Customer Reviews

The Beatles: Rock Band

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Video games, like any other industry out there, is about the money. There's no two ways about it. I say that before anything else because despite that, there are rare moments when the desire for profit crosses paths with the oportunity for a true labor of love. The Beatles: Rock Band is one of those moments and I want to make that clear before I shower the game with praise so no one misunderstands this review as naive because, this game is truly, a touching homage to what has been called the world's greatest band.

Just when game rival Guitar Hero seemed to be pulling away in the race by featuring games with some of the world's most famous bands (Van Halen, Aerosmith, Metallica etc...), developer Harmonix drops the rock equivalent of an atomic bomb by making a game of what is arguably the most famous band of all. The fact that the game has been released at all is a miracle in and onto itself given the people involved, but the fact that such a beautiful game has come out of it is really remarkable. The Beatles: Rock Band features the same basic gameplay of the Rock Band franchise but with some adjustments to ensure a fluid gaming experience.

The object of this game is to follow the band's legendary career from its humble, catchy-pop-rock begginings in Liverpool to their innovative and creative peak of their final years. You play as The Beatles - no character creation here- and begin playing in The Cavern, the little dingy club where they began playing. From there you play the Ed Sullivan Show, followed by their historic concert in Shea Stadium. From there its on to Japan for their controversial performance in Budokan. All these venues are meticously recreated. The Ed Sullivan show set is particularlly impressive. For those of us who have watched this moment in history through the grainy black and white recording that now stands the test of time, it is quite a revelation to see this in full color, even if it is a virtual recreation. After Budokan, the game takes quite a turn. Because the band stopped playing live (and therefore it would not be accurate to show them in a live arena on the game), the game then starts showing the band recording in the studio. (namely, Abbey Road)Every song begins with them playing in the main room then, like in some 60's acid trip, the scene turns into a dreamscape representation of whatever song you are playing. Sgt. Peppers and Iam the Walruss really pop out in my mind while I recall the game for this review. These dreamscapes are not only a homage to the band but to the era they helped define. Quite beautiful. The games final chapter is the band playing on the roof of Apple Records. Throughout the game, the band members are represented according to the particular point in time. From their clean cut, thin tie-wearing days in the early 60's to the colorful Sgt. Pepper's faux-military garb to their long hair and beard period. Each band memeber is represented beautifuly.

Playing the game unlocks rare recordings, pictures and other nuggets of Beatle history. This is awsome in itself for anyone who would like to dive deeper into Beatles lore. But the one feature that sets this game apart from Rock Band is the harmonies. Up to six people can now play the game: Three playing instruments and three singing the harmonies which are an integral part of the band's music. The best way to describe the harmonies feature is: fun. Trying to nail the vocal parts is fun and depending on how well you sing, very funny. I find it extremely fitting that this feature is being released on a Beatles game.

If anything, the game is too short. Compared to Rock Band and RB 2, the number of songs is certainly lacking but that is par for the course on games that feature only one artist. Also, those already used to the sadistic difficulty of the harder songs in Rock Band games, will find this game quite easy. The Beatles music is deceptively simple, especially the earlier cuts, so the translation to the RB format is simple as well. Those looking for a challenge have two options: Trying to nail the harmony parts to perfection (not as easy as it sounds) or in true Beatles fashion, taking the challenge of playing an instrument and singing a vocal part simultaniously. I should also add, that more often than not, the bass parts are more difficult than the guitar ones (go Paul go!) There are some classic songs missing as well, which will be released online later. Hey Jude and Yesterday probably have the biggest following of those not included but I remind you guys,that those are piano pieces for the most part. Rather than making a weird attempt at translating the piano parts into guitar I'd much rather not see them in the game. Fancy me a purist.

All in all, this game is clearly a labor of love. The Harmonix staff(most of them, like me, frustrated musicians and band members themselves) have created a loving virtual image of this band. Yes, this game is part of a larger effort (that includes the re-release of all their albums)to put the band in the spotlight yet again, but this game could have easily fallen into the trappings that this type of release entails. Instead, this game honors tha bands legacy and history without resorting to cheap tricks or anything else that might tarnish the Beatles name. It would be easy for me to say that is for fans only but I would be lying. There is something here for everyone because The Beatle's music is that good. The hard core fan will enjoy the game no doubt but its the people not familiar with the band's music who have much to gain from this title. Just like RB and RB 2 have turned people to music and bands they would not have heard otherwise, The Beatles: Rock Band will give this generation a true glimpse of why The Beatles are called the greatest band ever. For all those reasons, I play this game and smile. Highly recommended.

