The Beatles: Rock Band holds the distinction of the most anticipated video game ever. All of the blockbusters such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Halo 3, and the yearly release of Madden cannot hold a candle to the amount of hype that The Beatles: Rock Band received over this past summer. The appearance of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for a grand total of about two minutes was main story of E3 2009. The game was featured on television shows that wouldn’t normally give thirty seconds to video games on a normal day (Today and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien are two that instantly come to mind).

The hype isn’t unexpected. The Beatles defined a generation and constantly innovated, expanding the limits and expectations of what music could do. Even after their dissolution in 1971 and the deaths of John Lennon in 1980 and George Harrison in 2001, their music has endured through the generations and has influenced contemporary music.

Yet, there is potential for such a game to fail. Music games that have featured a band-specific focus have not fared well critically. Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and AC/DC Live: Rock Band have not been able to equal the same Metacritic scores as their full band competitors: Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band, and Rock Band 2.

The instruments look great and play like the Rock Band 2 ones. For some, this fact is a negative more than it is a positive.

Luckily, The Beatles: Rock Band does not fall into the same pitfalls as the band-specific games before it. It plays exceptionally well, utilizes the license effectively, and offers tremendous fan service. However, there seems to be room for improvement, especially in the areas of song selection and innovation.

The best compliment that can be paid to the game is that it continues in the tradition of excellence that has characterized the Rock Band series. Every gameplay related aspect of the Rock Band series remains intact, with a few slight modifications. This statement means that there is no over-charting, broken vocals, or dumb shared star power meter. Basically, the compliment is that it plays like Rock Band, not Guitar Hero. Additionally, the vocal section has been expanded to include vocal harmonies. Up to three players can sing a different vocal part depending on the song. Because the riffs of The Beatles’ songs are not complicated, the game encourages the player to try their hand at singing and playing at the same time (to that end, the premium edition of the game bundles a microphone stand).

However, if the game consisted solely of the songs of The Beatles with a traditional Rock Band overlay, players would be disappointed. Suffice it to say, the game does not slouch in license utilization. Every song has a unique setting, and throughout the career mode, players experience Beatlemania firsthand. They see The Beatles’ humble beginnings in the Cavern Club, the British Invasion of The Ed Sullivan Show, to the pandemonium of the 1965 Concert at Shea Stadium, the 1966 concert at Budokan, Abbey Road Studios, and the concert on the Apple Corps rooftop. Each setting is recreated accurately and with careful attention to detail. The wardrobes of the Fab Four match what they wore at each of the actual concert venues. For the songs that were not played live, a “dreamscape” enables the songs to come to life in a fantasy world. The outfits from The Magical Mystery Tour make an appearance in “I Am The Walrus” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” gently glosses over the fact that Ringo quit the band when the song was recorded (that’s probably for the best).

"We'll be coast to coast with our favorite host...Ed Sullivan!"

The recreated settings don’t begin to scratch the tip of the fan service iceberg. Rare records are offered as rewards for progress throughout the career mode. Diligent fans can listen to The Beatles’ Christmas fan club record and view outtakes of the band rehearsing for The Ed Sullivan Show concert that launched the British Invasion, for example. Additionally, the inclusion of new remasters of every song represents the first chance for fans to hear The Beatles in rich clarity (the bass in “I Saw Her Standing There” just kicks, there is no other word for it). Simply put, the fan service in The Beatles: Rock Band makes Super Smash Bros. Brawl look like an absolute joke.

This game is not without fault, though. As American Idol judge Randy Jackson would say: it’s all about song choice. Though the game avoids the pitfalls of previous band-centric games by sticking to the main band’s catalog (there are no songs by “friends of the band”), some of the songs have no business being in this game. One such song is “Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows”. This track is off of 2006’s Love album, which is a composition of clever remixes and cues for the show performed by Cirque du Soleil. The song is a good song, but it is easy to question the judgment of including a song created after half of the group passed away. The album Help! is underrepresented though it marked an important turning point for the band’s sound (folk rock and the expansion of the traditional rock and roll music). Additionally, the final number of 45 songs leaves something to be desired as the career mode can be completed in only a few hours. Though downloadable content will remedy the relatively small amount of songs, the first real batch will not be released until late October and it favors the overrepresented late Beatles catalog by a heavy margin.

Furthermore, the Rock Band platform does not match the innovation that characterized the music of The Beatles. Aside from adding the vocal harmonies, the core gameplay mechanic hasn’t changed. It should have. On a considerable amount of songs, four distinct parts were played aside from vocals: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, and drums. However, the only guitar option is simply titled “guitar”. John and George did not play the same part on “I Wanna Be Your Man”, yet the game only offers one choice to the player. For a band that pushed the envelope of accepted musical norms, one could expect that a video game developer could push the envelope of accepted video game conventions. There is no hard and fast rule that says a game must only use four controllers, and if there is, The Beatles: Rock Band represented a perfect opportunity to change it.

Three stringed instruments there...too bad you can only play two

Yet, when examining a game such as this one, it is evident that the pros outweigh the cons by a significant margin. The negatives of the game don’t make the game unappealing. Rather, they only represent grievances particular to my musical tastes or a missed opportunity that was never really on the table. The game still stands incredibly well on its own merits and should be played and enjoyed by all music and video game fans.