Rock Band: Queen DLC 10-Pack (XBOX 360, PS3, Wii) Review
Posted by Sean Garmer on 10.22.2009
One of the greatest bands ever finally graces Rock Band with a 10-pack of songs. How do each of these songs rate? Come find out.
October 20th may very well go down as one of the best week's ever for downloadable content. Not only did Rock Band fans receive the first ever full playable Beatles album, but Queen make their first ever appearance in a Rock band title, with a 10-pack of songs for Rock Band and RB2 from Queen's new compilation album. With LEGO Rock Band getting We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions, in a few weeks that will make it 12 Queen songs, thanks to the export feature. Not to mention, Queen will have their own mini-figures on stage to perform those two songs. Since this is a pretty big week for DLC, maybe this will be useful for anyone wondering what songs they should pick-up.
This is the first time 411 has ever done a DLC review like this. I apologize if at times this seems more like it belongs in the music zone than in the games section, I love music and even though I've played these tracks twice through on each instrument, I'm not promising any technical RB language for these songs. I love Queen as many people do, and this is mainly aimed at general RB fans that are not going to just buy all the songs in this pack because of the band's name.
Songs included in pack: Fat Bottomed Girls, I Want It All, Killer Queen, I Want to Break Free, Tie Your Mother Down, A Little Thing Called Love, Somebody to Love, Under Pressure, Another One Bites the Dust, and One Vision.
Songs ratings tiers are as they are listed in RB. My personal ratings are based off of playing on expert difficulty. I'm a platinum Expert Vocalist (with a really high octave range) and Bassist. I'm a beginning Expert player for Drums, and I'm a mid tier Expert Guitarist.
Rock Band rating tiers: 0-6 (zero means the circles are blank in the game and represents easiest difficulty, six means all circles are filled and it has red horns. This represents "hardest" difficulty.)
Fat Bottomed Girls
Band: 2
Guitar: 3
Drums: 2
Vocals: 4
Bass: 1
Song Facts: Brian May sings the chorus of this song, with lead vocals done mostly by Freddie Mercury. Brian May wrote this song for Freddie because he liked women (or men) with "fat bottoms." This song was recorded in 1978 and the version featured in Rock Band is the shorter single edit version.
This is one of Queen's more well known songs and its probably going to receive a lot of buys just on name. Queen is a big band for vocals because of Freddie Mercury's four octave range and constant change in octave in many of Queen's songs. This song's tempo mainly stays the same throughout and because of that, the song is not that interesting on anything but vocals. The guitar track is pretty standard compared to so many greats ones in Rock Band. There is a solo towards the end in it, but there's not much to it. This is one of those tracks you just have to sing and enjoy listening to. On Drums there is hardly any change from the main beat of the song except in very few instances, and this is the least interesting song on Bass in the entire pack. There is a lot of waiting and when there is something to play its slow paced and boring.
My thoughts: If you are someone that looks at tracks for how hard or fun they are to play, skip this one unless you are just a vocalist, maybe check out this video if you wanna see if the guitar track interests you.
2. I Want It All
Band: 4
Guitar: 4
Drums: 4
Vocals: 5
Bass: 2
Song Facts: Another Brian May penned song, is inspired by his wife Anita Dobson shouting the chorus of the song at him. May says the song is about fighting for your goals and used to be an anti-apartheid song. This song was recorded in 1988.
This song stays at one tempo for a great part of the song, but it doesn't stop Mercury and May from having a blast in the song. There are three Guitar solos in this, the first one is probably the 2nd toughest but it's not very long either and it happens almost right at the beginning of the tune. The vocal part for the chorus is not very hard, but its Mercury's sudden octave changes that will throw off people unfamiliar with the song. The Drums are interesting once the song picks up, and especially once it gets into May's second (very hard solo), the drums get crazy. The bass once again gets the shaft as far as the instruments go, but at least John Deacon does a good job of keeping the player busy.
My thoughts: This is a buy on any instrument except maybe bass, but its a terrific band song because all the instruments get to enjoy that great rise in the song during the instrumental break. Unless you only play Bass in Rock Band, or a drummer that has to have something totally insane the entire time, I'd recommend this to just about anybody just wanting a cool song to play. Here's a video if you want to check it out:
3. Under Pressure
Band: 2
Guitar: 2
Drum: 2
Vocals: 6
Bass: 3
Song Facts: This was the first ever collaboration for Queen, as David Bowie is featured singing on the track with Mercury. This is one of Queens' most famous songs and the beat was ripped off by rapper Vanilla Ice and used for his one and only hit "Ice Ice Baby." The song was recorded in 1981 and features one of the most recognizable bass lines in music history.
