up to three microphones; an essential part of the Beatles sound. With four levels of difficulty, from easy - and it's even easier than previous rock band games - to expert - which ought to provide a challenge particularly with some of the vocals. There are also all the achievements, story mode and online play options from Rock Band 2 to throw in a bit of variety once you've worked your way through the catalogue of songs.

Of particular note is the story mode, which takes you through the history of the band, playing the songs as you go, with authentic locations - the Cavern Club and the Ed Sullivan Show are your first two stops - and you'll get to unlock band photos and instruments as you go along.

The Tracks

There are over forty tracks from all periods of the Band's career. In roughly chronological order they are:

1. Twist And Shout
2. Boys
3. Do You Want To Know A Secret
4. I Saw Her Standing There
5. I Want To Hold Your Hand
6. Can't Buy Me Love
7. A Hard Day's Night
8. I Wanna Be Your Man
9. Ticket to Ride
10. I'm Looking Through You
11. Eight Days A Week
12. If I Needed Someone
13. I Feel Fine
14. Day Tripper
15. And Your Bird Can Sing
16. Drive My Car
17. Taxman
18. Paperback Writer
19. Yellow Submarine
20. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends
21. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
22. Getting Better
23. Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows
24. Good Morning Good Morning
25. I Am The Walrus
26. Hello Goodbye
27. Hey Bulldog
28. Back In The U.S.S.R.
29. Dear Prudence
30. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
31. Helter Skelter
32. Revolution
33. Birthday
34. Octopus's Garden
35. Something
36. Come Together
37. Here Comes The Sun
38. Dig a Pony
39. I've Got A Feeling
40. Don't Let Me Down
41. I Me Mine
42. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
43. Get Back
44. The End

That's obviously not quite as many tracks (84) as in Rock Band 2, and there are some major hits like Penny Lane and Norwegian Wood that are conspicuous by their absence. Still, Harmonix will shortly be offering further downloadable content, starting soon with the remainder of the Abbey Road album. This will obviously add to the expense, but games like this have never been a cheap hobby.

Graphics and Sound

Harmonix missed a trick with their previous band-themed game, Rock Band AC/DC live by not offering any custom avatars, but they've totally redeemed themselves here as you can see the fab four working through their songs in a variety of authentic locations from the early days of the Cavern Club, to the height of their popularity in Shea Stadium and The Budokan. Their later, studio bound, career is set in Abbey Road studios, but in keeping with their increasingly psychedelic influences, breaks out into themed dreamscapes for each song. These are stunningly rendered, and you'll have your work cut out keeping your eyes on the song tracks whilst they play along in the background.

Sound is also done very well, considering the source material they had to work with. Harmonix went back to the original master tapes in order to get the individual instrument tracks that simply weren't available with recent remasters, but the results work very nicely; there are even a few bits of studio chat and crowd noise to add to the atmosphere. As a result, they won't sound quite the same as the CDs do, but they fit the game perfectly.

Longevity

You can probably play through the game, that is the story mode and all the songs, in a few hours if you're a seasoned pro at Rock Band, and inside a week if you're not. However, the replay value is huge if you want to get 100% on all songs at all levels and with all instruments, you'll probably spend a few months doing so. Like all Rock Band games, it's a surefire hit at parties, at least so long as you'll have a few Beatles fans present, and the promise of downloadable content will only further extend its life, albeit at a price.

The biggest quibble, however, is that it's an entirely stand alone product and there's no way you can transfer songs back and forth between it and the other Rock Band games. There are some technical reasons why this would cause problems, such as the harmony vocals, but mostly I suspect Apple Corps and the surviving Beatles wanted it kept distinct and too much of that will dilute the value of Rock Band for gamers. I'd rather hope that, at some stage in the future, they'll take a bit more of an inclusive attitude and allow their songs to be used alongside those of other bands in the main game.

Overall

If you're a fan of Rock Band and the Beatles, you've probably already bought this without waiting for my recommendation. If not, well, it's a trickier proposition. Beatles fans who've yet to take the plunge with a rhythm game could well do a lot worse than starting here; provided you like the music, it's got all the features of Rock Band 2, and the attention to detail is stunning.

On the other hand, if the Beatles do nothing for you, even the biggest Rock Band fan in the world probably won't be converted by what's on offer, given the way that it's thoroughly tied to the band. As such, you might be more interested in Rock Band 2, or indeed the forthcoming Guitar Hero 5. 

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