The Beatles: Rock Band for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

This game is f'n great. I'm a huge Rock Band fan, and I'll admit I was really disappointed they were doing a game that you could not import into RB2. Now I see why though, as this is an upgrade in gameplay and wouldn't work with RB2 at all (eg. two and three part harmonies, changing difficulty mid-song). It seems like this is really their pre-cursor into what RB3 will be going, and that in itself is very exciting. Who wouldn't want to play some Crosby Stills and Nash with three part harmonies? Also, as someone who loves to play bass in Rock Band this game is 45 of the most challenging bass lines ever, add singing to that, and it is a real challenge. Graphically this game is not in the same league as the much maligned visuals from its predecessors, at times you just want to kick back and watch the screen.
If you are into RB or GH, this is a must buy (don't rent), unless you don't like the Beatles (in which case their are some serious issues you need to resolve).

What sets this game apart from being Rock Band 3 is simply that it's not. It's focused squarely around the Beatles. You don't create a band. You don't choose which character you want to play. You just pick your instrument and that's the member you play as. So if you pick drums, you're Ringo. If you pick bass, you're Paul. etc.

The story mode is great. It's basically a journey through history. Artwork and animation in between chapters is absolutely fantastic and done with a great amount of production value. There are also a handful of songs where the animations in the background change and get pretty trippy depending on which song you're playing. For example, for Yellow Submarine, you go under water and see the submarine floating around. For I am the Walrus, they're all dressed up in costumes. It's really cool to the point where you want to stop playing and just watch what's going on. So, that's a great thing for people that are waiting for their turn to play. In addition to all that, they've stylized the notes a bit. The color palette has changed slightly.

As far as gameplay, there are little changes here and there. First, there's no drum-fills. You don't get to jam out before you kick in overdrive. You just hit the green pad when the trigger comes up and you're in overdrive. I like the drum fills in RB, but I guess that's not really Ringo's style so it wasn't included. Another change is a huge feature of this game -- the ability to have 3 singers. I haven't been able to test this out as I don't have any additional microphones, but I imagine it's pretty fun. Other than that there are some small improvements. When you unpause, you have a 3 second count before it throws you right back into it. Also, now the singer can choose between static text and scrolling text for the lyrics. Scrolling is the same style from RB2.

So, the same familiar rock band feel with some nice improvements and tremendous production value makes this game a winner.