The Beatles Rock Band

The Beatles Rock Band

There have been other music games based entirely upon a single band’s material, of course. This year alone Metallica and AC/DC squeezed their hits into videogame form for fans to play along to, with the plastic guitars, drums and microphones that now clog up the nation’s cupboards. But The Beatles are the first group to have their name placed in front of the Rock Band moniker. It’s a telling distinction, revealing, perhaps for the first time, a band that’s bigger than the music game phenomenon they’re riding…

The significance of The Beatles: Rock Band is not to be underestimated. Not only is this the first time either the band or their music have appeared in a videogame (or indeed, that their music has ever appeared in digital form) but it’s also the first time a music game has sought to chart the very career of a band. Players can walk in their footsteps from humble beginnings in Liverpool’s dingy Cavern, through escalating career highlights such as their US-breaking appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Abbey Road and, of course, that final performance on the roof of Apple's London HQ.

The attention to detail that has gone into capturing the essence of the band at every stage of their career is unprecedented. As with the standard Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, you play a linear series of concerts in ever larger venues, taking the band from relative obscurity to their self-proclaimed stature as being, “Bigger than Jesus.” But the beautiful motion graphics that whirl you from stage to stage add a fluidity and coherency that’s more often found in cinematic documentaries than videogames. With The Beatles: Rock Band, developer Harmonix isn’t only looking back into the past of music’s highpoints, but it’s also seeking define interactive music’s future, raising the game for any product that might seek to focus on a band of this stature.

That said, while the package is more slick and polished than any other, the underlying mechanics will be familiar to music game fans. Up to four players assume the roles and instruments of John, Paul, George and Ringo and play along with the band’s hits by striking their instruments (or singing into them – 27 of the game’s 45 tracks support 3-part harmonies) in time with the on-screen markers. Certain notes, if correctly hit, fill a ‘Beatlemania’ gauge which, when triggered, temporarily balloons your score multiplier. Every performance is judged on a five star scale, with top marks reserved for only the very best players. As you complete songs you unlock new ones and good performance also unlock Beatles memorabilia, such as photographs, videos and bonus challenges.

All of the songs use the original masters and, where possible, it’s clear that the original live recordings of Beatles audiences soundtrack the performances. In the famous 1960’s Ed Sullivan TV appearance, a performance that propelled the band to superstar status in America, the sound of the screaming female audience is incessant and deafening, giving a pretty accurate sense of what it must have been like to be one of the Fab Four. While this hysteria might seem over the top in these more sober times, there are few music game fans who won’t be joining in with the whoops and applause by the time this superlative videogame is done.

5 out of 5