Leveling Down

The Beatles’ dreamscapes are a real visual treat

The day The Beatles: Rock Band reached my door, I finished the first half of the game before my wife even got home, took her to dinner, and then finished the rest of the game (netting me the “Day Tripper” achievement in about 6 hours of real time, 3 hours of game time). That fact proves both that I am a dork and that for all intents and purposes Beatles is a pretty short game. But some of its features manage to make up a great deal of the slack left by its short playlist (44 songs in all).

First and foremost, I should state that I’m a huge Beatles fan. Even the game’s intro (which is a beautifully rendered CG imagining of the foursome) got me incredibly pumped to play the game - I wanted to jump straight into quickplay and jam to all those songs. Instead, I chose to do the responsible thing and get into story mode, which basically takes you chronologically through the Beatles history, regardless of difficulty. It’s not a big deal though, since Beatles songs are inherently pretty easy (though I have much more respect for Ringo Starr after playing his drum parts), and you can change difficulty at anytime without restarting. The story mode is kind of like a history lesson in the Beatles; for those who are more musically inclined, you can really see the evolution of the Beatles music without any direct comments on the matter. It’s as much an homage to the group as it is a game, and some of the graphical decisions Harmonix made for the backgrounds are amazing (especially after the Beatles get in the studio and get away from all the screaming girls). It’s actually pretty cool, but as I said before, it only takes about three hours.

Playing Beatles songs is actually a lot of fun, even if people don’t know the songs (which is common in this day and age, sadly), since the tunes are generally pretty simple and people can sing along. I had people over the other night and planned to only play one song to show my gamer friend, but then everyone else wanted to play so we ended up going through the “greatest hits” on the album. I even tried to explain the virtues of “I am the Walrus”, although I think it fell upon deaf ears. Since the difficulty level is generally easier people seem to enjoy themselves more since they can up the difficulty.

Really, The Beatles: Rock Band succeeds because it is so accessible. You can either get into the game because the difficulty is easier, or because you like the Beatles, or even just because you want to see all the crazy stuff that goes on in the background. Yes, there aren’t enough songs and some glaring omissions (Let it Be, Across the Universe, Help!, etc.) which will probably (hopefully) end up being DLC, and the gameplay isn’t that difficult (though the achievements are no sure bet). Harmonies are a lot of fun to sing, but only for people who are really into music. At the same time, I think Beatles Rock Band is kind of like the Wii Sports of music games, it appeals to a wide audience and is as fun to watch as it is to play. Well, maybe not AS fun, but it’s good enough. I personally really appreciate the game because it reminds me why I fell in love with the Beatles all those long years ago, and it’s given me a chance to walk around singing Beatles songs in my head eight days a week. I can’t see how any band specific games will ever hold up to the Beatles experience – just like the Beatles in the 60s, The Beatles: Rock Band ends up being larger than life in the world of music games. Good luck, Van Halen.