Oh boy, oh boy how I have been waiting for this day! September 9, 2009, The Beatles: Rock Band was released! Oh and you know I pre-ordered this shit. I’ve been a die hard fan of Rock Band over Guitar Hero ever since its first release. And now, an all new unique Rock band game starring one of my favorite bands? Hot damn. I’ve been looking forward to the game ever since it was just a rumor. I figured what we would be getting was essentially like Guitar hero Metallica or Aerosmith, but what I got was so much more.

This wasn’t a gimmick to sell more of the same shitty game, it was a totally new game with all new art, instruments, animation, characters and everything. This game is Beatles and nothing but. Even the GUI is 60’s-themed. As I mentioned, I pre-ordered this game earlier and just got it from Best Buy today. First and foremost, I left the store with a bit of a surprise.

Well hello beautiful.

I pre-ordered the game only, since I didn’t want to spend money for instruments I already had (though that Gretsch Duo Jet looks mighty tempting). So for about $60, I bought just the game disc on PS3. When I went to customer service and showed them my receipt, I guess the guy was tired or something and didn’t read it right, and actually gave me the whole limited edition bundle! Pretty fuckin’ sick, now I have a new set of drums, the Höfner bass and a microphone.

This certainly put me in a good mood to start! Not to mention listening to the Beatles on the way to the store and back, The End just finishing when I pulled into the driveway. Ahh… cosmic satisfaction.

Just turning on the game instantly impressed me with the opening cinematic:

Just stunning. The game itself certainly didn’t disappoint either. It works differently than the other Rock Band games as far as campaign organization goes. Rather than the songs becoming more difficult as you progress, you progress along the Beatles’ career. So the hard and easy songs are kind of mixed around. The cinematics are awesome, moving from one venue to the next.

And I say it's all right.

One thing I really love are the dreamscapes they use for the post-tour songs. Some of them are calming, while others are trippy as shit. For those of you who don’t know, obviously at the beginning the Beatles played in front of live audiences. That is, until they realized it was bullshit with all the screaming girls who wanted some Beatles cock. So at that point they just recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

So what are they going to animate for those, just them recording in a sound booth? Hardly! For each song they have their own unique video. It’s a pretty great experience. Though sometimes the video is distracting and it fucks you all up. Another thing I like is how they use archived recordings before and after each song. Like the “1..2..3..4..” and tiny warm-ups they played in the studio. It really adds to the experience of playing as the Beatles. Another useful little feature is that it counts down when you un-pause, so it gives you three golden seconds to put your fingers back on the right buttons.

And the box makes a great kitty bed!

I do have a couple complaints with the game though. My biggest one being that they only included 45 songs. I beat the campaign in like, 3 hours. They picked some good songs, I just wish they had a little more. Another small thing I dislike are the fatter… “note catcher” thingies. In Rock Band 1 and 2, they were really thin rectangles. Now they’re almost squares.

Other than those, it’s a fantastic, fantastic game. Worth every penny I practically stole from Best Buy. I give it 9.5 Billy Shears out of 10. Oh, and I can’t finish without one more video. Possibly the greatest TV spot for a video game ever.