Sore Thumbs - You guessed it, Beatles Rock Band (some scary stuff, too) Dan Woolsey
Beatlemania Comes To Rock Band
It’s finally happening.
After music acts like Mötley Crüe, Aerosmith, 50 Cent, Wu Tang Clan, and
Britney Spears have had their own videogames, The Beatles’ first videogame is
coming out. Coinciding with the release of the remastered stereo and mono box
sets, The Beatles: Rock Band is a godsend for Beatles fans
everywhere.
The Beatles’ material has always been very closely
guarded and carefully licensed. To see something come out that uses their music
and likenesses that isn’t an album re-release is out of the ordinary. Nothing
like this has ever existed for Beatles fans and that’s why it’s such a big
deal.
It’s
been a long time coming, but the technology just didn’t exist before to do The
Beatles this kind of justice. The Rock Band games require multi-track
recordings for each song so that players can get feedback while they play. If
the drummer misses a beat, the drum section of the song needs to reflect that
without affecting the other tracks in the song. The development team at
Harmonix had to go back to the original master recordings to create the
multi-track versions of the songs they needed.
The
special edition of the game comes with a replica Höfner bass guitar as well a
microphone stand and Ludwig-branded drums. Additional replica instruments, such
as the Gretsch Duo-Jet and Rickenbacker 325, are also available separately for
a hefty $99. None of these are required to play the game, but Beatle-maniacs
may deem them necessary to complete the package.Just so you know, it would cost $450 (yikes!)
to get the game and a fully-outfitted Beatles wannabe band… but you can get the
game for $60 and play with all of your existing instruments also.
You’ll
play everything from The Beatles’ first official gig to their last performance
on the roof of Apple Studios, each with an accurate representation of how they
looked at the time. On your journey, you’ll even go on a few psychedelic trips
with The Fab Four. Don’t be surprised if you spot a certain brightly-hued,
underwater vehicle or a walrus along the way. There’s plenty of fascinating new
eye candy and rare, unlockable Beatles photos and sound clips to take in. It’s
a shame that the player will be focusing on scrolling colored bars and will
likely miss out on all of the cool background visuals, but there’s plenty to
keep onlookers entertained.
While
almost everything in the game is perfect regarding accuracy, it’s not a perfect
game. The limits of The Beatles’ licensing restrictions become apparent when
you find out that you’ll only be able to play these songs with this game. The
usual import and export of Rock Band
tracks doesn’t work here. You’ll never play these songs in Rock Band 1 or 2,
you won’t be able to get new clothes and customize your performers in-game, and
you won’t be playing anything other than Beatles songs. I wouldn’t consider
these to be a major flaw; that’s just how the game is presented and it happens
to be different than the first two Rock
Band games.
But
wait… there’s more! One change this title brings is the “overdrive” mode used
for extra rockin’ has slyly been renamed “Beatlemania.” Also, while you’re
playing guitar, feel free to slam the whammy all you want, but it will have no
effect on the song whatsoever. This would change the way the song sounded, and
that’s a big no-no according to Apple Corps. The most unfortunate gameplay
change for me was the removal of freestyle drum-fill sections. Again, if this
wasn’t how The Beatles played the song, don’t think you’re going to do it any
differently. I never tired of drum-fills and hated to see them go, but their
exclusion makes sense with this presentation… I guess. Finally, one of the
coolest additions is the three-part harmonies vocalists can pull off. This
essentially enables two more players to join in.
Think
of this game as a big expensive box set that you can play along with. If you
already have a lot of The Beatles’ albums, skip the recently released
remastered collection and give this a shot. You might not feel like you are a Beatle, but you’ll feel that you
were at least along for the ride!
If you read Sore Thumbs
regularly, you were probably expecting something Halloween-related this month.
Well, I hate to disappoint, so here is a quick list of my picks for scary games
to play on Halloween:
Dead
Space – phenomenal space
horror…great visuals, weapons, monsters, and sound. Play it!
Call of
Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth – under-appreciated first-person adventure set in Lovecraftian
mythos. Wait until you have to escape your hotel room at night…you’ll see
what I mean if you play it.
F.E.A.R.
2 –a good shooter that’s
freakin’ scary. A lovely mix!
Fatal
Frame – creepy Japanese setting
where you fight off ghosts with nothing more than your special camera
Condemned:
Criminal Origins – track a
serial killer through dark and eerie locations while trying not to get
bludgeoned by thugs
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