You'll be playing it Eight Days a Week
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wii | 9.00 | 10.00 | 8.00 | 10.00 | 9.00 | 8.50 | 8.88 |
| General Information |
|
Multiplayer Importance: Medium Television set-up: 19" Sylvania CRT, SDTV 480i, composite cables. Game played primarily with guitar. Online elements are included, but were not evaluated in this review. |
| Gameplay Description |
| The Beatles Rock Band is entirely themed on the group, The Beatles, based on the rhythm series, Rock Band. In the series, you use a music peripheral -- a guitar, drums and/or microphone -- to hit notes as they scroll on down the screen. |
| Dedication Meter | 10.00 |
| The game does get difficult at the higher levels, but not quite as much as other entries in the series, and there's not much lost without a serious investment in the game. | |
| Presentation | 9.00 |
|
The Beatles Rock Band really nails what it means to have top notch presentation in every way. From start to finish, the game is steeped in Beatles fandom and wonder. Stage performances have marked detail in re-creation, and later studio songs have wonderfully imagined visual representations. The appearance of the members of the band evolve with the progression of the game from the early years right to the end. Transitions between eras in the band's career are done through beautifully and colourfully animated sequences. Even load screens are livened up with audio clips from their live performances (including introductions by Ed Sullivan) and from their studio recordings. In terms of the game itself, though, the developers softened the pallette when playing to match the overall aesthetic. While it works visually, the colours, particularly in Beatlemania (known in previous Rock Band's as overdrive) and during guitar solos or on low health occasionally make it difficult to see coming notes. |
|
| Controls | 10.00 |
| There's nothing new here in terms of how the game handles; the same instruments are used in the same capacity. Hold a fret button and hit the strum bar in guitar, and tilt up to activate Beatlemania. While in Beatlemania, you regenerate your health bar, which is a saver for difficult sections. Drums is a matter of drumming, and pressing the foot pedal at appropriate times, and singing is self-explanatory. Fortunately, just like prior games, it works because of the incredible attention to detail in each song. The notes are painstakingly mapped to get the most out | |
| Variety | 8.00 |
|
The song list spans the entire career of The Beatles, though unfortunately at just 45 songs, pointing to a bit of an exploitation of future downloadable content when compared to the larger song lists in other games. The selection is excellent, however, including many notable selections of many different styles. Aside from strictly the number of songs, the game includes plenty for Beatles fans to fawn over with videoclips and pictures including the stories behind them. On top of that, achievements are included ranging from simple to crazy. Training mode is still included, but for some reason the option to slow down the song by up to 50%, an option in prior games, has been completely removed, at the detriment of the game. Fortunately the easier nature of the game makes this less critical, but it's still a frustration. A nice new feature, unique to the series, is the option to sing harmonies for up to three people. |
|
| Audio | 10.00 |
| Simply the terrific song list is plenty, but the use of additional audio clips was just extraordinary. During every load, a context specific audio clip is played as a lead in, that makes a suprisingly big difference in drawing you in. The usual suspects in the sound still work, including the cut out of the instrument during portions that you're not hitting your notes, as well as the crowd reactions. | |
| Depth | 9.00 |
|
While lacking a little bit in more complicated songs, the game is by no means simple. With multiple instruments, including vocal harmonies, there's about as much as you could ask for. |
|
| Value & Fun | 8.50 |
|
The Beatles Rock Band is clearly a labour of love, but still manages to hit a few bumps in the road. A magical ride at its best, with stunning presentational elements and the incredible track design that's come to be expected from Harmonix make it all a great experience. At the same time, niggling issues with visual clarity and gimped training and seemingly artificially stunted song list hamped otherwise near perfect execution. One thing to note is that there is no character creation, and downloadable content is restricted to just new Beatles content. It's all Beatles, and nothing else, which suits the game just fine. |
|
| Overall | 8.88 |
|
All in all, The Beatles Rock Band does exactly what it should: it's a terrific experience for Beatles fans. There's just far too much charm for any fan to not be very satisfied with the game, despite it's minor faults. |
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Posted by Ellyoda Thu, 17 Sep 2009 06:22:14
Sat, 19 Sep 2009 02:26:47
Great review. Not much else to say, its the Beatles, I would love this game.
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