E3 ‘09: The Beatles Rock Band impressions
June 5, 2009 by Robin Parrish
Filed under Gaming
Let’s get this out of the way right now: The Beatles: Rock Band is going to be HUGE. Record sales numbers will give way to new fans of the rhythmic gaming genre — people who’ve never even played a video game before.
I guarantee it. Take a look at the trailer:
The E3 demo I viewed for The Beatles: Rock Band included three songs performed for us by the staff of Harmonix. “I Feel Fine” is one of many songs set at historical locations, this one being Shea Stadium from early in the Beatles’ career. (The story mode campaign takes you on a journey through the Beatles’ career, chronologically.) A famous rooftop concert from later in their career hosted “Get Back,” which I have a clip of the demo performance below. For songs closer to the end of the Beatles’ career, coming from the era when the group stopped touring and focused on just recording in-studio, Harmonix created something it calls “Dreamscape Venues.” These are imaginary worlds with no audiences, based on the mood and lyrics of the song. For “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” which was the final song demoed for us, this took the form of red, Soviet-themed animations that were playful and creative.
The Beatles: Rock Band is less of a side-release for the series and more of a true sequel, almost Rock Band 3 in scope. Harmonix has completely overhauled the user interface, creating a slick new presentation that’s not only user-friendly, but is designed to appeal to the broad spectrum of music fans that the Beatles can bring in — be they gamers or not. Accessibility is a major focus of the game, leading off with a “No Fail” option that allows anyone to pick up and play without worrying about scoring so poorly that they’re dropped out of the song. And all 45 songs that come with the game will be playable right out of the box in Quick Play mode.
If you purchase the full package with hardware and all, you’ll get replicas of the Beatles’ most iconic and favorite instruments. For vocalists, the game introduces a first for music games: optional three-part harmony, which features a clever interactive component that lets the three vocalists help each other out to achieve higher scores.
The Beatles: Rock Band arrives in stores September 9, 2009. If you weren’t a fan of rhythmic gaming before now, you might just find yourself picking up a guitar or drumsticks to jam with the greatest band of all time.
