The Beatles Rock Band (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Sean Garmer on 09.18.2009

The Beatles Rock Band is one of the big titles of the year, how does it stack up?

There may be a decline in the sales of rhythm games in the last year, there may be a bad economy, but apparently if the Beatles are involved it raises the attention of millions around the world. The release of the entire catalog in remastered form brings a new way of listening to the Beatles. MTV/Harmonix's The Beatles Rock Band may just be another addition to the illustrious legacy of the fab four. However, I feel it is going to allow people of all ages to experience the band like never before. That applies to hardcore or novice Beatles fans alike.





Title: The Beatles Rock Band (also out for PS3 and Wii)
Publisher: EA
Developer: MTV/Harmonix
Genre: Music/Rhythm Game
Players: 1-6 local, 1-6 Online (Three-Part Harmonies online must be local, meaning all three people have to be in the same room).
Rating: T for Teen


Graphics:


This is certainly the best looking music game I've ever seen. The attention to detail by Harmonix designers (with the help of the remaining Beatles and deceased Beatles wives too.) To make sure the virtual versions of Paul, George, John, and Ringo looked as close to the real Beatles as possible. The clothes, crowd (except the Budokan), facial hair style, and instruments all match the arena or time frame the Beatles inhabited. From the way Ringo made sure his elbows were not a certain way when he drummed to Yoko and Olivia making sure their husbands looked right at all times. The arenas are all rendered with a lot of care and its easy to see just how popular the Beatles were with the excess of all those screaming girls jumping up and down. In the later years The Beatles quit touring and went into the studio. Harmonix responded by giving the game "dreamscapes." These vary from recreations of Beatles videos such as: I Am the Walrus, to Hey Bulldog and even Hello Goodbye. While others are imaginings of what the lyrics represent an examples are: Here Comes the Sun, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. They are all beautifully done, including the dreamscape for the DLC song All You Need Is Love.

Some find the dreamscapes distract from the note playing but I don't see how that's any different than your band rocking out in regular Rock Band, just because things mostly stay dark in the arenas doesn't mean it won't distract people. The dreamscapes fit the design of the rest of the game and personally, I'd rather have the dreamscapes than seeing the Beatles play a song in an empty studio for half the game.




The one thing that can be an issue is the change of color in the note highways and gems. As a person that frequents the rockband.com forums there has been much complaining about the new bright colors, stating that they make it hard to see notes, especially when people turn on "beatlemania" (The Beatles version of overdrive). Those that do not suffer from a vision problem should try messing with settings on their television sets and also calibrate the game. As I never had a single issue on my 48-inch standard definition television and neither did any of my friends while playing with me. In fact, I think I like the color scheme because the brighter colors allow me to see the notes more clearly and I could even play the game sitting on my couch. Whereas in Rock Band 2 I would miss notes sitting on my couch because the gems and highway are a lot darker. I wonder if Harmonix would consider different types of highways for RB 3.

The notes can cause problems for those that are color blind as the pastel colors make it hard to distinguish green, yellow, and orange, as well as the bright yellow bass drum parts. The highway turns a light shade of green when on beatlemania and that can sometimes make notes invisible for color blind people. The highway also turns purple during the "bass groove" which can also cause an adverse affect on the eyes. I don't know if this is something Harmonix can fix, but I just thought I should mention it, for those that do have vision issues that are reading this review.

Considering how the characters in RB 2 look compared to the somewhat hyper realistic ones in Guitar Hero 5 I didn't know what to expect from Harmonix for The Beatles game. You can really tell Harmonix took their time and put their all into this one. As The Beatles look strikingly similar to their real counterparts even with the slight cartoonish look. I think the graphical style makes it more accessible and aside from the lack of Asian looking people in the Budokan arena it is hard to find any faults in this area. I think kudos should be given to the design team for giving people that are simply watching the game something to do. The moment you see the Beatles in any locale or dreamscape it immerses you in the Beatles universe.


Gameplay:


The Beatles were known for experimenting with different instruments, chords, genre's of music nothing that hasn't been done in a Rock Band title before. But just like the Beatles introduced many firsts in the music industry, Harmonix introduces three-part harmonies to music games. A lot of the early music the Beatles played came from early rock artists such as Chucky Berry and Carl Perkins. They also had a little R&B in their sets as they liked the girl groups such as The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas. They even covered a Marvelettes song "Please Mister Postman" for their second album. So using that tradition they sang in harmonies similar to those girl groups for many of their songs. Harmonix decided to implement this into The Beatles: Rock Band to great effect.

