So at work the other day I decided to call up the local video store and ask if they had the Beatles Rock Band. Of course they do, it’s brand new and it a massively anticipated game. At least by myself.

They set one aside for me and I spent the rest of the day hoping that the night would go by fast.

It didn’t.

Once work was finished I rushed over to the video store, and had to spend an extra ten minutes creating an account, and listening to the clerks banter back and forth. I finally had the game in my hands once they were done commenting on the customers. I walked home as fast as I could. Ducking between fences to find shortcuts, listening to the Beatles to get myself pumped up.

Finally I was in the apartment. Crap! House is on. I’ll try anyway. I walk to the living room and state “You should stop what you’re doing and play Beatles Rockband!” IT WORKED. Plug it in, and more obsticals! Setting up the guitar, and the mic. An extra fifteen minutes I didn’t need to waste.

Then… oh then, finally, I got to play. This is where my story ends, and the review begins.

The story line of the game follows, you guessed it, the Beatles from their days playing in The Cavern, to the Ed Sullivan show, on to the Stadium, and their days at Abbey Road, leading to their final profomance on the rooftop of Apple Studios. The visuals are amazing, and you get to see the band change, and grow from the four, matching suit, moptop boys to Sgt. Peppers band, and onward. The music ranges from their most popular, to songs that even the biggest fans probably don’t listen to often.

The difficulty of the game play isn’t changed much, in fact since it’s old rock and roll, some of the songs are a lot easier than any other song from other rock band games. Even on expert. That being said, there are a lot of songs, hard, easy, or otherwise, that are just fun to play.

The guitar, bass, and drums are all pretty standard, the singing however is where the game takes a turn. Since all four of the band members sang, and harmonized, the game gives you a solo, or Harmony option, so all four players have the chance to sing. When we tried, we only had one mic, and we weren’t sure if you needed only one, or if more were required for the three. There were only two of us playing at the time, and the mic was sitting on a stool while we sat on the floor with the guitars playing I Wanna Hold Your Hand. It didn’t turn out well.

As you play through the storyline, you can unlock rare photos of the Beatles on tour, or recording, the better you do on the songs. If you’re a huge Beatles fan, it’s an added little bonus to see the fab four in their younger days.

The Beatles Rockband, like other rockband games, is fairly short. Having played through the entire story setlist in three hours, with several water breaks between songs. I think though that the replayability curves the fact that it’s not that long, along with the upcoming downloadable packs, including songs like, All You Need is Love, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Girl, and Oh! Darlin’. These are going to be worth looking into, so buying the game is a definite possibility down the road. If you like The Beatles, Rockband, or both, I shouldn’t even have to finish this sentence, so I wont.

Either way, later.