[Review] The Beatles: Rock Band

Posted by Jeremy M. Zoss at 10:19 AM Sep 16, 2009

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There's almost no point to reviewing The Beatles: Rock Band. If you're a gamer who likes The Beatles, your decision on whether or not to buy the game was likely decided by those two factors. On the flipside, while I believe there are few music game fans who actually hate The Beatles, I'm sure there are those who are largely disinterested. In all honestly, I am one of those people who considered myself Beatles-neutral. I recognized their place in history, yet felt no really strong tie to their music. That has changed. While The Beatles: Rock Band has fairly been called a sanitized revisionist look at The Beatles' career, it feels more like a gateway drug for new listeners than a game strictly for Beatlemaniacs.
You probably know the details by now: The Beatles game ditches Rock Band's jet-setting career mode in exchange for a Story mode that follows The Beatles from the early days at the Cavern Club to their final live performance on the roof of the Apple Corps building. The spaces between the sets are filled out with dazzling animations and real chatter from members of the band. There is also a quick play mode so you can jump into your favorite tracks with friends, training mode and unlockable photographs from throughout the band's career. Of course, that's all secondary. What really matters is the music.

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I've heard completists grumble about some of their favorite tracks being absent from The Beatles: Rock Band, but for me the song list was perfectly crafted to help me "get" why The Beatles have connected with so many fans over the decades. From the early straight-up rock of early songs of "Twist and Shout" to the candy-coated psychedelia of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds," the song selection does a marvelous job of highlighting just how many different styles of music The Beatles played, mastered and created. If you suspect that The Beatles: Rock Band may not be for you because you're one of those (like me) who never felt a deep connection to the band, I urge you to give the game a chance. To a song, this is a fun, giddy collection of music that I found impossible to resist.

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Established music game fans will find The Beatles: Rock Band to be one of the easiest games in the genre thus far, which to me is another indicator that it was designed to be a crowd-pleasing introductory title, perhaps both to The Beatles catalog and to the rhythm game genre. I could easily play many songs on Expert, where I normally play Rock Band and Guitar Hero on Medium. Players who opt for Easy automatically have the "No Fail" option switched on, another wise choice for a game designed for novice players.

Every aspect of The Beatles: Rock Band is polished to a gleaming shine. The backgrounds are beautiful, the in-game likenesses of The Beatles are spot-on and the menus are easier to navigate than ever before. In short, it's the most polished game to bear the Rock Band name yet. The only quibbles to be found are minor: The transparency of the gem overlay can take a little getting used to and some of the later backgrounds can be so busy they're slightly distracting. But I can find no other faults with the game, as least as a Beatles novice. I found myself completely transfixed by the game, charmed by its spirit of "Beatlemania" and completely captured from the beginning of the Story mode to the end. It may be a simplified version of The Beatles' story, but The Beatles: Rock Band does a phenomenal job of demonstrating why they remain the most popular band of all time.

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Five out of Five Blue Pig Ganons

This review is based on an Xbox 360 copy of the game provided by the publisher. The Limited Edition instruments were not included and not evaluated.