I'm an expert vocalist that loves to sing and though I'm not totally classically trained I have taken enough choir to know a few things like being able to recognize extra things like harmonies pretty easily. Don't worry though, there is a tutorial and practice mode that allows anyone to learn the harmonies without any trouble. After going through a little practice you and two other friends can sing just like The Beatles did. I've never had this much fun singing in a music game. Not just because these songs get almost anyone to sing along with you, but also because people get to see and hear different parts of the song they may never have heard. I haven't been able to try out singing harmonies with other people yet (I have done it by myself, none of my friends like singing). I can only imagine children, mothers, fathers, and friends enjoying singing together regardless of whether they sound good or not. The vocals are also a bit more difficult than in your standard music title. Especially if you play without the harmonies on, as you may find yourself singing higher or lower than the melody line. Not to mention on solo mode, the game tends to take a "best of" the song, so sometimes you'll see the vocal lines morph as you go. On a sidenote, the XBOX 360 headset is not supported for playing the game, you can still use it to chat with friends online but you have to buy a wireless or usb wired microphone to sing. Actually no headset is supported at all, so that means drummers are going to have to move their mic stands around if they want to sing and drum at the same time. I personally don't like using the headset to sing because it tends to make me miss words, but I don't see why, especially with the harmonies being added, why you couldn't just plug in a headset into the instrument and be able to sing.

As far as the rest of the instruments go, nothing has changed, but this is the first game that makes playing bass more fun to play than guitar. Paul McCartney has many bass lines that go all over the place and on Expert it can be quite fun. If anything the instruments will give people that aren't hardcore Beatles fans an appreciation for Paul and Ringo's abilities (most people know George was a great guitarist but discover his songwriting as they listen to the music.) John and George's guitar parts are combined to make one "super" guitar chart instead of going through the more difficult process of separating out Rhythm and Lead guitar in the master recordings. Though it could have allowed for complete Beatles authenticity, some of the songs on disc don't even have a second guitar part and they would've had to chart something else to it.




Though the charts are easier (I was never able to play Expert Guitar or Drums until TB:RB.) It doesn't mean there aren't songs that will trip people up or that everyone would be able to breeze through gold starring everything in one play through. You probably aren't going to get any "blisters on your fingas for playing the songs through once, but that's also not the point of this game. It was made to experience the Beatles and make it seem like you are playing along with them. Though its not going to feel like regular Rock Band where the crowd is cheering for you or your band. You can't create drum fills, the whammy doesn't distort the song, pretty much all of those creative touches of RB 2 are gone. For this game though, it makes sense as Ringo didn't do too many fills and hated solos, and The Beatles are too sacred to distort their music. The music does not export to RB 2 either, to the dismay of many Rock Band fans. As much as I love having everything on one disc and would love to mix-in Beatles with other bands, I don't want to see created characters singing Beatles tunes either.

The other major change is that there is no World Tour mode we've come to expect from RB. Instead, we go through a major highlight reel of The Beatles career in Story mode. Starting in the Cavern in 1963 to the Rooftop Concert on top of the Apple Corps HQ's. Going to America to visit Ed Sullivan and Shea Stadium with a controversial trip to Japan in between too, just before going into the studio. Along with playing the songs, you unlock never before seen photos and special videos as well. There is plenty here for the hardcore Beatles fans out there. I don't know if the special stuff will appeal to non-fans, but at least they give people an incentive to five star the songs. At the end of every set players can then play through a challenge (which is playing the whole set straight through, getting five stars on that nabs another photo.) The only issue is the story mode only lasts about three hours and most can probably play through the whole setlist in one sitting as the songs average two and a half minutes. The good thing is the replay is extended by the ability to have at least three story saves per name (in case you want to unlock things playing with different people or different instruments), and that you can play it online too.

There are other little minor touches that are mostly appealing to the hardcore Rock Band fans. Lefty Mode and Vocal singing type have been added to the difficulty select screen, you can change it with the click of the back button. The ability to see stars as well as your score on songs in quickplay, with a click of a button you can switch between guitar and bass scores, and after a song is played you can now see your position against friends or globally on the leaderboards, whether in story mode or quickplay. Anyone that plays on easy will automatically be put on no-fail mode, and you can now toggle no fail on and off for the entire band or an individual instrument just before each song. There is a drum trainer included and another little feature called "Beatles Beats" where you get to practice 86 unique drum fills that Ringo Starr did himself. The load times for this game are also considerably faster than RB 2, especially when restarting a song. They've also added a three second countdown when you return from a paused song. I'd still like to see the ability to change difficulty levels at the pause menu without having to go back to the select screen.

