GUITAR HERO: THE BEATLES Review - by Dave Szgundersen
Ever since the creation of music games, people have been asking "where can I get a music game that features The Beatles songs, but not too many Beatles songs"? The answer has arrived in the form of Guitar Hero: The Beatles, a completely original, never-been-done-before idea of a game that crosses all game genres and will define gaming for the next 27 years.
As the trailer released before shows, the game follows their life from their genesis in the 50s (featuring songs like
Sister Christian and
Ace of Spades 2010.) to when they sadly broke up in the mid-90s due to George Harrison's unfortunate support of the escalating Middle East crisis.
The 83 song setlist is... in a word.... AMAZINGLYAWESOME! It runs the gamut from hits and hitmakers such as Miley Cyrus, The Jonas Brothers, Starship, Avril Lavigne, and Linkin Park (who were probably put in the game as a gift for the birthday of John Lennon -- who turned 78 years old yesterday... and still young). The only potential weak links in the setlist come from, as you'd imagine, The Beatles songs. They're not bad, but personally, I'd take
Yes We Can by Made in Mexico over Lady Madonna any day.
The game supports 5 drummers, 8 guitarists, and an astounding 17 vocalists -- which is the only other weak feature in the game as the upcoming Guitar Hero: T-Pain features 21 vocalists. Oh well, you can't have it all, I guess.
Luckily, for all you Guitar Hero completists out there, GH: The Beatles does support DLC from previous games, but only a few songs. You can import up to 7 songs from previous games, but of those 7 songs, only 4 of them will actually play, and of those 4, 2 of them must be Dragonforce songs... which is fine with me. Who doesn't love Dragonforce? On the DLC front, Activision has lovingly included a release-day DLC pack of 3 songs by legendary Beatles inspiration, Ke$ha.
All-in-all, this is a great game. From the added bonus of playing Ringo Starr's legendary Gibson Xplorer guitar to the joy of seeing the Fab Four turn into a pack of hellish pig beasts, Guitar Hero: The Beatles is a game for everyone. It was kind of Activision to make a game such as this due to the low number of Beatles fans alive today, but it goes to show that you don't have to be rich or famous to be part of the Guitar Hero experience.
Rating:
A++-+