The Beatles: Rock Band is an open love letter to people who have appreciation of the band's work.
At first glance The Beatles: Rock Band may just look like a stripped down version of Rock Band 2, in which it technically is. By that I mean that there is no career mode in which you make your own choices and no character customization. That might turn off many Rock Band veterans, but it was important to deliver a game that is strictly revolved around The Beatles. Another thing missing is end of song jams and drums fills, which is also quite understandable, mostly because Harmonix wanted to deliver a pure Beatles experience. Those things missing, the game still works great and may be even for the better.
This time around you get a Story Mode in which it takes place in the span of The Beatles careers from "Please Me, Please Me" through their final album "Let It Be". These stages feel well played out and just before every new set you get a small video highlighting the albums and events that occurred during that particular time. It is quite amusing and the stages selected are well done. Each stage has an authentic feel to it, and they never feel overdone. There are a handful of stages that you play from The Ed Sullivan Show, to Abbey Road Studios, and finally in the Apple Corps roof in London. In the end the story ends in a warm feeling that any Beatles will have after completing the Story Mode. The most important part of The Beatles: Rock Band is, of course, The Beatles. You play as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Each band member is modeled perfectly and have their distinct looks to them that change accordingly after time. The Beatles: Rock Band does not need a career mode with a fan system or endless song list. It works just fine with a regular story mode.
The graphics in the game are simply stunning, not in a technical standpoint, but rather in an artistic form. Everything has a rather animated and surreal look to it, which fits quite perfectly with the games mood and tone. Historical places like The Ed Sullivan Show have a real authentic look, while the later Dreamscapes have a more mystical feeling to each song. In these Dreamscape sequences the game presents different tones of presentation depending on the song's feel and meaning. This is very hard to explain, due to the fact that this is something that the gamer has to experience first hand to know. Dreamscapes vary from beautiful fields, to The Beatles dissolving into a diamond filled background, to even the members dressing in their animal uniforms. The only problem in this is that a lot of the times during the Dreamscape sequences, you may get distracted by the scenery, that you soon forget about the song that you are playing. Surprisingly the Wii version of the game is just as good in the graphics department as the other consoles. There are no notable differences with the exception of more polished models in the other versions. To put in simpler words, the graphics are a beautiful feast to the eyes.
Gameplay is essentially the same as most of the rhythm games that you have come to know of. Like before, you have the option of playing on the guitar, the drums, or sing on the microphone. This time around, you can connect up to 3 microphones and sing in harmony with 2 other people. This adds a whole new level of challenge in keeping a beat and can add a rewarding experience when done correctly. To make it even more challenging, you can sing while playing an instrument to capture the authentic Beatles feeling and thus making it a more rewarding experience. It should be worth noting that the songs are played chronologically, which means that you can play some of the hardest songs in the beginning, yet have very easy songs towards the end. That shouldn't bother veterans too much, but may turn off many newcomers to the series. Those complaints aside, veterans will be getting more of the same depending on how they like The Beatles.
When you play a Rock Band game you are emphasized to play with your friends in multiplayer, and this game almost feels like a requirement to do so. The same rules of the previous Rock Band games apply to this installment. However, it is not as fun to play competitively, but rather as a band together. Having a full band experiencing the harmony and musical talents of The Beatles is a great experience, and playing in harmony often brings together the players for a more rich experience when played among appreciating fans.
Let It Be, All You Need is Love, Hey Jude, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, the rest of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road, and a lot more songs. These are the songs that are missing in the game that I love. The list will be different for others, but it feels weird that a lot of those songs are missing. However, Harmonix has stated that they are planning to release more songs as DLC. This acts as a positive and a negative, as you will be able to play your songs you want, yet it will cost quite an amount of money. Other than that, the sound in the game in the perspective of a Beatles listener is phenomenal. Harmonix picked out most of The Beatles' best music and compiled it into 45 songs. The feeling of the music is balanced out, as it has the perfect blend of their catchy yet great songs, that later transition into deeper and sometimes depressing pieces that ranged into their later albums. The sound quality of the game is also quite superb, giving what a Beatles listener a beautifully composed mix of songs.
The lasting appeal of the game is not that long if you want to rush past the single player mode. But for a person who wants a deeper experience, they are getting what they asked for. Essentially you can breeze through the game in a day, but with the unlockables, it may take longer. The unlockables are great, ranging from pictures of the band members when they were on tour and in studio, to videos of them performing or doing other things like playing with headphones in a train. Casual listeners of music may not really care or appreciate the extras, but it is much appreciated by the fans of their work as they see on how much Harmonix worked to even add videos and photos of them to give everybody a treat.
You are now probably thinking of how I was biased towards a 45 song game just because it's about The Beatles. Yes I am biased, but that's because it is in any fans appeal. This game may not seem like anything special for a casual listener who doesn't really care about the band, but that's what Harmonix planned. Instead of trying to appeal all players, they worked their way into making a game that a Beatles fan can call their own game. The Beatles: Rock Band is not a game, it's an experience like no other. It takes aspects about the band's best moments and waves it into an experience that will both garner fans of the music, all the way to people who have an interest but never have had a proper introduction. In other words, it is a love letter to fans and has a lot of heart to make it a perfect experience for fans of one of the greatest bands ever.