The Beatles: Rock Band. Add a game review or opinion!

[Somtuk]

After reading all of these glowing statements yesterday (was only 8 pages long at that point), I decided to go out and get it. Unlike everyone else, I'm unhappy with the game.

I had a list of small items that combined to ruin the fun for me, but decided to first point out title of this game as it is very appropriate. The Beatles: Rockband. This product, first and foremost, is about The Beatles. The game (Rockband portion) seems to come second. I would much prefer to export the songs to RB2 and play there.

Biggest issues is in the gameplay. Something has changed with the laneways (different angle? slower note speed?). Whatever it is, the notes seems to blob together (I played 2 chapters on expert guitar). Add to that the pastels with soft edges. Really didn't enjoy the sections with tight notes since I couldn't distinguish them apart.

TL;DR: I bought this game to have fun playing The Beatles tunes in Rockband. It delivered on all elements except "fun".

[CricklyPunt]

Been playing for a couple of days now and gone through the initial 43 songs and I really like it. It is of course slightly different to the previous 2 rock bands and the song list looks quite small but this will help to concentrate me to a few favourites instead of constantly flitting between the endless DLC I've accumulated on RB2. Favourite new feature is the ability to change difficulty after a failure. Love the grafix but in some of the more psychadelic numbers the notes can be difficult to see because there is not enough contrast in the colours. Much worse for me is the way the note stream occasionally distorts as you are drumming, it must be event driven but I'm not sure which event. It is similar to the distortion when you miss a note in GHWT. This might not annoy everyone but it drives me mad.I don't play GHWT because of this and the same will happen to Beatles rock band if this can't be stopped - this would be a wrench but I would stop playing - so come on Harmonix fix this so I can choose NO DISTORTIONS.

[twilight klaas]

Okay, after having finished the story and unlocking some secrets and videos, I was moved to review it.

First and foremost the presentation is mind blowing! I've never seen such an artistic and exciting treatment in a music game! the video in between venues is awesome and sweeps you into the Beatle universe.

The gameplay did feel a little, little different at first, slower or something maybe it's just the songs, or the fact we are so used to Rockband 2. Whatever I don't notice any difference now, or I'm used to it.

I don't know what people are talking about not being able to see the notes, cause of the color??? I don't have any problem reading the charts.

9/9/9 was my birthday too yeah, so we had some people over and i gotta say it was the best RB experience I've had. The harmonizing, though challenging, is a blast. I even tried some back up vocals whilst playing guitar, which was really fun. At one point my brother in law came over to share the mic, so 3 of us were singing. By the end of the night we were all singing together and really rocking out. Everyone seemed to just want to keep going and going.

The vocal practice section is really helpful for harmonies, so in due time i hope to get lots of double or triple Fabs. Can't remember the song but we did get 8/16 double fabs on my bday.

I love all the extra pictures and videos you can unlock, the song/band facts are a real nice touch. The achievements are humorous and well though out.

My wife got me the Rickenbacker and I love everything about it except for the louder than RB 2 guitar strum bar. I play with a pick and it can be kinda loud. Love how quiet the fret buttons are though! and the neck action is smoother.

Overall this game raises the bar for Band Centered Music games! If anyone is brave enough to try and follow this.

Love that they are going to release albums once a month for the next 3 months and hopefully beyond. I will probably buy every single one.

Yes I am a Beatles fan, not fanatic. This game represents them well and is a work of art and a really fun game! I didn't think I'd enjoy singing as much as I am!

Yes it would have been nice to export the tracks to RB 2 but you'd loose the harmonies. And really how hard is it to change a disc? Hell put it on your hard drive then you can load it up right quick....hey that's a good idea! think I'll do that now....Peace and Love.
Thanks HMX and the Beatles Family!

[RagingTom]

The subject is not a typo at all.

I absolutely love the game. I've been playing Guitar Hero/Rock band for a while now, but with this Beatles variation of the Rock Band is absolutely superb. I bought the game yesterday with a couple of friends and the second we got to the house and hooked everything up, we were on it for hours, and didn't get tired once.

The thing with the Rock Band and Guitar Heroes is that the song choices are a very wide variety, and to out of 50 songs one person would only like 5-10 or the entire set list. It's obvious that The Beatles Rock Band is more focused towards the Beatlemaniacs or just mellow fans of them, and because of that those who have the game will absolutely love because of that fact. I found myself playing with some people who don't really play too much of Rock Band or games in that matter, play a whole lot of this game only because it was the Beatles.

Into describing the game, phenomenal. The visual graphics, movies, and all the songs in the story mode give you a shortened yet brilliant adventure in the 60s when the Beatles were the thing to talk about back then. Now with this game, it rebirths the legacy for the newer generation that didn't get experience the fantastic music then, and thanks the Harmonix they give us the chance to get a small taste of it in our living rooms.

Wonderful game.

[JackBNimble]

Well I am one of thoughs guys who was a little ticked about the non-export issue and I will be the first to admit that I said that I wouldn't buy the game because of this issue.

Well .... I broke down and bought it anyway.

I thought the game play for the most part was solid and the art work was very impressive.Although I do have an issue with the overdrive/Beatlemania, when in overdrive I had a very difficult time seeing overdrive notes scrolling down. Even when there was regular notes scrolling ,while in overdrive I had a hard time seeing all of them. I think this is something that HMX needs to fix if TB:RB is to be flawless.

It was a nice touch to see a star count by the scores and very cool to see your rank by every song with out having to go to the leader boards.
The trophy/achievment set up was nicely done aswell.

