The Beatles: Rock Band Video Game Hits All the Right Notes

Standalone version: $59.99 MSRP

Bundles-with guitar: $99.99 MSRP full band: $249.99 MSRP

Developer: Harmonix / MTV Games

A musically inclined friend of the family used to play "Yesterday" by The Beatles on the guitar during holiday parties. He was really talented, so there were never any awkward unsaid thoughts about bringing down the party. It was always interesting to see my parents and the rest of the adults sing along with him as he strummed on that black ash acoustic.

My parents and their friends (along with those of their generation) grew up with The Beatles. They purchased the vinyl records and the men even grew out their hair and beards to emulate John, Paul, George or Ringo. Honestly, who wouldn't want to try to be a Beatle? They were the iconic pop stars of their era and they did it with unflappable charm, drive and talent.

I used to spend time with my friends' garage band and thought maybe I could pick up some musical ability by osmosis. I was sadly mistaken. I soon learned that I had no propensity to play the guitar or any other music instrument. "The neck on the guitar was too large" was my convenient excuse for that awful truth.

Many years later, video games would help to soothe my wounded inner rock star-wannabe. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are the two foremost rhythm based music simulations available that allow players to experience what it is like to play music without actually playing the real instruments. New iterations of these games are seemingly pumped out every few months.

However, the latest version of Rock Band, devoted exclusively to The Beatles, is most definitely worthy of breathing life. Game developers Harmonix successfully and accurately represent England's legendary Fab Four, their music and the historical importance of "Beatlemania" through The Beatles: Rock Band(X-Box 360, PS3, Wii).

The game works similarly to other editions of Rock Band: grab your instrument (a guitar controller, drum set or microphone), choose your song, and play along to the "highway" of notes or beats. For those who have never played, think of it as a more adult version of the game "Simon"-you time the right combination of notes in proper rhythm. Get it right and you're on your way to high scores and the adoration of virtual screaming teenage girls (perfectly replicated with 60's hairstyle and fashion); get it wrong and you'll be booed off the stage and leaving on a jet plane back to England. Hit the glowing notes at the right time and you earn an extra boost of power (dubbed "Beatlemania") that can up the point values and keep your Fab Faux band from failing out of the game.

You can learn and practice through the Trainer mode, select Quickplay and get right into the tracks, or follow The Beatles' musical career through the Story mode. This is a simplification of their life and times, but it hits all the major high notes. You'll play in venues ranging from The Cavern Club, to their famous first U.S. television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, through their history making performances at Shea Stadium and Budokan Hall and ending with their famous "rooftop" performance at Apple Studios in January of 1969. Each of these areas is faithfully recreated. There is a kind of thrill in watching The Beatles take the field at Shea (only very recently torn down) in animation form. The game places The Beatles at Abbey Road, their most famous recording complex, for the later years in their career after they stopped touring. These songs start out in the studio and then transport you into vibrant, sometime downright trippy Beatlescapes relating to the theme of the song.

The new musical function in the game is the ability to harmonize vocals with up to three players (using just one controller). This is a truly new and unique challenge to the game. It requires timing and the right tonal note from each player to get it right. It is also one of the least likely to be used functions of the game, unless you like to play your instrument and sing at the same time or have a group of friends over to play at a party.

The forty-five song set list is packed with Beatles favorites from every album in the catalogue, as well as a few choice deep tracks to fill out each era. However, there are obvious songs missing from those available from the outset, including "All You Need Is Love" (available as X-Box 360 exclusive downloadable content) and "Let It Be". I understand the need to leave some material off for the aftermarket / DLC, but it's a downer that either one of those crucial songs were left off the game. The good news is that there is no need to unlock the songs as you go. All the songs are available in Quickplay as soon as you begin the game. You won't have to work for hours to get to that one song you've been dying to play-it's all there from the beginning.

Songs are mostly in chronological order and in a good decision the game mixes up the difficulty levels for each chapter. You get a healthy combination of both easier and more challenging tracks. The balance in the game is well handled, although skewed slightly toward the more casual fan. There isn't a muscle spasm inducing tack like Judas Priest's "Painkiller" from Rock Band 2, but a few come close. You'll definitely work up a sweat on the more up-tempo tracks such as "Daytripper", "Get Back" and "Revolution", especially on the Hard and Expert difficulty levels. There are also plenty of interesting and diverse guitar solos that you can show off your chops, with the best of the bunch likely "Taxman", "Dig A Pony" and Ringo Starr's drum solos on "The End" You don't feel that you're actually playing all of the notes and chords on Easy, but it is best for novice players just getting their feet wet in this type of game to start from there and move forward.

There are small but efficient changes such as the inclusion of a difficulty chart in Story for all of the instruments. There is also a leader board on the Quickplay menu so that you can compare your scores with other X-Box Live friends. There are also changes to the HUD and highway note tracks. The notes and Beatlemania function have brighter colors, which look pretty but sometimes will prove to be a distraction (as did some of the backgrounds during the Abbey Road sessions-my attention was diverted several times just taking it all in, causing me to lose my place in the song). The "achievements" menu display is also improved, with a checklist format that tells you what you have to do as well as showing your progress towards achieving them. Developers also made a smart decision by providing a countdown after a pause in the game. You can "get back to where you once belonged" without being thrown off and losing momentum. You'll also notice the whammy bar on your guitar controller doesn't actually provide distortion during the game, but you will still need to use it during long sustains to add on energy for "Beatlemania".

From the moment you begin the game, the visual and musical elements draw you into a world that is unquestionably Beatles-esque. The artwork and special effects are stunningly beautiful-for example, the animal parade from the opening cinematic or the blossoming of flowers in the introduction to the final chapter (which look so real you want to try to pick them off from your TV screen). Even the little snippets of audio that play in-between the songs during Story mode draw you deeper into this Beatles universe. There are some quips from Ringo that will definitely make you chuckle.

The imagery during Abbey Road sessions is quite trippy at time, bordering but never fully crossing into cheesy. They are obvious and yet ring true. There are underwater scenes for "Yellow Submarine" and "Octopus's Garden" and the sun will rise above a lush green garden during "Here Comes the Sun". The quality of these animations makes it seem like you are playing a music video. The pop art cinematic that opens each chapter in Story mode is jaw-dropping. However, the animation does get a bit lazy and repetitive during the final major set piece on the rooftop. You'll see the same policeman walking back and forth with a small smile on his face several times and it will start to become annoying.

The visual look of each Beatle also changes as each "era" progresses. So you'll get the boys in dapper suits at the beginning of the game, but by the end you'll see Paul McCartney's beard growth and John Lennon's movement towards the hippie aesthetic.

There are plenty of collectible bonuses that add to the replay value of the game. You can earn rare photographs and even video outtakes of Beatles performances as you succeed in the game. The captions accompanying the photographs add plenty of information about the history of The Beatles-functioning as a documentary of their career.

In the end, the love you take from playing The Beatles: Rock Band will be equal to the love you make. It reaches across all ages and experience levels. It is so much fun to lose yourself in Beatlemania-and no matter if you can really play instrument, you get to become a Beatle. What's more fab than that?