You're going to hear a lot about this game, The Beatles, and their impact on the music scene in the coming months as The Beatles Rock Band finds its way into the living rooms around the world and the remastered CDs onto iPods everywhere. Here are some thoughts from my perspective as a gamer... and rock connoisseur.
A few caveats though first. I play rhythm games as drummer — I play the guitar and bass parts, but my skill level there isn't that great (Hard/Medium is my comfort zone) so I won't be able to tell you about the massive strings of Hammer Ons and Pull Offs, nor will I bitch about some of the solos being harder than one would think because it's "pop" music. I will however, be able to speak to the expert level of drumming in the game — and I walked away from the title feeling a lot more respect for Ringo Starr. Some of the beats in the songs presented here are downright tricky — some damned hard. Also something worth noting, none of the online play modes were tried out for this review (it was requested by the publisher that we not attempt to play online, lest we crash some servers).
Let's rewind, put the game into the drive on the Xbox 360, and start the experience. The opening cinematic made be something we've all seen already on the web -- but this time when it ends you actually get to play the game. From the opening note and color splash on the screen, this is an entirely different beast than Rock Band. It's dedicated to The Beatles, and the style oozes from each pixel on the screen from the opening scene to the credit roll after the final song has played.
Another different thing from Rock Band proper here is that all the songs (except one) are available from the onset of the game in quick play mode. That means you can get together with up to six of your friends and play through the 44 tracks on the disc, with the final song unlocked once you finish Story Mode. Wait, did I say six friends? Due to the nature of this particular band there are times when more than one vocalist should be singing — and Harmonix has made it possible to use up to three separate microphones all linked to the single account to fill in some harmonies.
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