This is one of those songs that probably almost everyone will have as DLC just because it is such a classic. It's not too fun on guitar, and though bass players will enjoy playing the famous bass line there is not much variation in the track. The drums however is actually very fun, as it varies between a slow tempo, with some constant kick pedal pick-up, and even has its own mini drum solo too. The best part of course is alternating between Bowie and Mercury on vocals. Just when you think Mercury can't go any higher, he goes nuts at one part and you are left chasing him. This is sure to be a big hit at parties and for that alone, I have to recommend everyone at least get this song. Just in case you need anymore reason to buy it:
4. Another One Bites the Dust
Band: 1
Guitar: 1
Drums: 0
Vocals: 3
Bass: 1
Song Facts: This was a #1 hit in the USA, the song is written by bassist John Deacon. The song was recorded in 1980 and covered by Wyclef Jean in 1998, and also by Weird Al. This is another one of those songs that has a very recognizable bass line.
This is one of those instances where just because a song is loved doesn't mean it works very well in a music game. This song is a complete bore for the rhythm section, drums and bass basically play the same thing throughout the entire song, and even the guitar mainly follows the classic yet tedious bass line a lot. I love this song on the radio, but it doesn't work very well in the game. It's nice on vocals because of the octave changes, but even then I still five starred it sight reading. Unless you just absolutely love this song, I'd skip this one it will annoy the instrumentalists in your band. Just to prove it to you:
5. Killer Queen
Band: 2
Guitar: 2
Drum: 2
Vocals: 6
Bass: 3
Song Facts: This was Queen's breakthrough hit in 1974 and reached #2 in the UK. It's also one of their first operatic almost showy type numbers that wasn't a total hard rock tune. The song was written by Freddie Mercury and the title of the song was used as the name of a Queen tribute album too. The song is at times harmonized between Mercury, May, and Roger Taylor to make it seem like Taylor and May are responding to Mercury.
This song is famous to music game players because a cover version was featured way back on Guitar Hero 1 and later the master recording was placed into Guitar Hero Smash Hits. That being said, this is a difficult song for vocalists because it has a few harmony parts mostly in the chorus that make the octave lower than if Mercury was just singing this on his lonesome. The song is also nice on the guitar with two solos and it just has a nice pace to it, though its not really difficult. The best part is the ending with a string of Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs to fade out the song. Other than a few drum rolls there isn't much here on drums and the bass is just kinda there. This is a big buy for vocalists, and I'm sure many guitar players will want this too. Regardless it is still a classic song.
6. A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Band: 2
Guitar: 3
Drums: 3
Vocals: 2
Bass: 4
Song Facts: This song was recorded in 1979 and was a #1 hit in the UK for four weeks near the end February of 1980. Mercury wrote the song and plays acoustic and rhythm guitar on the track. Brian May only does the guitar solo in the middle. This a rockabilly style song, if you don't know what rockabilly is, listen to almost any Chuck Berry or some Carl Perkins to get the idea. If you listen to it, it actually almost sounds like a song Elvis could have written.
This song is just fun, this is the first time aside from Under Pressure that I had a lot of fun on bass. The song stays active on bass for the entire song, though its not really difficult I got 100% sight reading. This is the first song on vocals that isn't terribly difficult but its a nice song to sing because the rhythm makes you wanna dance. The guitar part until the solo is pretty fun with a not so easy start. After May's solo the song gets really simple. You basically play the same beat on drums with some rolls and little changes but its a busy beat you keep. I'd recommend this as a nice band song because it is different than most Rock Band songs out there, and a unique Queen song too.
7. I Want to Break Free
Band:1
Guitar: 2
Drum: 3
Vocals: 3
Bass: 1
Song Facts: John Deacon wrote this 1983 recorded song. It follows a regular blues progression, the song charted at #3 in the UK and stayed there for 15 weeks.
