Earlier today we sat in on a closed-door demonstration of The Beatles: Rock Band by the Harmonix crew, and then we were set loose to play the fabulous music title for ourselves.
Harmonix was quick to point out that with the new game, they hope to "blend" fans of music and gamers like never before. Three-part harmonies are included, and thanks to the new and improved post-game results system, singers are rated individually based on how they performed on the track's vocals.
The game will obviously work with Rock Band 2 equipment (which it should, since the special instruments coming in the $250 bundle are RB2 gear that have been re-skinned), and Harmonix stated that all titles in the franchise, including The Beatles, will be cross-compatible with each other's peripherals. Even better was confirmation that "all mics on the market" would be compatible. Yes, even the wireless ones from Lips.
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New background visuals feature Beatles-centric themes like crowds of girls screaming as you progress in atrack, as well as trippy dreamscapes that blend studio and fantasy imagery into a dream-like state, as seen in the "Octopus's Garden" gameplay from Microsoft's conference. Venues to be included and recreated down to very finite details range from the Cavern Club, to the Ed Sullivan Theater, to Shea Stadium, Abbey Road and even Budokan.
The Beatles: Rock Band features a "No Fail" mode that is automatically activated when the Easy difficulty is selected, and when playing in Quickly mode, all of the game's 45 on-disc tracks will be unlocked from the get-go so you groove through the entire setlist at will. Play through the story mode (which Harmonix is still being cagey on), and you will span the Beatles' career chronologically.
As announced at Microsoft's briefing, "Abbey Road" is the first full album that be made available for download "shortly" after launch, while the track "All You Need is Love" will be an Xbox LIVE exclusive download with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. sadly, and also on the DLC tip, none of the content from The Beatles can be exported to any other Rock Band edition. It's isolated.
When you look past all of this, though, and get over the "OMG it's the Beatles!" mindset...this is still the same Rock Band experience you've been playing since 2007, only refined to a science. Is that bad? Eh, you be the judge when it releases on September 9th.
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