All and All I think TB:RB is a solid game and I found myself enjoying it more then I thought I would.

I would rate this game 8.5 out of 10 only becuase I think the overdrive/beatlemania issue really needs to be fixed. If HMX fixed this issue I would rate this game a solid 10.

[Jordashebasics]

So far, I've played through about half the game in quickplay, on expert guitar, on the Hofner.

I'm much more annoyed with the Hofner. It's hurting my gameplay experience. The side of my thumb is hurting from resting against the body, the buttons are fickle, and sometimes either don't register or break registering during held notes. The buttons can't handle being pressed from a slight angle, making any of the stretched chords really hit and miss.

But the game itself... it looks great, and it's great to play these songs.

But I'm disagreeing with many of the charting choices that I'm finding. Some of them I agree completely with, but I just played All You Need Is Love, and I HATE that chart. It's one thing to chart another instrument for a solo, when appropriate, but here the chart jumps between all of the other instruments.

I love playing the song on guitar, and I tend to play the opening string arrangement on guitar as well. I toss in the descending strings during the chorus too. But when the chart switches up between the strings and the horns at the end, it seriously bothered me. This breaks the feeling of participating in a band. This is what is done when the fellows at Guitar Hero want to make a song needlessly more difficult.

I'll be playing a lot tomorrow, so I'll see if my opinion improves, but I have a bad feeling about this.

[Kidmitt]

Well, I just got done hosting my Beatles party, and I can say it was worth the rental. I doubt I'll ever buy it, however. It just feels empty. In my opinion, the illusion of actually playing the music is completely lost with the absence of customizable characters, crowd chants, freeform sections, etc. Instead it feels like I'm watching the Beatles sing to themselves in their happy little dream world.

Not to say I don't like the dreamscapes; I think they're beautiful. The art direction as a whole is much cleaner than Rock Band. However, my friend was immediately creeped out by their avatars. He couldn't explain it; they just looked freaky to him.

After a couple songs, his wife set down the guitar complaining that her eyes hurt too much to be able to read the notes. While I was fun in that regard, I agree that the colors clash way too much. Everyone complained at one time or another about Beatlemania making notes difficult to see, and some dreamscapes got so bright under the highway that it bothered me.

Despite those flaws, the charts were fun, for what I played. I mainly stuck to singing. And singing harmonies/back up vocals were an absolute blast. We were all cracking up when we sounded horrible, but it was completely amazing whenever we were in sync and pulled of a "Triple Fab." I'm convinced this feature is now sorely lacking in RB2, especially with recent releases like Mony Mony. Here's hoping for RB3.

I did also like the little dialogue after restarting a song ("Take 2", etc.), and the drum trainer was much better than RB2's. Now if only I didn't have the Ion stock pedal, which makes that last massive drum solo so elusive...

Anyways, the game was definitely fun, but I don't dig the Beatles enough to warrant owning a standalone game dedicated to them. If I were a diehard Beatles fan, however, I can see how this game would be amazing.

[Cpt. Overkill]

When TBRB was announced, I kinda laughed at the idea. I didn't care for The Beatles, even though I respected them. One day I decided to download Abbey Road, and I was hooked. Then I got their discography. I got hyped up for TBRB.

On September 10th, the game arrived on my porch. It took a bit to set up, but we were amazed at the quality of the instruments. The drums play really well, and the Hofner is my favorite fake guitar. Ever. We instantly jumped into story mode, and I played bass/vox. TBRB is the most fun I've ever had playing bass AND singing, and I hate singing.

After awhile, we got farther down in their career. That's when it started getting really fun. I knew all the words to most of the songs then, and it was so much fun. Revolution is probably the most fun I've had on a rhythm game in a long time. I was sad when we finished it, but The End was the perfect way to end it.

I JUST got back from 5 starring every song in the game, and I still want to play. Great job Harmonix, great job. I have one complaint, though. The Beatles don't really give each other those quick smiles or looks, and there wasn't as much communication between them as I hoped. But, that's okay. If that is my only complaint, I'm happy.

[PCTraitor]

I get sort of annoyed by people that totally dismiss the game because it's only 45 songs. Band games are apparently between 40 and 49 songs. This puts the Beatles right in the middle of that with 45. The Beatle situation is better than any other band game because at least it's filled by the songs from the band you bought the game for unlike the previous 2 other band games.

You can't expect any band let alone the Beatles to accept less than $1.33 a song for this type of endeavor.. Well it's even less than that because of HMX cut and the consoles cut. After that it's likely around 89 or 99 cents. Surely, the promise of bigger and continued income from DLC is what made the game possible at all.

Also, I find the harmony system perfect. The practice mode with the keyboard note as a guide to help find the harmoney is great. My wife and I have pulled off some amazing harmonies in this game. The feeling of pulling off a harmony with someone is better than an FC in my opinion.

[Jordashebasics]

I just finished story mode after starting this morning.
I liked the ending.
But in order to actually enjoy the game, I needed to buy a GH4 guitar.
The Hofner is absolutely horrible for me.
My thumb has a red bruise from where it would rest on the guitar. The strum bar needed to be pressed very hard, making my lose combo during any of the faster parts. The buttons would do similar things.
All these things actually made my hands cramp up - which nearly never happens, in playing games or in playing real guitar. This would usually happen after two or three songs.

After picking up the GH4 guitar, I finished out the last sets with no problem, picking up a few gold stars.

I'm glad to have these songs available to play, but my impression of the game has been tainted by my poor experience with the Hofner.
I'll set the drums up soon enough, and hopefully those will work well.