Coach's Review #1

Just like I promised, here comes one of my new features, Coach’s Review. Every once in awhile I come across I person who says I’m too critical. Every once in awhile I agree, but some things just need to be said.

Today I’m going to review something that easily ate half of my last week. Now, yes, the NFL just got started, and we had some excellent college football games this weekend. That did, in fact, eat its fair share and more of my weekend, but something else took control of me last Tuesday.

It invaded my apartment, but was welcome. It made my heart and lungs sing, even though they can’t (and as my neighbor’s can probably attest, shouldn’t). And I’m proud to acclaim I’VE GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!

That’s right, our very first review is The Beatles: Rock Band.

Those of you who want this game probably already have it by now, and those that don’t want the game probably aren’t going to be swayed. Those of you who are unsure just need to stop here and find someone who has it. And pray they don’t have three microphones because there WILL be six of you playing. . .

And that’s a big “if.” Most people don’t have the number of microphones necessary to be playing with the new vocal harmony system, and the early word is the instruments people plopped all the money down for aren’t that special or useful. I use the Guitar Hero wireless guitars and Rock Band drums for my games, and other than the red drum blipping out every now and then because “it wants to take a break” they work pretty well.

Having bought Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, I can safely say that The Beatles: Rock Band is the best band-specific game on the market, and probably will STILL be once Guitar Hero: Van Halen hits in October. Guitar Hero: Metallica buffs will probably disagree, but that's a very apples and oranges argument. Metallica was made to be tough; The Beatles was made to be enjoyed. The library is better, the extras are better, and for a band-specific game it is BAND-SPECIFIC. Can’t tell you how many songs from Aerosmith were left off in favor of songs and covers from “bands the band likes.”

Of course, I could say a little bit of the same for The Beatles: Rock Band. There are a LOT of songs missing from their early career that should be in there, especially to take advantage of the first ever harmony system for vocalists. Seriously, how did the programmers not just turn over “1” and say, “Well, there’s most of our track list done for us.” As it stands, I count 13 songs from “1” missing from the game. The 45 tracks seem inordinately back-half heavy, and the only person I can blame for that is Yoko.

Because it’s always her fault, right?

I know some of these missing songs would be hard to do. “Penny Lane” and “Eleanor Rigby” are damn near impossible to transfer over to the 4 instrument system. However, the omission of songs like “Yesterday,” EVEN IF it would be a “guitar and vocal only challenge” or whatever is inexcusable.

Now some of this is going to be rectified through downloadable content. However, it is really going to depend on how that DLC sells as to whether we’ll see the stuff from the early career returned, as the earliest album coming for download is Rubber Soul. Abbey Road and the few remaining songs they didn’t take from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band will also be coming. And that better include the release of “I’ve Just Seen a Face” on Rubber Soul or I’ll be upset.

But enough about what went wrong, here’s all that’s right. Each Beatle got a fair amount of songs in the game. They really struggled getting the extra few on Ringo, but I won’t argue against including any of the songs that were picked. The "dreamscapes" once you hit the Abbey Road studi are going to make you miss notes because you’ll be watching the backgrounds. I’ll include a Youtube link to one of the trippier ones below. Note that this version is a combo track from the “Love” show that Cirque de Soleil put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOLl6jeBR8

All in all, if you ever loved The Beatles, this game can’t be missed. You’re going to love the music all over again and playing it just ups the joy factor another five notches. When you find yourself singing “Octopus’s Garden” in the shower, you’ll know I’m right.

Seriously, of all the songs, I get “Octopus’s Garden” stuck in my head…