POSTED 11/11/09


THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND

Harmonix/MTV Games/EA
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, Wii)

Imagine inventing pop culture. It’s a pretty heavy concept (man), but The Beatles did it. They were also instrumental in giving communism in Russia a swift kick to the guts, and have influenced every musical act that’s followed them – whether they acknowledge it or not.

We could go on, but their main achievement’s the songs. 45 feature in this dedicated spinoff of Harmonix’s Rock Band, which has the standard RB workings given some tweaks and a Beatlesesque makeover. Rather than just chucking a handful of their songs in and marrying them to cardboard cutout images, this is a complete Beatles experience.

Yeah (yeah, yeah), that may sound wanky, but it’s accurate. In the main ‘Story’ mode, the Fab Four’s career is dissected into eight Beatlesy-bits. These offer a chronological progression starting at Liverpool’s famed Cavern Club, rocketing through US and Japan visits, studio excursions and that finale atop the Apple Corps building.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty to watch if you’re not playing (or you can multitask). Animations with decent likenesses of John, Paul, George and Ringo unfold, becoming trippier and trippier as the band themselves delved into things that made them, well, trippier and trippier.

Our only gripe’s with the song list. The Beatles released over 200 songs, so to only give us 45 – and to miss staples such as ‘She Loves You’, ‘Help!’ and our fave ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ – smacks of potential DLC opportunism. Perhaps parody band The Rutles had it right with their ‘All You Need is Cash’?

We really can’t stress how ace this is. The uninitiated have a magical opportunity to discover what all the fuss has been about, whilst fans can drown in a sea of all things fab.

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