Those who know me won't be surprised that I recently purchased The Beatles Rock Band for the Playstation 3, and they will be even less surprised to read my glowing review below:
The Beatles Rock Band was released on September 9th, coinciding with the CD remastered versions the band's albums (yeah, mine are on back order). The game bundle comes with a microphone, guitar, and drum set. I purchased an additional guitar separately, a replica of the exact guitar John Lennon used when he played Beatles Rock Band.
I've never actually played a Rock Band or Guitar Hero game before so after familiarizing myself in Quick Play Mode I went straight for Story Mode which follows a linear progression of The Beatles history from the early days in the Cavern Club to the rooftop concert during the Let It Be sessions. However, there are some subtle differences. I'm sure, for instance, that during their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show the batteries to the real Beatles controller didn't die causing the band to pause in the middle of I Wanna Hold Your Hand while I plugged it in. I also doubt my cat Bella jumped on any of the Beatles' back during the concert.
Not sure how Ed would've handled that latter one as it brought the whole show to a standstill.
The curtain goes down, Ed comes out, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Beatles' cat jumped on Ringo's back and even now is being pursued with vigor by our hard working men and women back stage."
I don't know. I guess The Beatles could have collectively owned a cat.
The visual backgrounds during the songs are impressive. The animations capture the mannerisms and stage habits of the band perfectly, and the psychedelic back drops during the studio sessions are incredible. I am the Walrus is one the weirdest, freakiest fucking things you will ever see in a video game. As the game loads in between songs you can hear previously unreleased "studio chatter" between the band members. This leads to the games biggest flaw; Angie hitting the continue button before I can hear everything that is said.
Overall, if you are a fan of The Beatles or this style of game I think you'll want to check this title out. I don't see it converting any non fans, but I don't fault the game or music for that. Those people are retarded.
I give it 4.5 moptops out of 5.
