Yes, it’s that time again. To pull out your plastic instruments for another installment of the notorious Rock Band series. The ongoing release of "expansions games" for both Guitar Hero and Rock Band are very daunting for some. Is it worth paying money just to play more songs in different venues? In this case, yes. The Beatles: Rock Band, brings revolutionary stunning visuals, and exciting new ways to enjoy the ultimate band gaming experience.
For any Beatles fans, this is a MUST have game. With just about every major Beatles hit in the game, there is a wide variety of songs to play and enjoy. In addition to this, all of the classic venues that The Beatles have performed in (the cavern club etc.) are extremely well presented, with vibrant colours and amazing attention to detail. Most of The Beatles songs, were in fact recorded in a studio, with this information, Harmonix (game developers) have created a genius idea, Dreamscapes. Instead of watching The Beatles play in a dull studio. Dreamscapes take The Beatles to an out of this world place, according to the song. For example, while playing “Octopuses Garden” The Beatles appear in an Octopuses Garden under the sea, with amazing visuals, and a colourful background, it never has been any more fun playing your favourite Beatles song.
Gameplay is relatively the same as all the Rock Band predecessors, as the different coloured notes aligns with the same colour of itself on “the bar” at the bottom of your screen, you must hit/ strum that corresponding note. With however, the exception of vocals, where the words appear at the top of your screen, and you must sing them in time/ in the right pitch. The new Gameplay feature added to singing vocals, is the harmony mode, where if by chance you have more than one microphone, 2-4 people can sing a song together in “ harmony mode “ this is where, as you have guessed you sing together, like a quartet ( or tritet with 3 people? Will have to look that one up. ) All instruments have this feature, where if you have more than 1 guitar, drum kit etc, both of the people can play the same track together at the same time. The story mode in this game has also the same concept as all the other Rock Band games, but with a twist. You start of in a small dingy cavern club, and as you complete the set list you move on to a bigger/better venue etc. However here is the twist, if you happen to earn 5 stars on the song, you unlock 2 photos, describing how the song came about, or more information about the Beatles. This is a great way to discover some interesting facts, in addition to this, after each venues set list is completed a challenge is unlocked, where you have to play the set list again and earn as many stars as possible, for even more photos or a video. This adds to the overall replay-ability of the game.
The game also features online “tug of war” mode and “score battle” (highest score wins type games) for people who enjoy competition. On the contrary, a band quick play is available online, for people who wish play songs together.
Overall this game has minor problems (some big songs from The Beatles not on the game) and major good points (general beauty of the game). This game is visually stunning, and will have you strumming/singing/hitting away until the early hours. In my opinion, worth a buy if you are a fan of the Rock Band franchise or The Beatles.