The Beatles Rock Band (PS3)

Gamecow’s Price	RRP $99.95     Save $11.00 $88.95
Availability
Genre	Party Games
Platform	Playstation 3
Release Date	09/09/2009
Rated

The Beatles Rock Band (PS3) Product Information

** Compatible with Guitar Hero peripherals **

The world's leading music game meets the greatest band in history. The Beatles: Rock Band gives fans what they've been waiting for: a chance to experience the Beatles' legendary story from the inside. You won't just watch and listen as The Beatles make rock history, create landmark records and conquer the world-for the first time, you'll be part of the band. The Beatles software is compatible with Rock Band, Guitar Hero and most other instrument controllers, as well as, third party microphones including SingStar and Lips.

The Beatles were one of the most prolific bands of all time, churning out memorable hit after hit and this reflected in the song list of The Beatles: Rock Band. From "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to "Get Back," every song in The Beatles: Rock Band comes directly from the Abbey Road master tapes. More than 40 songs are included with the game, spanning the length of The Beatles career, with more to follow via download on PlayStation Network. Just a few classic hits that players can expect to see right out of the box include:

"I Saw Her Standing There"
"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
"I Feel Fine"
"Day Tripper"
"Taxman"
"I Am The Walrus"
"Back In The USSR"
"Octopuss Garden"
"Here Comes The Sun"
"Get Back"

Having made music together in various capacities and combinations for more than ten years, The Beatles career is inextricably linked with a variety of venues. Follow The Beatles from their earliest days in locales in Liverpool and Hamburg, to their triumphant Ed Sullivan Show appearance and beyond. In addition, join them in the studio at Abbey Road and experience dreamscapes that put you inside the psychedelic era. Just a few of the famous venues players can expect to see in the game are:

Cavern Club
The Ed Sullivan Theatre
Shea Stadium
Budokan
Abbey Road
Rooftop

The Beatles Rock Band (PS3) Review

The Beatles require no introduction, other than to say that they're the most important band of all time. That pretty much puts them at the top of the list of bands that deserve a videogame, so it's fitting and fortunate that they would receive a tribute as loving and reverent as The Beatles: Rock Band. James Hetfield should be on the phone to Activision right now, asking why Metallica's game has nothing on this one. Harmonix have shown it up as the glorified song pack that it is and delivered a title that sets a new standard for rhythm games.

It's important to note from the outset exactly what you're getting here. As the title suggests, it's Rock Band with Beatles songs. If for some reason you don't like the Beatles, you'll obviously get nothing out of this game. Unlike Guitar Hero: Metallica, there are no tracks by other artists to be found here. It's purely and one hundred per cent Beatles output, ignoring even the significant amount of solo and collaborative work from its individual members. There's also absolutely no cross-compatibility with anything else from the Rock Band stable, including DLC. Beatles: Rock Band and its own DLC stand alone from the pack, and though it would be fantastic to incorporate the Beatles tracks here into the rest of the mammoth Rock Band catalogue, it makes sense that they be kept separate. To set the songs free from this disc would ultimately dilute the experience the game offers. To have Get Back getting lost in a sonic sandwich between Fall Out Boy and Bon Jovi just wouldn't be right.

The beauty and strength of this game lies in the Beatles' songs themselves. Games try so hard and fail so often to make an emotional connection with the player, but in the case of Beatles Rock Band, that connection will already be there for most people who play it. It's almost cheating in a way, but when you're gleefully singing along to Yellow Submarine, absorbing the dreamscape that accompanies Here Comes The Sun, or nailing harmonies in With A Little Help From My Friends, you wouldn't have it any other way.

Full review PALGN