I was a little worried to buy this. My concern was that it was just another Rock Band game that had the Beatles name slapped on it. It's obvious that for the creators this was a labor of love. The game is great if you're a Beatles fan. If you're not a Beatles fan, than you should probably look elsewhere. The Beatles are all characters in this game, so you can be John, George, Paul, or Ringo. The songs spann The Beatles entire career. You start off in the Cavern Club and work your way to the famous roof top concert. The guitars and drums look cool but I am still using Rock Band generation one equipment which works fine. Whether you're in the studio or playing a concert the graphics are cool with lots of psychedlic effects added in. Many of the songs have their own little shows (non-concert related) that go with them. The truth is that the game really is a Rock Band game. If your a Beatles fan than this will probably really appeal to you.

If you have any love for the Beatles I cannot recommend this game enough! Singing along with George, John, Paul, and yes even Ringo has never been this fun! The game has moments that will absolutely resonate with any music lover: strumming along to Dear Prudence, playing the bass groove on I Want To Hold Your Hand, singing along with Lennon on Ticket To Ride.It just doesn't get any better. Please consider this is my first game of this type. The Beatles experience transforms an amusing video game concept into a entirely riveting experience!

Also don't forget that Rock Band/Harmonix currently has additional tracks for download from the Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road albums ( with additional albums on the way I.E. the sublime Rubber Soul in December). This game really transcends the whole music/rythm game genre. What can I say, I consider it "Fab"!

What we have here is another addition to the acclaimed Rock Band series, only this time it is all about the Beatles featuring only Beatles songs. Before you read this review please note I am not going to complain how this game lacks keyboard or doesn't support pro instruments since those weren't implemented until a year later with Rock Band 3. First of all its a typical Rock Band game, there is quickplay mode and career mode where you can unlock some cool items. Quickplay is basically you can play any song from the start on any difficulty with any instruments. Then there are trainers so you can practice songs/rhythm patterns, which can actually be more helpful than you would think. Then there is career where you start off as the young Beatles when they would only play at local clubs, particularly the cavern, and end off with their final live roof top concert in 1970 before they disbaned. As short as the career is, it is pretty fun and features a good variety of gigs, 8 in total with around 5 or 6 songs per gig, some featuring slightly more or less, you work through their early songs like I Want to Hold Your Hand and A Hard Day's Night, and work your way to their later Sgt Pepper era in their later gigs with songs like I am the Walrus, I Want You, and Get Back. Of course every song in the game is put into the career mode and once you've finished career mode, you've played all this game has to offer. You can get rewards by getting a certain number of stars on the songs in each gig and to unlock all the rewards you need to eventually five star every song on all the gigs. The rewards are pictures and videos that contain historic facts which are interesting but I would have preferred in game content like extra guitars/costumes. In fact it is kind of lame because you can not customize the Beatles at all, you play a song from a certain era, and they will all look the way they did when they originally sang the song, and it will autimatically go to the stage where the song is played. You can't make it so that you are a 70s John, early 60s Paul, and mid 60s George and Ringo. You also are stuck playing the instruments the Beatles played on those songs, and in no way can customize the guitar brand/drum brand used, or the clothing your Beatles wear which would have been cool giving them the Sgt Pepper's uniforms or some custom made Rock Band ones.

