The Beatles: Rock Band

Funny thing about pedestals: They hold only so much. Culturally, The Beatles’ pedestal is very high, but The Beatles: Rock Band — while, in some ways, monumentally huge is in other ways, somewhat smaller than we expected.

The Beatles offers 45 of the band’s 200- plus songs, and while we can’t argue with the brilliance of playing along with “Paperback Writer” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” there are some glaring omissions. For instance, we’d have swapped the generic cover of “Boys” and the dirge-like “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” for missing No. 1 hits like “She Loves You,” “Eleanor Rigby,” or “Hey Jude.” Maybe they’re all coming as DLC, but some of them should be here now.

And while Harmonix promised that this game (which was, at one point, not even part of the Rock Band franchise) wouldn’t just be a fab paintjob on the game we all know so well… that’s kind of what The Beatles turned out to be. The Story mode, kept secret up until review time, doesn’t interactively tell the band’s tale so much as merely reflect it. You’ll unlock rare photos, recordings, videos, and bits of trivia as you complete each era of The Beatles’ career, culminating in a “challenge”…to play those songs again in a set. For a game that wanted to introduce The Beatles to a new generation in a fresh way, this structure offers little context and no insight into the group’s creative process, and it never forcefully illustrates why these songs are so culturally or musically important.

Effort was instead spent on two major areas — vocals and visuals. In addition to being historically accurate, The Beatles is strikingly attractive. Harmonix has lovingly re-created the hysteria of the band’s Ed Sullivan and Shea Stadium appearances, and they’ve used the imagery of adventurous songs like “I Am the Walrus” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to craft Dreamscapes — fantasy journeys on yellow submarines through an octopus’ garden. Several of the Dreamscapes feature common elements, but they all look dazzling.

If you’re too busy playing guitar to notice the graphics, try singing instead. The first time you lock in for a two- or three-part harmony, you’ll get chills. It also might be by accident…because reproducing The Beatles’ vocals is extremely difficult. There is a learning curve (for the benefit of everyone’s ears, please use the game’s brilliant vocal trainer instead of diving into the game blind), and it’s work to sing this stuff correctly…but it’s glorious when you get it right. We love that the triple-mic support makes The Beatles: Rock Band a six-player co-op experience. While the vocals feel difficult, the other note charts sometimes come off as simplistic. The guitar and drum parts are accurate, but they’re also pop-rock prototypes and not always satisfyingly complex (exception: Paul McCartney’s underrated melodic brilliance on bass). That’s welcoming to casual players (like your parents), but if you’ve ever wanted to play drums on Expert, Ringo Starr will give you your shot. Better still, step up to the mic at the same time: The Beatles really comes alive when you push yourself to sing and play simultaneously, the way The Beatles did.

You’ll enjoy The Beatles if you accept that it’s not Rock Band 2 or 3 and simply wasn’t designed to be. There’s no massive song library, there’s no character or band customization (and therefore no feeling of ownership), and you can’t even choose your own drum fills — this Beatles stuff, suggests the game, is sacred. The fact that rock’s most important innovators are in a 360 game at all is a historic sign of respect for the medium, but with a more interesting Story mode, The Beatles could have been even more emotionally engaging. You’ll meet The Beatles, but you won’t really get to know them. You will, however, laugh and sing and rock with your friends on some of the greatest music ever made. And while it didn’t dig as deeply as we’d hoped, it’s clear from the excellent execution that Harmonix has poured a lot of love into The Beatles. Maybe that’s all you need.