It is hard for most of us in the gaming community to fathom what Beatlemania meant to the world. It was such a cultural phenomenon that the world has not experienced anything like it since. The Beatles became the face of pop music and legitimized it as an art form in a time when popular culture and music were under extreme scrutiny from many facets of society. They not only redefined pop music, they practically invented rock n roll. It wasn't until the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band that rock was deemed a separate genre from pop. Until that point you only found Beatles records in the pop section.
The developers at Harmonix go the full nine yards in their attempt to recreate the craze that was Beatlemania which is evident is the beautifully illustrated opening sequence. With the story mode, the average gamer has the chance to follow The Beatles from their humble beginnings in Liverpool and join in their rise to worldwide stardom with landmark performances on the Ed Sullivan Show, in front of 55,000 screaming fans at their 1965 concert at Shea Stadium and as the first western cultural performers to play in the Budokan Arena in Tokyo. The team at Harmonix does a good job of illustrating how manic Beatlemania made teenage girls all those years ago. If you really want to experience these historic performances from the Fab Four's shoes, I suggest going into the audio options and turning the music levels all the way down while leaving the crowd noise at max level; then turn your TV or surround sound all the way up. That's what Beatlemania sounded like to the band. Speaking of the band, Harmonix went to painstaking lengths to create the likenesses of John, Paul, George and Ringo. What we get is a very polished product. They did a hell of a job with creating the likenesses from each stage of their career.
The two previous Rock Band titles were all geared around touring, unlocking and playing at new venues. So, when The Beatles quit touring in 1966 and traded the thousands of screaming fans for the quiet confines of Abbey Road Studios this created a unique challenge for the team at Harmonix. However, just as the Fab Four found the heights of their creative genius in those sessions the game developers found their own creative apex with the design of the "Dreamscapes". Instead of just sitting there watching the band jam away in the studio, the wall melt away into magically colorful visual illustrations that follow the theme of each song. The Dreamscapes are the most stunningly, visually orgasmic cinematic presentations I have ever seen in the video game medium. Some may find them a little distracting. I was entranced a couple times during my first play-through that I forgot to come back in from a refrain.
Veterans of the Rock Band franchise will find the gameplay very familiar, although some changes may stand out. To stay true to The Beatles original recordings, Harmonix chose to leave out the warbling effect of the whammy bar and for those who play on the Rock Band Fenders will find their effect switch does nothing. The whammy bar does still help to drive up your score though. I cannot attest to the drumming gameplay but I have heard grumblings about the triggering of Beatlemania(Overdrive/Star power). Apparently they don't use the fill trigger that drummers have grown accustomed to on older titles.
Harmonix produced special new hardware for the game as well. Spitting image replicas of Paul's Hoffner bass, John's Richenbacker 325, and George's Duo Gretsch. I'm pretty sure Paul's bass is only available in the bundle to this point. The bundle also includes a new drum set that is modeled after Ringo's four piece kit. I personally pre-ordered one of the Duo Gretches and couldn't decide whether to play with it or mount it on my wall. It plays similar to my old Rock Band 2 wireless Stratocastor. Accented with faux chrome and fret inlays, it really looks sharp.
The most innovative new feature lies in the addition of the option to hook up multiple microphones allowing for the three and four part harmonies that were so prevalent in their music. I cannot adequately review this feature because I have not attempted to sing vocals in any of these games since a brief stint trying to sing RB1 songs into the my old headset mic. There is an instructional feature that show you how to find and sing each pitch of the harmonies. This game has made me want to go out and get a real microphone controller to give these vocals a go.
Another neat new feature is the "Extras" section. In Story Mode each song has two photos you can earn to unlock extras. Three stars gets you one photo; five stars gets the second. Collecting photos earns you other extras like videos and audio files. The first extra I unlocked was an audio recording of the Christmas record they sent out to members of the official Beatles fan club in 1963. Another feature I appreciated was the audio snippets you hear during the loading screens. Early on it's crowd noise, them introducing a song or Ed Sullivan's introduction along with Sullivan trying to quiet the crowd in his studio. Later on when they are in the studio you hear actual audio snippets from the recording sessions for each song. Along with the story mode there are challenges similar to the challenges in Rock Band 2. You get a set number of songs to play through and end up with a total score and number of stars for the challenge. Completing each section of the story mode unlocks new challenges. If they keep it similar to RB2 then each set of DLC should bring new challenges as well.
This game provides a number of unique achievements. Quite a few of them are song and difficulty specific. There are four gamer pictures, one for each member of the band, to unlock by earning expert gold stars on four songs for each achievement. Here's a link to a list of the achievements- http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/the-beatles/achievements/ I have to lament the fact that this is the first of these music/rhythm games that I can beat every song on expert and they did not add an achievement for finishing Story Mode on expert. So, in regards to achievements, completionists beware but personally this is not a game to play for achievements. It's a game to be played for the love of music and appreciation for what The Beatles represent.
Flowery praise aside, every game has it's flaws and The Beatles: Rock Band is no exception. The most glaring flaw you will hear is the short setlist. Yes, there is only an initial 45 songs which provides for an astonishingly short story mode, especially if you are accustomed the the 75-85 song setlists on previous titles. The only viable excuse for the short setlist I can accept is that for a longer setlist it would have taken Harmonix two to three times longer to produce the game and still hold to that professional and artistic integrity that The Beatles exuded and that is prevalent in the finished product. Another gripe some may have with the initial setlist is the glaring absence of such Beatles staple hits like Hey Jude and Let it Be. On the other hand it was a pleasant surprise to see more obscure songs like Hey Bulldog and And Your Bird Can Sing. They have officially announced the first three album DLC will be Abbey Road on October 20th, Sgt Pepper in November and Rubber Soul in December. The single song All You Need is Love was made available on the launch date with a portion of the proceeds going to the charity Doctors Without Borders. With an extensive catalog to choose from there should be plenty of future DLC to come. Another feature that has been glaringly absent from all Rock Band titles is the option to play rhythm guitar instead of bass and The Beatles: RB holds to that guitar, bass, drums and vocals mold. I assumed since both John and George played guitar on so many songs that Harmonix might feature both lead and rhythm.
In terms of overall artistic production and presentation this game tops the charts. The often eye popping dreamscapes are a work of art. The Beatles: Rock Band oozes with that professional and creative integrity that the band held so dear. If you're judging in terms of content alone, this game falls short of it prodesessors. So, if you are just a casual fan of the music/rhythm game genre and are just looking for a few new songs to play then a rental is recommended. But if you are a veteran of the genre and fancy yourself a music connoisseur then it's a definite buy. I found it to be an immensely enjoyable gaming experience with very few flaws. This is a title I could see myself playing eight days a week.
10 point cheevo by the way.