Sound:

I guess here is where I talk about the music. I should mention that this is not a setlist of The Beatles "45 Greatest Hits," though they are all from the Beatles master recordings. For people like me that are Beatles fanatics the setlist doesn't matter, because all of their songs are great in my eyes. However, even for some of those super fans missing songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever, Hey Jude, Help! She Loves You, Let It Be, Please Please Me, All My Loving, Eleanor Rigby is criminal. Some of these were not selected because they wouldn't be fun to play, while others probably work better to sell as DLC. I should also add that it is Harmonix's policy to add "hits" and deeper cuts in their weekly DLC, so we should expect no difference with a band centric game.Though this is a much shorter setlist than people have come to expect from these band games. We should remember that Giles Martin had to basically remaster a lot of these tracks and even manually mutli-track some of them to have them work in this game. This is also the first band centric game to feature only songs from the artist on the box. So if we compare it with Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero Metallica, and Guitar Hero Van Halen, The Beatles Rock Band features almost double the amount of songs. Not to mention it will be the first band centric game to feature DLC. Along with All You Need is Love, before the end of the year players will be able to purchase Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper, and Rubber Soul in their entirety, and add that to their Beatles setlist.

Sure, I could sit here and say that Harmonix should have added more songs to the disc, but also remember we don't even know how much money had to be spent to license the songs on disc, plus possibly the entire canon catalog. So I should also say that its ok for Harmonix to have charged people more for the game too. I don't think people would have wanted to pay $70 dollars instead. At least the songs all sound great and come through the speakers really well. There's also extra chatter before and after many of the songs that are just fun to listen to.


Lasting Appeal:




Most say this game only appeals to Beatles fans, regardless of how legendary most of these songs are. Many may want to get this just to have more songs to play, but the three-part harmonies, the easier charts (not by design but by song default) allow for people to play an instrument and sing at the same time. This is probably the first game (that's not Wii exclusive) that is accessible to anyone from a 12 year-old to grandparents just because of The Beatles name on it. Anyone is bound to at least know one of the songs on disc and this could be a big hit at parties. I will say that the lasting appeal will be determined by how much people can stand playing the same songs over and over, and how much they enjoy The Beatles as a whole. While the game is a totally different experience as a full band locally (and to a lesser extent online too), but maybe not so for people that play these games mostly solo. Playing the story mode with family and friends (especially those who are Beatles fans) may bring back wholesome memories and may make new ones too. Once you do it a few times it can get old. With many RB players conditioned to expect weekly DLC it will be interesting to see if the new monthly updates will be able to keep people coming back for more. This is one of those games that lasting appeal is totally a personal statement and will probably remain that way for a while.


Fun Factor:

Anyone can have a blast with Beatles Rock Band. As I said before, there are very few people that don't know at least one of the songs on disc, and with more DLC coming in October you will be able to add more songs to it soon. Having a full band will make the triple the amount of fun you can have and even playing online is more fun because there isn't this seeming hatred of novice or lower difficulty players, like their tends to be a lot of in Rock Band 2. I played the story mode through three times, once by myself, once with friends locally, and the last time with other people online. I still haven't gotten tired of the songs or the game for that matter. However, I'm also a huge Beatles fan, that has pretty much been listening to their songs non-stop for about two months straight in anticipation for the game. This is not a game for those that just love to beat games or want extreme difficulty, this is more of a relaxing enjoyment to this than anything else. As much as I feel the game can appeal to non-fans of the Beatles and allow them to see and hear what has made them the most popular band in the world. How much you enjoy The Beatles or the music will probably determine how long this game stays in your system, especially if you are playing it solo a lot. This game is short, the setlist is not as big as RB 2, and people that pick up this game should understand that this is probably more of a party game to introduce to your parents, than a game you constantly play by yourself, like RB 2 can be because it has weekly DLC that keeps things fresh.


The 411: To take a line from the Fab Four, in the end, this is a fantastic game that should be the measurement stick for any future band centric titles. It took Harmonix only one try to make it right and anyone that is even a minor fan of The Beatles should pick this up. If anything it will be a hit at parties. Those that are not Beatles fans can perhaps pick it up for some more songs to play or just to see what all the hooplah is about. I would just say make sure you understand what you are getting into if you aren't a fan. Kudos to everyone that was able to get this game done though because it will certainly be one of the stand out titles of the entire gaming year.

Graphics	9.5	The attention to detail from Harmonix to The Beatles legacy is beautiful. Dreamscapes, large stadiums, screaming girls, and yes, The Beatles are all here. Color blind people may not like the new note highways though.
Gameplay	9.0	It's Rock Band at its core, the story mode plays like a small documentary of the Beatles career, and the three-part harmonies add a whole new and fun dynamic to the experience.
Sound	10.0	It's the Beatles music and it all sounds wonderful, plus extra chatter too.
Lasting Appeal	8.5	How big a fan of The Beatles you are may determine how long the game should stick around, but there's DLC coming and plenty of parties to take the game to.
Fun Factor	9.0	I don't really know how you can't have fun with this game, unless you just absolutely hate The Beatles and Music Games.
Overall	9.0   [  Amazing ]

Screenshots
All 6 The Beatles: Rock Band Screenshots