Beatles, The: Rock Band

© 2009 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc.
$60250, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Teaches: cooperative learning, timing, rock music, temporal relations, fine motor skills, pitch, rhythm
CTR Rating: 96%
Editor's Choice

CTR Review

See Rock Band 3 (CTR, Nov 2010). The clean rhythms and addicting melodies of The Beatles map perfectly to the Rock Band format, in this best edition yet of Rock Band. While the format is the same as previous editions, for the first time you can sing along in three part harmony, making it possible for up to seven people to share the same song, at once. In addition, the "easy" level is basic enough so that Grandpa can play along -- most players find the drums to be the easiest instrument. Compared to previous editions of Rock Band, the sound quality is better as well, providing you have your game console plugged into a good stereo system; you'll swear you can hear Ringo Starr settling into his drum set. Other goodies include the ability to visit a virtual Beatles museum. Unlike past versions of Rock Band, this edition is organized into chapters, each with four songs and a challenge. Testers noted that the graphics are "flawless" in giving the title a psychdellic 60's and 70's "trippy" feel. Another noted that the Beatles themselves look "weird", but that their actions are exactly synched to the music (no "fake" mouth moving like in guitar hero). If you already own a Rock Band set, you can plug in your existing Rock Band instruments and purchase the $60 software, or you can spend $250 and buy the special edition Beatle's wireless controllers, modeled after the band's original instruments. Four tracks appear at once on the screen -- guitar, bass, mic and drums, and, for the first time, the software can detect multiple harmonies at once to recreate the Beatle's vocals. The 25 songs include I Saw Her Standing There, Twist And Shout, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Yellow Submarine, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Here Comes The Sun. The Teen rating comes from the lyrics of the songs. As you play the songs, historic Beatles photos are shown on the screen. More detail has gone into the visual presentation than with any other version of Rock Band that we've reviewed. With this release comes some new frosting including custom-built instruments modeled after the ones that the Beatles used. More information can be found at http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com.