The Beatles Rock Band Video Game

Rock Band is already my favorite video game. I particularly enjoy singing and playing the drums as I think these aspects of the game are the most "realistic." As a real life guitarist I know the guitar playing aspect isn't nearly as "realistic" as the singing and drumming which really allows you to practice singing in key and playing on the beat.

But as much as I already enjoy the Rock Band game, I am positive that The Beatles Rock Band is going to take my enjoyment to the next level when it's released on 09/09/09 (I've already pre-ordered my copy of the game to make sure I get my hands on it ASAP.)

The Beatles Songs

The biggest element of this game that I'm looking forward to, of course, is the songs themselves. There are not that many good songs on the Rock Band games I have now and I get bored of playing the same 4 or 5 songs that I actually like over and over again.

This game comes with 45 Beatles songs and entire Beatles albums are going to be made available for download. The albums will be made available one by one beginning with Abbey Road, then Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and then Rubber Soul. I'm sure even more albums will be made available after that.

Harmony Singing

The most exciting new feature that this game is bringing to the Rock Band franchise is harmony singing. For the first time ever more than one person will be able to sing at once. Now up to three people can sing at once! When you consider that there can also be a bassist, a guitarist, and a drummer that means a total of up to six people can play at once. This makes it the ultimate party game.

And by harmony singing I don't just mean that everyone sings the same lead melody, you can actually sing the real harmony parts on these songs (and if you are familiar with The Beatles vocal parts then you know that their harmonies are a big part of their music.) Each person singing will take a particular part (for example one can sing John's part, one can sing Paul's part, and a third can sing George's part!)

Practice Modes

Like I've already said I really love the singing and drumming aspects of Rock Band because I almost feel like it's real music practice. This game takes that to the next level by featuring practice modes to learn how to sing the harmony parts in these songs as well as how to do the drum parts.

Amazing Graphics

I've never really been too impressed with the graphics of Rock Band until I saw the demos for The Beatles Rock Band. It's hard to describe what I'm talking about, these have to be seen to believed. Luckily there are "trailers" for the game available to see online so you can see exactly what I mean.

Beatles Replica Instruments

If already own Rock Band (ie you already have a Rock Band drum set & guitar) then you don't need to buy the "full bundle version" but you may want to anyway because it comes with some very cool looking replicas of the drum set that Ringo Starr played and the bass guitar that Paul McCartney played.

You can also buy (separately) replicas of the guitars that John Lennon & George Harrison played.

If you haven't yet bought Rock Band then you'll need to buy the full version. But really that's OK because you are getting a great deal because this is clearly the best version of the game yet.

Unlock Audio Clips

Another very cool feature of this game is that you can actually unlock various audio clips such as The Beatles Christmas Album.

Different Venues

There are a number of different venues that you can play that anyone who is familiar with the history of The Beatles will recognize. This includes the Cavern Club, Shea Stadium, the Ed Sullivan Theater, and the rooftop of Abbey Road Studios. But the "venue" with the coolest graphics is actually not a venue at all but instead a "Dreamscape." This "Dreamscape" is used for songs in the post live performance era of The Beatles which works out perfectly because this is also when the band recorded their most psychedelic songs (like "I Am The Walrus.")