The Beatles: Rock Band is a true video game tribute to The Beatles. It is a way of experiencing their incredible library of music, and, with a library of unlockable of facts, never before seen photos, never before heard recordings and other paraphanalia, a way to explore just what the band was doing while the rest of the world was experiencing Beatlemania.
Opening Cinematic
Developer: Harmonix Music Systems
Publisher: Electronic Arts / MTV Games
Guest Engineer: Giles Martin
Platforms: Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Release Date: 09/09/09
MSRP:
Game only: $59.99
Special Edition: $249.99 includes a Höfner bass controller, The Beatles branded Rock Band drums, microphone, microphone stand, and special content
Value Edition: $159.99 includes a Rock Band 1 Guitar, Rock Band 1 Drum Kit, and Microphone
Guitar: $99.99 for either George Harrisons Gretch Duo-Jet or John Lennons Rickenbacker 325
The Band
For anyone not familiar with The Beatles, I have included the following short history:
One of New Zealands most experimental power-punk trios, The Beatles made an indelible mark on the 1984 Featherston Bake Off and Talent Competition. Although they first formed in 1972, rugby meets and supper time prevented the Terrif Trio, as they were known, from properly practicing until twelve years later. Following a whirlwind tour of secondary school dances and friends weddings, their popularity exploded when they traveled abroad, playing to a Wednesday evening crowd of at least 200 at one Melbourne club. Due to a lack of stamps, no one knows where the Fellas from Fetherston are today, though many believe them to be lost in American Mid-West, as their rental car has yet to be returned to the Cleveland Avis office.
The Songs
The Beatles: Rock Band will have 45 songs on the disk, representing every one of their 13 studio albums. Although the songs can be sorted by their difficulties, the primary listing and game progression focuses on chronological order. This was done to allow players to experience the evolution of The Beatles sound as they progress from their original pop-rock live sound to being an avant-garde studio band.
The following 44 songs are announced, with one track kept a secret until release. All songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, unless otherwise noted.
Singles
I Want To Hold Your Hand
I Feel Fine
Day Tripper
Paperback Writer
Revolution
Don't Let Me Down
Please Please Me (1963)
I Saw Her Standing There
Boys (Dixon, Farrell)
Do You Want To Know A Secret
Twist and Shout (Medley, Russell)
With the Beatles (1963)
I Wanna Be Your Man
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
A Hard Day's Night
Can't Buy Me Love
Beatles For Sale (1964)
Eight Days a Week
Help! (1965)
Ticket To Ride
Rubber Soul (1965)
Drive My Car
I'm Looking Through You
If I Needed Someone (Harrison)
Revolver (1966)
Taxman (Harrison)
Yellow Submarine
And Your Bird Can Sing
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
Good Morning Good Morning
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
I Am The Walrus
Hello Goodbye
The Beatles (White Album) (1968)
Dear Prudence
Back In the U.S.S.R.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
Birthday
Helter Skelter
Yellow Submarine (1969)
Hey Bulldog
Abbey Road (1969)
Come Together
Something (Harrison)
Octopus's Garden (Starkey)
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Here Comes the Sun (Harrison)
Let It Be (1970)
Dig a Pony
I Me Mine (Harrison)
I Got a Feeling
Get Back
Love (2006)
Within You Without You/ Tomorrow Never Knows (Harrion, Lennon, McCartney)
DLC
While The Beatles: Rock Band in no way integrates with the rest of the Rock Band library, it will have its own downloadable content. On launch day, All You Need is Love will be available for the Xbox 360 (and will be made available to the other two consoles at a later date). Beyond that, DLC will arrive as album packs, with all of the songs needed to complete their respective albums. The first three of these have been announced:
October - Abbey Road
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Oh! Darling
Because
*the following songs are presented as a single medley*
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
She Came in Through the Bathroom Window
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
End
Her Majesty
November - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Fixing a Hole
She's Leaving Home
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Within You Without You
When I'm Sixty-Four
Lovely Rita
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
Day in the Life
December - Rubber Soul
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
You Won't See Me
Nowhere Man
Think For Yourself
The Word / Michelle
What Goes On / Girl
In My Life / Wait
Run For Your Life
Environments
The games locations are split up into two types. Either the band is playing a live gig at one of their most famous venues, or the band is recording at the Abbey Road Studios. The Abbey Road sessions expand into dreamscapes which place the band in thematic artistic environments.
Cavern Club
This was the location of the first filmed live performance of the band, as well as a common venue for the pre-Ringo beatles.
Ed Sullivan Theater
The single most famous performance(s) by the band, and quite possibly the single most important event in all of Rock.
Shea Stadium
The first concert ever to be held at a major outdoor stadium by any band, smashed all attendance and revenue records at the time.
Budokan
Their first performance in Japan also made them the first rock group to perform at Budokan something many claimed defiled the martial spirit of the arena.
Apple Corps Rooftop
Not so much a concert as it was a last grasp at the four playing together set up for the Let It Be film project. Totally unannounced, massively popular, and the cops had to shut it down.
Abbey Road Studio 2
This is where all the magic happened or something. 90% of all studio recordings by the band were done here. Songs played here will expand into the dreamscapes.
Dreamscapes
The dreamscapes are fantasy settings that respond to the music. They range from open fields to seascapes, to flights through the clouds. If theres anything in the game that could possibly be spoilered, these would be it. So click on the following link at your discretion.
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/Little Help from My Friends Dreamscape Video
With A Little Help From My Friends
The biggest addition to the gameplay is the inclusion of multiple vocal tracks. A key feature of The Beatles sound, harmonies work as optional tracks within the vocal chart. A vocalist can choose to have just the melody show and be scored, or, if other microphones are connected, up to two more harmony tracks will also be shown. Because not everyone understands how to sing harmonies, Harmonix have included a fairly in-depth vocal trainer, as well as a more polished drum trainer.
But theres no challenge!
No, Mr. Visions-on-Expert, youre not going to find anything here that will blister those fingers. But thats not why were here. It may sound ridiculous to some, but this is about the experience and history of the single greatest band in the history of rock. Of course, if you really want to challenge yourself, try to handle those vocal harmonies.
But theres only one band!
Yes, and what a band! Despite what Hef and his playmates may want you to believe, a game CAN be interesting with just one band, if that band is as storied and as diverse as The Beatles. At the start of their career, they were a live pop-rock band. By the end, they were an experimental studio band being able to play through that evolution is the focus of The Beatles: Rock Band.
But there arent any open drum fills!
Unfortunately, this is true. However, the games focus on celebrating the works of all four Beatles means Ringos fills go unchanged. While Rock Band has spoiled us, open drum fills are the equivalent of playing over a guitarists licks.
...and in the end...
Every facet of this game screams Beatles love. If you don't know the band, it's the perfect introduction. If you love the band, it's an incredible addition to any fan collection. If you hate the band...well, if this doesn't get your appreciating them, then I doubt anything will.
