Rockband: Green Day Xbox 360

Released on 11/06/2010

• RockBand: Green Day: Review

  Headline act

  As the second band-specific instalment of the massive Rock Band series, over 50 million record sales suggests there'll be enough punk-drunk fanboys and girls to ensure Green Day play to another packed house. But will it be the gig of a lifetime?
  Rather than offer a narrative of the band's development, the game focuses instead on their three most significant releases: 1994's "Dookie", 2004's "American Idiot" and 2009's "21st Century Breakdown". The first two appear in their entirety, the latter is six short - those being DLC already released which can either be purchased or imported if you've already got 'em. Otherwise, albums in-between ("Insomniac", "Nimrod", "Warning") have a mere seven tracks in total to themselves.

  As a tracklisting decision it makes good sense, devoting the lion's share of the games's 47 tunes to the band's most important, successful works. At the same time, it makes it hard to feel any sense of Green Day's development in career mode which, after the painstaking ambition of Beatles feels initially like a backward step. But there is a positive flipside.

  Harmonix hasn't wimped out creatively so much as channelled its energies into different areas. And as a result, the heights of Green Day: Rock Band are arguably the most convincing, atmospheric, exhilarating moments of the series to date.
  

  Going live

  Billie Joe,rand Mike have been motion-captured extensively while performing their hits and the results are impressively convincing. With the Milton Keynes stadium scene, Harmonix has also captured the atmosphere of an outdoor music festival with considerable flair - when the crowd joins in on big singalong numbers like "Wake Me Up When September Ends", it's hard not to feel the unmistakable tingle of a 'great live moment' down the back of your neck.

  Similarly there's a palpable drama to the climax of a track like "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams", with flames bursting from the stage and the camera panning wildly around as that menacing coda with its irregular loop of chords plays out. This is not just the Green Day instalment, but the entire series at its majestic best.

  It's a pity, then, that more outdoor stadia couldn't have been worked into the game - particularly after the global whistlestop tour and dream sequences of The Beatles: Rock Band.

  Know your limits

  Incidentally, one of the few issues I had with The Beatles: Rock Band was that the massively varied instrumentation used in the recordings at times exposed the limitations of the game, which remained forlornly anchored to its toy guitars and drums.

  There are no such problems with Green Day's oeuvre, which Rock Band fits around like a glove and rarely feels like it has to compromise to maintain the illusion (playing cello parts on the bass is pretty much the extent of it). So while Green Day: Rock Band is far less ambitious than itsredecessor, it is perhaps more comfortable in its skin.
  

  Perfect harmony?

  The feature set is regulation Rock Band fare, both online and offline, with support for two- and three-part vocal harmonies have been carried over from the Beatles version (mostly two-part at best here, though). Existing instruments remain cross-compatible, of course, and tracks can be exported into other versions of the game.

  As fan service it crowd surfs into the living room with ample generosity and verve. But, irrespective of one's tastes, next to the breathtaking attention to detail of The Beatles product, as a celebration of a group's creative output the package feels a little insubstantial.

  That said, if you're a Green Day fan it's a no-brainer: an already excellent music game with a disc full of the music you love. Rock Band 3, due later this year, is expected to deliver real innovation to the series - but until then, unless you absolutely hate their music, Green Day's catalogue has enough energy to entertain.

  

  Into orbit
  + Classic Rock Band action.
  + Superbly atmospheric
  + Two full albums to play.

  Down to earth
  - No real innovation.
  - Career mode lacks depth.
  - Only three venues to play.
  

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