Sammy Warshaw ’12 and JJ Clarke ’12
Staff Writer and A&E Editor
“The Beatles: Rockband” hit the shelves of many major electronics stores worldwide on Wednesday, September 9. The game includes 45 classic Beatles tracks, along with special, unheard audio from members of the band.
The game gives the player the real Beatles experience from the moment the player inserts the disc. The game instantly hits the player with a wave of psychedelic, trippy moments of the Beatles musical career. Whether it was during their Shea Stadium concert or their “Sgt. Peppers” phase, all in the opening two minutes.
While the actual way the game is played does not change, there were some aesthetic changes made to the game to enhance the experience. And because it’s the Beatles, the cartoony animation is more fitting than it would have been in the last two Rockband games.
The best part about this game is the story it brings you through. You start at the Beatles’ first real show at The Cavern in Liverpool, England. Although it was not the only place they played in Liverpool, they did play there 292 times in their music career.
You move on to play on the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, and Budokan.
A couple of additional venues are also very cool. You get to experience how the Beatles developed and recorded their-oh-so-special music at Abbey Road, their recording studio. You also get to play on the Apple Records Rooftop in London, England.
If you buy the bundle instead of just the game itself, it includes all the instruments that the Beatles used to play including Paul’s famous Höfner viola bass, John’s Rickenbacker 325 guitar, Ringo’s Ludwig drumset, and George’s Gretsch Duo Jet guitar. The game also features 45 of the Beatles greatest tracks.
Mrs. Evan, the English and social studies department secretary, also a Beatles fan since she was a child, played the game with her son.
“[The game] brings me back to my youth,” Evan said. “I haven’t had such a fun evening in a long time.”
Students enjoy the game just as well.
“The way you play the game is nothing like the past rock bands,” said Max Stampa Brown ’10, an enthusiastic Beatles fan and musician. “It’s not you living vicariously through your fat Alice Cooper look-alike, and no it’s not you playing ‘Julia’ like you’re Lennon. It’s Lennon, in a f—ing Rockband game, playing ‘Julia.’”
Most people agree that that is what is so great about this game – the fact that instead of playing as a fake character, you get to play as real Beatles members.
“You have no connection to the four guys,” Stampa- Brown added. “They are playing the music. You can’t live the dream. You’re watching them live the dream and in turn living it yourself. That’s what kicks ass about this rock band. It’s like the four geniuses are playing their music for you, but you’re kind of controlling them.”
Brown also emphasized the unique quality to this particular game.
“It’s because it’s the Beatles,” Brown said, “and they were true and real. [The older Rockbands] are not. I think this one is.”
