From the moment the pre-game cinematics kick off, you know this is going to be something special.  An anime-inspired portrayal of the Liverpudlian lads takes you on a whirlwind journey across a distinctive scape of art and sound as you visit the sights, sounds and spirit of what The Beatles had to offer.  And that’s just before you get to the title screen.

The Beatles: Rock Band is the ultimate tribute to what most would agree is the greatest musical act of the 20th century.  If you’re even the slightest bit a fan (and who isn’t) you’ll need to give this a playthrough.  Normally our reviews try to be a little more level headed than this one is sounding (and I assure you, by the end it will be), but when something that is such a love letter of fan service comes across our desks it hard not to squeal like a teenage girl at... well, at a Beatles concert.

The nitpicky Beatlemaniac in us finds very little to complain about.  Sure there are some things we would have liked to have seen included (a first chapter set in Hamburg featuring all of their early covers, a final chapter with some post-Beatles work like” Imagine” or “My Sweet Lord”) but these omissions did nothing to hurt the final product.  If anything they were just far-out hopes of the quietly obsessed such as myself.

The only thing that really comes across as a thorn in our collective sides is the size of the track list that ships on disc.  When compared to other releases in the music genre, 45 songs is a rather paltry offering.  In comparison, Rock Band 2 featured 84 songs – nearly twice as many.  And it’s not as if The Beatles catalogue couldn’t handle it – notable releases like Hey Jude and Across the Universe are nowhere to be seen.  Much to our surprise, songs like that were left on the cutting room floor while middling, forgettable tunes like Boys and Hey Bulldog made the final cut. 

But The Beatles: Rock Band is just as much about the story as it is the music, so it’s understandable that some of these smaller tracks made the cut – they really helped frame the mood of the chapter you were playing.  Each of the chapters takes place in a different venue that follows the band’s career, starting with The Cavern Club and ending in their classic rooftop performance.  Guessing which venue would be next was a real treat for me, so I’ll try not to spoil any more of it for you.

Well – almost not spoil any more of it.  Three of the chapters take place in the studios at Abbey Road, and in my opinion, these really made up the highlight of the game.  Rather than performing onstage like in the other chapters, Abbey Road turns into this acid-era Beatles dreamscape.  Each song begins as a studio session and quickly turns into a trippy homage to the early music videos (and I use the term loosely) that the band was involved in.  Yellow Submarine, I Am The Walrus – think that stuff.  Rather than banging those tunes out on another stage you’ll get to relive the iconography that we’ve long associated with these songs.

As a Beatles tribute we couldn’t have asked for anything more.  The team at Harmonix knew exactly what this experience needed to be and quickly put other band experiences in their place.  But there are two sides to every story, and in the case of The Beatles: Rock Band those two sides are clearly outlined in the name.  And while we give The Beatles side of this experience a solid A+, the Rock Band side doesn’t fare quite as well.

From the moment you begin playing, you can’t help but shake the feeling that The Beatles: Rock Band was built with the casual player in mind.  This isn’t a bad thing, mind you, but there are a lot of little tweaks to the Rock Band formula that will nag at seasoned pros.  Gone are set lists from the main story mode – a thing of the past despite the fact that each chapter is made up of 4-7 songs  (a perfect set list size).  In it’s place are scoring and difficulty selection between every song.  For those of us looking for a seamless experience, having to stop and start every three minutes is a real drag.  It's nice to have customizable set lists in quickplay, but taking sets away from the story (even pre-determined ones) definitely hurt the flow of the game.  Still, don't think all of these tweaks means that there's no challenge to be had for those who crave it.  There's more than enough in the tried and true expert mode to appeal to even the hardest of hardcore.

For those looking to pick this up more on the Rock Band name rather than The Beatles name (and shame on you, you tasteless CHUD)  the big draw this time out is the introduction of harmonizing.  Utilizing up to three microphones, harmonizing lets multiple players join in on the singing fun in an event that can turn Rock Band from a 4 player experience to 6.  Harmonies are a great deal of fun, but they too are steered towards the casual player.  How so?  You can’t perform badly in harmony.

Rather than signing in with your own gamertag to join in on harmony, you’ll jump in with a spare mic attached to the solo singer’s tag.  How does the game know which mic is which?  It doesn’t.  So long as one of you is keeping in key with the lead vocal track, the game essentially says “meh, good enough” and rolls forward.  Matching that main vocal track maintains scoring exactly the same way it has in previous Rock Band iterations.  Harmony, on the other hand, has no scoring.  You could strap your dog to the mic (or in our case, my four year old) and it won’t bring the bands score down.  Hitting the harmonies perfect will result in bonus scoring, but there’s zero penalty for doing poorly.  Again – this is clearly an attempt to make Rock Band accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike.  While it’s a choice I don’t like (this is what no-fail mode is for) at least it lets my wife beatbox on one mic while I’m singing Octopus’s Garden on the other. 

If you’re debating between Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band, this isn’t really an either/or proposition.  The Beatles: Rock Band is a perfect, complete, lovely tribute to The Beatles.  Rock Band 2 is an exceptionally well designed music game.  It’s a tough nut to swallow, but any music gamer worth his weight in salt really needs to own both.  Despite sharing the Rock Band name, these are two very different products.  The Beatles offers a very stripped down Rock Band experience – but it’s the friggin’ Beatles.  Making the game accessible to folks of any age was a priority, and even if it wasn’t, Rock Band 2 skews towards a whole different experience by its very nature.

The 45 song setlist may feel a little skimpy right now, but more tunes are on the way.  Much to our surprise, a number of full album downloads are already slated for release.  Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper’s and Abbey Road have all been confirmed for release by the end of the year (Abbey Road has been confirmed for October 20th).  The single track All You Need is Love will be available on launch day for 360 owners.  While there’s been no commitment of the full catalogue making its way to Rock Band, I’d be surprised if we didn’t see their full body of work available for purchase by the end of next year.

Nitpicky complaints and simplified nature be damned, this is a music title for the ages.  If you share even the slightest love of The Beatles that the rest of western civilization has for the last 50 years and own a gaming console, this is an absolute must-own title.  In terms of showing the industry how to properly do a band game, Harmonix has really hit this one out of the park.  Don’t be The Walrus – buy the damned game!

(And on a side note, if the team responsible for opening and closing cinematics isn’t involved in the upcoming Yellow Submarine remake it would be a crime against humanity greater than the Holocaust and Sha-Na-Na combined.)

Yay! This is the definitive Beatles experience.  It couldn't get any more real if you were being lambasted for comparing yourself to Jesus (and believe me, I'd know)
Nay! In terms of Rock Band offerings there's substantially less to do here than in previous offerings.  45 song setlist is a little tiny for one of the most prolific bands in pop/rock history

For those of you who really hate reading, or only learned to read numbers: 8/10

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