This brings me to the actual gameplay. It is like any other rock band, you play the notes that show up on the screen and try to earn stars. You can have up to 3 vocals at a time for harmonies and have them backed up with guitar, bass, and drums. Which brings up kind of a problem, Beatles usually used 2 guitars and one bass, or even 3 guitars, yet this game only allows for you to have one guitar and one bass at a time. I would have liked there to have been another guitar part in the songs that have it, and it would have been more fun since more people could be able to play at once. The visuals for the most part are good, songs like Octopus' Garden and Yellow Submarine feature you singing underwater and show the lyrics in an artsy sort of way, and sgt pepper's lonley hearts club band shows you in pepperland which I am the Walrus has the Beatles wearing their animal costumes. The Beatles look pretty accurate for the most part in their different eras. The graphics and animations in general though are pretty bland, and the people in the crowd look pretty cheap. As for the songs, there are around 45 but a lot of their bigger hits/more popular songs are excluded and instead you have some of the lesser known songs, Hey Jude, Help, Let it Be, and Got to Get You Into my Life are only a few of the big name excluded songs, yet songs like Boys, Dig a Pony and so on. In fact, there are quite a few songs from Rubber Soul on this, but hardly any songs from Help, Hard Day's Night, or Sgt Peppers (Although it is featured as DLC for quite a price). In general about 30% of the songs in this game are great Beatle's songs, 40% are good, 25% are okay, and 5% bland. You get more good songs than you do bland, but there are far too many great songs excluded. Like I mentioned earlier, once you complete career mode which can easily be done in under 4 hours, you've played every song, you can always shoot for trophies though, and playing with friends on occasion can be fun, and there is a little bit of DLC although with DLC it is still missing quite a bit. Overall a fun game that just misses the mark and if they make a Beatles Rock Band 2 with pro support they better include songs like Hey Jude and Let it Be.

Pros

+Lots of fun to play Beatles songs, most of which are pretty well-known
+Easy to pick up for beginners
+Nice visuals, and all the Beatles resemble themselves, although a little cheesy lookings
+Vocal harmonies are a nice addition, although a good chunk of songs don't support them
+Up to 6 players at a time, a guitar, bass, 3 vocals, and drums
+Training modes are useful, especially the drumming ones
+Career mode is fun to play through the first time
+Unlockable content is pretty interesting for Beatles fans
+Great for friends since the Beatles are fun to sing to and play along with

Cons

-This game is pretty bare bones in terms of content and unlockables
-You can't customize the Beatles at all, or their instruments, you are stuck with seeing the same thing over and over for the song
-Lots of great songs excluded, like All My Loving, Hey Jude, and Let It Be, while bland songs like Dig a Pony were included instead
-Downloadable content is pricey, albums are almost $20, and there are really only 3 downloadable albums
-No ability to add in an extra guitar is a little cheap seeing as the Beatles usually had 3 guitars playing at a time in most of their songs
-Graphics and animations are pretty cheap in PS3 standards and it looks like a middle range PS2 game
-Unlockable pictures and videos are really only good for Beatles fans, but besides that you don't really unlock anything else
-Career mode is short and can easily be beaten under 4 hours, and sadly this includes every song in the game
-Online is pretty hard to find players who are willing to stick through
-Not a real wide variety of stadiums, you will get tired of seeing the same 6 or so places over and over.

We don't have all the instruments, just a guitar hero guitar and a singstar microphones, but it works fine with the game. In fact, we played for several days just karaoke style. My 9 year old daughter and her friend played this for nearly 3 hours straight a few days after we got it...overall, really good fun; she's singing the songs to herself throughout the day. Even my wife who hates the playstation says this was a great purchase. Referencing some other reviews, I think it has enough songs included. I went onto the store and only found one that I wanted to purchase...I think the 40 or so that come with it are good unless you are a hardcore fan. There was only one song that I wanted that I couldn't find with the disc or online (Blackbird).

I purchased this as a gift for my boyfriend, who is an avid Beatles fan. Started this up on XMas day and was amazed at the production quality of the game! This was done right-I can't imagine the Guitar Hero franchise doing this half as well as it was done. Graphics and sounds are amazing, songs are great, and the additional songs available from the PSN make the collection complete.

I received this yesterday and played for a solid 5 hours. I currently own GH5 and Rock Band II (with all the songs from the original RB and a ton of dlc), but hadn't played much of either for the last couple of months.

Beatles RB was just what I needed to dust off my plastic instruments.

I was looking forward to the game and made the plunge after the wife asked me to buy it. She's the singer of our group and was looking forward to the new harmonizing mechanic.

For fans of RB, and The Beatles in particular, the purchase is well worth it. I had several friends state that they didn't want to "shell out $60 for basically an add-on". I can understand their concern. The only thing keeping me from giving this a 5 Star review is the relatively short set list. 45 songs to start with compared with some of the other music games out right now isn't a lot. Of course, DLC will up that but now you're looking at additional cost. Also, they left out Hey Jude, which is one of my favorite Beatles songs.

