Music videogames have become very popular over the last little while, with Rockband by Electronic Arts/Harmonix dishing out easily accessible games to the non gamer with easy to use drums, guitars and mics.  There have been a few “specialty” editions of Guitar Hero and even Rock Band: AC / DC that cater to specific music fans, it is no surprise that The Beatles Rock Band is here on all current platforms.  We check out the Playstation 3 version of the game which is almost identical feature wise to the Wii and Xbox 360 versions.

Whether you listened to the Beatles or not, you must have one time in your life heard a Beatles song on the radio, watch someone dish it out in a karaoke or in a TV commercial somewhere in the world.  The Beatles without a doubt has changed the music industry forever with their music.

Working closely with Apple Corp and of course with Paul McCartney, Ringo Star, Yoko Ono and George Harrison’s widow Olivia, you get a great sense of how much effort and work has been put into the game, from the opening cut scene to the selection of Beatles songs that are timeless.  This isn’t Rock Band with just Beatles songs, there is a very fun Career mode that will take you from playing for a dozen people to all the way up to hundreds of thousands of screaming fans.  You will see yourself play in The Cavern Club, the Ed Sullivan show, Shea Stadium and even the legendary Abbey Road studios.  The career mode allows you to unlock some photos of the band, videos and some other nifty fan club items that I won’t spoil here.  The Beatles loved the number 9, it is no surprised the game was released on 9/9/2009 and there are 9 chapters to the career mode as well.

Some other nice touches in the game are the loading screens have audio clips from concerts where they introduce the songs or even cool behind the scenes audio clips of them in the studio. The story in the game, while not a total time line of The Beatles and how they became famous, it’s a great summary of some of the more important events that have happened in their musical lives.

You’ll notice right off the bat that the game has only 45 songs, which is much lower than some of the other music games out there.   There are amazing hits like Ticket to Ride, Hello Goodbye, Twist and Shout and much more…but you are bound to find a song that you loved is missing.  Hopefully the DLC’s albums coming out soon won’t put too much of a dent in your wallet when they add more songs for sale to the Rock Band music store.  Don’t forget that 1 of the 45 songs is locked until you unlock it; I won’t spoil the fun (Google if you really want to ruin it).

We decided to tested the game the way most gamers will be playing it, on existing Rock Band or Guitar Hero equipment: A Playstation 3 Rock Band 1 drum set, Frontman Nyko guitar (for Guitar Hero and Rock Band ), Rockband 2 guitar and Rock Band 1 mics which all worked perfectly fine.  Things that don’t work are headsets, so don’t try to use that to sing (although you can speak online with them).  Hard core fans and gamers might want to look into the Limited Edition Premium bundle that ships with a cool Hofner bass replica that Sir Paul used, a Ringo Starr / Ludwig branded Rock Band 2 drum kit, a Mic and stand for the new three part harmonies.

The game interface and gameplay hasn’t changed all that much, although the colours for the music bars are slightly brighter than before, they seem to blend a little too much into the background and sometimes you can miss a note if you aren’t paying attention.  A new addition to the game are the three-part vocal harmonies, while some gamers might find it hard to sing harmonies (such as myself)…Harmonix has a new tutorial for you to learn how to sing them, so why not give a shot?  The newly re-vamped Practice mode is also a great place to practice over and over those tougher harmony parts on your own.  There is also an addition of a “No Fail” option for each individual player, so if grandma wants to pick up a mic and start belting it out with the teenagers of the family, not a problem as the song won’t fail if her singing is not up to par.

Some of the songs have strange dream like sequences that match the songs really well.  The strangest one of them all would be “I Am the Walrus” and a cool “Come Together” that is in black and white.  Harmonix really made sure this was a true Beatles Rock Band game and not just Rock Band with The Beatles music in it.  Some of the more crowded venues get a little lack luster, as I swore I’ve spotted the same Harry Potter glasses wearing looking girl screaming in the crowd at least twice a song, with all the unique aspects of the game, you think they would had modeled a few more screaming fans in the crowd to zoom into.

You obviously don’t mess with The Beatles music, which is why it is so hard to license or even buy a digital copy of their music.  It is no surprise that the tracks are totally untouched, this makes playing the bass or even the drums harder because you just don’t hear the instrument you are playing as the volume is left constant for all the instructions/vocals.

The online mode works just as well as Rock Band 2, just make sure you aren’t using an overloaded highspeed connection or you’ll never finish a song without an error.  There are also Playstation 3 trophies for you to earn throughout the game.

Overall The Beatles Rock Band on the Playstation 3 is top notch, if you love The Beatles music; you will definitely be having a blast with the game.  There are very few things to nitpick game play wise about the game other than there are only 45 songs to play.

Gameplay

Graphics

Sound

Overall