Beatle Mania

“All You Need is Love”. For those of you who hear those infamous words and think of the greatest rock band ever, today is history in the making. 9-9-09, today, is the day the “Beatle Mania” begins with the official release of the Beatles: Rock Band. Now most teens have probably been a part of this recent Guitar Hero and Rock Band obsession. But The Harmonix Music Systems (the developers of the game) were brilliant in creating this game. Now they can appeal to the 40 something’s who grew up listening to that type of music and still worship it. I am a huge Beatles fan myself and I am looking forward to purchasing this game. In fact, I was considering buying it for my Dad (a huge Beatles fan) for his birthday next week.


Just a little interesting fact, notice that Paul McCartney (second guy from the left) is barefoot!

The game consists of the forty-five most popular Beatles songs along with virtual images of the band members performing. The game was developed by Apple Corps and was even approved by former Beatles members; Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The hype for this game has been monumental the past month. From visually appealing commercials to informative websites, the build up for this game has been enormous. I am curious as to whether or not the excitement was worth it. Can a simple video game truly capture the magic of The Beatles? Most critiques say that the game has attracted the amateur Guitar Hero and Rock Band Players. The music is not very difficult to play and most people, who buy it, are not video game lovers, but lovers of the band. A new aspect of the game is the three-part singing. Not only can you jam out with the drums, guitar, and bass, up to three people can grab a microphone and sing their hearts out. This is a new and exciting characteristic of Rock Band that has people thrilled to play this game.

The game is fairly new and therefore the list of reviews is inadequate to truly form an opinion about this game. However, as a passionate Beatles aficionada, I can truthfully say that I am expecting to fall in love with this game. If it’s not the visuals or the difficulty level, I will always be devoted to the Beatles compositions that changed the world.

There was one detailed evaluation of the game I found and this sentence stood out to me. “If you're a Beatles fan, none of the game's omissions or faults can erase the excitement of playing and singing along with one of the most loved bands of all time”, says Justin Haywald (http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3175958).

If you are interested in the game or want to check out the spectacular visuals, this website is great!
http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/videos/cinematic