But ultimately, this game is much more than a Rock Band add-on. It really is its own game, and a loving tribute to arguably the most influential band of the last century. The artwork, while not leaps and bounds different than RB II, is tweeked and just specific enough to the material to make the whole game feel brand new. The interstitial cut scenes and audio are a great addition. Speaking of the art, just wait until you get to the in studio levels. The psychodelic back groups are, pardon the pun, a real trip. They can be somewhat distracting, and can make seeing the notes on your scrolling fret board difficult at times. But again, they still really add to the overall ambiance of the game.

Ultimately it's the songs that make this game great. While not as loaded as I would have liked, the collection is thorough and spans their entire career. And if it's ever a band that really lends itself to Rock Band style play, it's the Beatles. We played last night with a group of 5 or so, and the songs are consistantly fun regardless of what instrument you're using. I can't wait until I get two new mics in the mail today to try out the harmonizing.

As for difficulty, I found that the guitar and bass parts are significantly easier than RB and RB II. However, the drums seem to be a fair bit harder, level to level, and on most songs, the vocals are more difficult and less forgiving.

I'm a total sucker and will probably buy every dlc they release for this. Now I've got to sit here at work and force myself to not take a half-day off to get back home and play it some more.

I'm quite familiar with the Rockband series, however, I'm no Beatles fan. Other than the name of the band, its members, and perhaps a couple of songs, I had no real knowledge of their music. That being said, I really had no interest in purchasing this game. I felt I wouldn't enjoy any of the songs since I didn't know most of them. Then my brother appeared at my home with his copy of this game. Playing it completely changed my mind. I certainly had to listen to the songs before trying to sing harmonies, but after using the other instruments and listening to them a couple of times it was incredibly fun to sing.

Graphics: Excellent graphics. Loved the intro, and how much detail was given to every screen. The dreamscapes are incredible, but I must say that sometimes they made it a little difficult to see what was going on screen. I guess the ones who are going to enjoy these dreamscapes the most are spectators, and not actual players. You also can't change your character, but that didn't bother me since the game is called The Beatles. I also had to get used to the colors of the notes (it took, like what, 5 seconds?).

Gameplay: Not so different from previous releases. But, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. It didn't bother me not getting booed if I was loosing. Nor the fact that there's no free session to activate the drum's overdrive. However, this one is easier than RB2. If you're looking for a challenge, you better go for the singing part of the game. The other instruments don't represent a big challenge. I definitely enjoyed a lot being able to sing harmonies, but if you're not able to even sing the main voice, forget it, you'll get frustrated.

The only downside is the amount of songs that were included. The game only comes with 45 songs. They definitely want to squeeze from you as much money as possible in downloadable content.

The game has left me a great lasting appeal. Although the amount of songs is relatively small when compared to previous releases, I haven't gotten bored at all. For those who like singing, this is a great game. For those looking for higher difficulty level in other instruments, better look into other releases. And finally, for those who don't know about the Beatles but like to play Rockband, I definitely recommend this game. I suppose those familiar with their work would criticize the song selection. But to me it's a great step as an introduction. And you have the extra value of being able to play them.

Well, it IS the Beatles, so if you like that music and this game genre, you'll like this game. However, they muddied up the fret bar interface (WHY???) and it's harder to see/keep track of bandmates status. I suppose this was done to make it more 'unique', but it's just makes it different, and not in a good way. I found the guitar play to be similar in difficulty to Rock Band, but I thought the drums in this game were harder.

As other reviewers have mentioned, you can't change the look or customize anything. Again, it is a 'Beatles' only game, but there could have been some sort of 'reward' besides just pictures. There's really no 'game' involved like in Rock Band, where you play as a band to go to different venues, different outfits, and progress as a band. There is only story mode, which basically takes you through the Beatles career, however, you are unable to bypass any songs in order to progress. So if you hit a bad song, you're stuck until you can complete it. I haven't gotten all the way through story mode yet, so I can't say if any songs 'unlock'. From looking at the quickplay songs, I kinda doubt there will be any unlocks, just more pictures.

There are some nice touches, and other than the fret board disaster the graphics are nice for this sort of game. Overall, if you have an interest in the Beatles and Rock Band, I would recommend this.

Im not a huge fan of the Beatles, but the game is fun!! singing old school songs its amazing and i have a lot of friends who likes them so LETS START THE PARTY :D