The song also appeared in this commercial for C2
This is totally a vocalists song, as Freddie Mercury really puts his heart into this one to make you understand his feelings. This is also the only vocals song that makes you play an instrument, as there is some cowbell beats charted for the vocalists during an instrumental break. The Drums for this are rather interesting because at times the Toms with kick are charted to cowbell too. Though it changes some you'll be alternating the same beat. The guitar and bass kinda just flow along and there isn't much to them. I'd recommend this mainly for singers or maybe any drummers who feel like playing some cowbell.
8. Tie Your Mother Down
Band: 3
Guitar: 4
Drums: 3
Vocals: 5
Bass: 4
Song Facts: One of Queen's lesser known songs but it is right up there with Stone Cold Crazy as one Queen's hardest rocking tracks. The song is written by Brian May and recorded in 1976. Brian May apparently played the riff while singing "Tie Your Mother Down." The riff itself is one of rock's most recognizable ones and is one of those cases where accidents create a song lyric. Brian May and Roger Taylor performed this at their rock and roll hall of fame induction.
This song has everything, it's total rocker from beginning to end with two guitar solos to boot. It's the funnest song on bass and there are frequent Hi-Hat, Ride, Crash, Hi-Hat cymbal breaks in between the regular beat. There is also some crazy drum rolls at the end of the song. The song is no slouch on vocals either as Freddie gets pretty high on a part of this song. It's an all around awesome track and fits great in Rock Band. I know many people wanted Stone Cold Crazy instead of this, but on its own this track is a nice substitute for it. Here's a video for this cool track.
9. Somebody to Love
Band: 2
Guitar: 2
Drums: 3
Vocals: 6
Bass: 2
Song Facts: This song is done similar to Bohemian Rhapsody and almost sounds like a gospel choir could have done this. May, Mercury, and Taylor all multi-track their vocals to give it this harmonic sound throughout the song. This is also Mercury's favorite song to sing and its really evident as he goes all out here with his highest variety of vocals in this set.
No doubt this is the definitive vocals song in the set and the hardest vocals song too. It starts out high, drops down pretty low and varies around more than any other song here. There was one note that was just ridiculously high here. The bass sorta flows here, even though John Deacon did add backing vocals when this song was played live. The guitar is interesting because it changes and varies, including piano that is charted at the beginning. There is constant fretwork in it, including lots of triple chords. The drums are pretty decent too, and is a great song to download if you want to practice using the kick pedal. If you want a song to freak out any vocalist at a party download this one, but you might be surprised just how good the song is overall except for maybe bass.
10. One Vision
Band: 4
Guitar: 4
Drums: 6
Vocals: 5
Bass: 4
Song Facts: This song features distorted vocals at the beginning that talk about God if played backwards, and its also famous for the ending line where Freddie Mercury makes reference to the fried chicken the band had for dinner. The band was inspired to write the song after their performance at Live Aid. Roger Taylor is the main writer and wrote it with mentions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his "I Have a Dream Speech." The song was recorded in 1985 and the highest it charted was #7 in the UK. The song was also featured in the movie Iron Eagle, it is in the GTA IV soundtrack, and it was also used by Sony at E3 to open up their press conference.
This song ties "Tie Your Mother Down" for funnest song in this 10 pack set. It's a blast to play on every instrument. It's an iconic song to sing that varies once again between low vocals and high falsetto. This the hardest bass part in the entire set too, especially once the song speeds up. There are two guitar solos with the second one being rather difficult. The most memorable thing about this song is the incredible drum solo during the instrumental break. This is probably one of the hardest drum solo's in all of Rock Band and just before and after that, it has some difficult snare rolls with hi-hat kick in between too. If you are going to buy one song from this entire pack, I'd go with this one.
Well, sadly that is all for this Queen 10-pack, but it is awesome that Harmonix was able to finally get Queen in Rock Band. Guitar Hero may have done it first, but just like with most DLC, Harmonix finds a way to trump them once again. Queen also has a new compilation album that's coming out called Queen's Absolute Greatest, look for that soon.
Graphics
8.0
Just your regular Rock Band avatars
Gameplay
8.5
Overall, this is a great pack with some classic songs and others that just rock hard. This is mainly a big pack for vocalists, but there are some gems here for the other instruments too.
Sound
10.0
It's freaking Queen
Lasting Appeal
8.5
I'm sure many people online will have this, and if you have some friends this could be fun for a while
Fun Factor
9.0
This is gonna be a big hit at parties because everyone at least knows one if not many of these songs.
