The Beatles Rockband

XBOX 360 (TESTED), PLAYSTATION 3

By Gerard Campbell / Tuesday, October 27 2009

Although I was still a nipper when The Beatles disbanded in 1970, like many of my generation I grew up on a steady diet of the four lads from Liverpool.

My Scottish immigrant father had a large collection of the band’s albums on vinyl (I also think he had one of those suits with the big collars that they wore, too) so I grew up listening to the music of what is perhaps the greatest band of all time, responsible for such classics as Back in the USSR, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Twist and Shout and Revolution.

It was inevitable that The Beatles would get the Rockband treatment but developer Harmonix has created something quite special here: a glowing tribute to the genius that was Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

Without a doubt the game will appeal to our mothers and fathers – the people who did twist and shout to The Beatles – but it may well endear itself to Generation Y, too.

People familiar with Guitar Hero or Rockband will feel right at home here, as the basic game play remains the same, and if you really want to get fully immersed into the experience you can buy a limited edition Premium version of the game that comes with a guitar controller fashioned on McCartney’s Hofner bass, a Ludwig-branded drum kit, and a microphone and stand – but that’ll set you back almost $400.

For some unfathomable reason, Rockband 2 skipped New Zealand completely, so The Beatles Rockband is the second version of the game in our part of the world (but the third in the US and Europe), but to me, it seems as if the quality of the game has stepped up a notch from the original Rockband. The game play is still the same, but graphically the game just seems to have upped the ante on other similar games.

The career mode is a delight to play, following the progress of The Beatles as they take the world by storm and perform in iconic venues such as the Cavern Club, on The Ed Sullivan Show and, eventually, on the roof of the iconic Apple HQ in London.

And while the game does take some graphical liberties at times with the animations that play in the background (Ringo Starr never actually played on Back In The USSR after having a disagreement with other band members) the game does an excellent job of creating atmosphere, right down to some never-heard-before conversations from band members recorded during the original studio sessions. It’s a nice touch and shows the love that has been lavished on the game.

While the game doesn’t feature the songs Help, All You Need Is Love or Strawberry Fields, there is more than enough in the 45-track line-up to satisfy The Beatles aficionado, with songs such as A Hard Day’s Night, Drive My Car and Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds rubbing shoulders alongside Eight Days A Week, Here Comes The Sun and the seemingly drug-induced Yellow Submarine and I Am The Walrus – and owners of the Xbox version of the game can download All You Need Is Love from Xbox Live Arcade as well.

The Beatles Rockband, though, is a whole heap of fun when played With A Little Help From Your Friends, and if you all Come Together and have access to three microphones, you’ll be able to belt out classics using the three-part harmonies.
I had a blast playing The Beatles Rockband, and while it’s an evolution of the series rather than a Revolution, it’s awesome fun and could well expose a whole new generation to the magic of The Beatles.

And besides, any game that gets a wife and two children playing a video game together is a winner in my book.