The Beatles: Rock Band (game) pub. Harmonix

The Beatles: Rock Band
Harmonix, 2009
XBox 360, Wii, Playstation 3


Genre: Music/Rhythm

Players' Annotation:
Pretend you're John, Paul, George or Ringo in the latest Rock Band installment that covers the music of the Beatles.

Game Summary:
The latest installment of Harmonix' popular Rock Band series lets players sit in with one of the most influential rock bands of all times. Like previous installments, the game allows one to four players to play along as a guitarist, bassist, drummer or singer. Players use controllers that resemble instruments and follow colored "notes" on the screen. The player must press the colored buttons (or hit the colored drum pad) that correspond to the notes in the correct rhythm and sequence, which gives the player the sense that s/he is really playing the song.  The singer uses a microphone to sing along to the song; words and notes are provided, and the game determines how well the singer stays on pitch and beat.  The game's difficulty ranges from easy to expert. Unlike previous installments, melody and harmony vocals are supported, allowing up to four vocalists to sing at one time.

The music from this installment is drawn entirely from the Beatles catalog and uses the original recordings.  Instead of letting players create their own avatar, as was the case in previous installments, the animations use cartoon-like renderings of the Fab Four. Players can play in a story mode, which follows the band through their early days playing at the Cavern Club and on the Ed Sullivan show, all the way to their later years.  Players can also use a "quick play" mode which allows them to play any song of their choosing.  Group play is encouraged; players can form their own band locally or with people elsewhere over their platform's network.

Critical Evaluation
The Beatles: Rock Band is a beautiful and original game. Unlike previous installments for series like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, which have basically just included new songs, this game is a complete re-imagining of the series, with attractive and highly stylized graphics. The game includes a great representative sample of the band's oeuvre, ranging from early pop songs like "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to the more experimental sound of later works like "Helter Skelter." The settings for these songs change, too. For the songs that appeared earlier in their career, the Beatles are shown in important live venues such as the Cavern Club, the Ed Sullivan Show, or Shea Stadium. Later, after the band stopped touring, the band is shown playing in a studio setting, but to keep things interesting, the band is transported into "dreamscapes," inspired by the song lyrics and the visual styles of the time. "Octopus's Garden" and "Yellow Submarine" take place underwater; "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is a psychedelic fantasy.

The game offers various levels of difficulty from easy to expert. Various challenges (such as playing a song  perfectly) keep things interesting for hard-core gamers, while more casual gamers can just pick up and play (even taking advantage of a "no fail" option that prevents novice players from getting booed off the stage).

Because of its gorgeous graphics and great music, the game is almost as much fun to watch as it is to play.  It takes the classic music/rhythm game and turns it into something new and original. There's strong teen appeal here--not only are these types of games incredibly popular with the age group, but also the Beatles remain interesting to young adults, especially those who are interested in rock music history. Since parents and grandparents may fondly remember the music, it may even get the whole family playing!

About the Company
Harmonix has been a groundbreaking figure in the world of music/rhythm games.  In the early part of this decade, hits like Amplitude and FreQuency allowed gamers to play DJ, mixing in parts different parts of songs together. The company then developed the popular Karaoke Revolution that allowed players to sing along to popular hits and be scored on their pitch and rhythm. They started the instrument-as-controller craze with their hit Guitar Hero.  Rock Band, which came out in 2007, put the singing and guitar elements together and then added in drums, allowing for four-person play.

Library Event Ties
This would be a great title for an in-library gaming event. Not only would it attract teens, but it also might attract curious adults and seniors who are fans of the Beatles.  It would be easy and fun to put together a materials display in conjunction with the event--CDs by the band, biographies and books written about the band, movies of films done by the band themselves (A Hard Day's Night, Help!) as well as documentaries about the Beatles (Anthology, The Compleat Beatles).


Rating/Age Interest
and
Challenge Issues
This game is probably of most interest to teens and adults.  Younger children who enjoy music/rhythm games may be interested, too.  The game is rated T for Teen because of some mild language and tobacco references in the songs, but there is no other objectionable content.  It seems very unlikely that the use of this game in a library setting would result in any sort of challenge, though perhaps the game's rating could be included in any posters/flyers advertising this event.

Selection Criteria
This game got a lot of coverage in mainstream media when it was released in September 2009, was reviewed very positively, and has sold very well.