Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rocks"

Pros: Great, classic soundtrack; Fantastic visuals throughout; Vocal harmonies are surprisingly addicting; Neat extras; More songs available as DLC

Cons: A few notable omissions; No matter how you cut it, 45 songs from one band gets repetitive; Lack of difficulty; No exporting songs

If there is ever a testament to how large the music game genre has grown, this is it. The Beatles agreed to license their music to a video game. Luckily, the task of making the game fell into the capable hands of Harmonix, who did the best job they could making a game with only a single band's material.

What you have here is 45 of The Beatles' many big hits. Classic, popular songs such as Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and more are all here for your playing. Although I have very few complaints with weak songs in the set list, it must be acknowledged that there are a few notable omission (Hey Jude and Strawberry Fields Forever instantly spring to mind). Luckily, a few DLC albums have gone a long way to fixing the problem (for instance, we got A Day in the Life and All You Need Is Love for download), but unfortunately still leave these omissions.

Gameplay is mostly the same, albeit a bit easier given the material (brilliant as The Beatles were, they weren't known for a lot of technical work). Notes scroll on the screen and you hit the correct notes in time with the song. The sole new feature to play with is vocal harmonies. In the past one person could sing along to the Rock Band collection, but any backup singers would be neglected. Now, in The Beatles: Rock Band up to 3 players can play and each take a different part of the song (colors distinguish parts and lyrics are shown on both the top and the bottom of the singer's interface). This turns out to be surprisingly fun and encourages more people to get involved in singing (since they aren't alone). Getting a Triple Fab (you and two friends hit all three parts correctly in a phrase) is one of the most rewarding experiences to grace the genre.

The other area where TBRB excels is in visuals. The artists at Harmonix should be commended for really nailing the spirit of The Beatles. Depending on the time period of the song, you'll see different versions of The Beatles, each rendered with the perfect level of accuracy (ie: easily identifiable without hitting the Uncanny Valley). If it's an early song, you'll see some classic venues including The Cavern and Shea Stadium (down to the crazy fans), and in most of the later, album, material you see various stylized effects. Some of these are trippy and reminiscent of kaleidoscopes; while others are oozing with Beatles charm (I'm particularly fond of the bright field and gazebo for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band). Each one is visually interesting, though, and appropriate to the song.

Unfortunately The Beatles are still one band, and thus suffer the same issue as any band given its own game: repetition. With 45+ songs from one band, even a varied band such as The Beatles will get tiresome for many, making this a tough sell at parties. This is not helped by the game's lower difficulty and inability to export to other Rock Band games (a huge missed opportunity and a questionable decision on the part of the remaining Beatles/Beatles correspondents).

Regardless, the production values are clearly high with this one, and if you are the slightest bit interested in The Beatles, it's a really easy sell. If you don't like the band for some reason (perhaps a lack of soul?), then this game won't appeal to you in any stretch, but even as one who disapproves of band-based games, I have to give this one the green light.

It's The freaking Beatles, done right.