The Beatles: Rock Band (Software) with Official Sony SingStar Wired Microphones PlayStation 3

The Beatles: Rock Band (Software) with Official Sony SingStar Wired Microphones Product Details

Released on 11/09/2009

• The Beatles: Rock Band Review

  Happiness Is A Warm Plastic Guitar...

  The combination of the greatest and most celebrated band in history and one of the most popular gaming genres of recent times was almost guaranteed to be a good thing, but for any of you with niggling doubts, The Beatles: Rock Band is fantastic!

  Opening with a beautifully put together animated sequence, showing the Fab Four running through their own history in gorgeous slinky style, The Beatles: Rock Band sets its stall out from the off. It's a massive act of fan service, filled here, there, and everywhere with neat little touches.

  Neat little touches

  The samples of guitars and drums from actual Beatles songs used for menu noises; the little snippets of studio and live conversation before songs, some of which have only been recently unearthed; the way clothing, guitars and facial hair of the band matches up with the periods of time the songs are from; it's truly fantastic attention to detail, which really immerses you into the game. There's no doubting Rock Band: Beatles is a Beatles product, and that's exactly what we want from it!

  It's a massive act of fan service, filled here, there, and everywhere with neat little touches.

  As in all Rock Band games, you have the option of playing guitar, bass, drums or singing, or a combination of the four. In a revolution for the genre, The Beatles: Rock Band allows up to three microphones to be attached at once, allowing you to replicate the Beatles famous harmonies on songs like 'Paperback Writer', 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' and more. Unfortunately, it's NOT compatible with Xbox 360 headsets, and the vocals will only work with a Rock Band mic. A bit annoying if you just wanted to grab the game to use with existing instruments, but drums and guitars from previous instalments in the series work fine.

  Gameplay wise, it's a simpler affair than Rock Band. Cutting back on the fearsome note twiddling of other games in the genre, partly due to the nature of the songs being played and partly for the sake of inclusivity, it's a joy to play solo or with friends. The Beatles were never about three million note a minute solo guitar freakouts however. The songs are the key here, and they're a joy to play. From the early rock'n'roll clatter of 'Saw Her Standing There', to the extended swamp rock crawl of 'Come Together' and the proto-metal of 'Helter Skelter', there's something for everyone, and even if you're not a fan you'll be surprised by how much you know. And if you're anything like our mates, how much you suddenly realise you like The Beatles after all!

  Dreamscapes

  Naturally it's better with a little help from your friends. Come together as a group and you can expect a hard day's night to just fly by as you become John, Paul, George and Ringo in the fantastic Story mode. From the early Cavern club days to the final gig on the Apple Building rooftop, via Shea Stadium and the Budokan, you'll be taken for a magical mystery tour through some fantastic songs! With the live shows accompanied by screaming girls,it almost feels like you ARE the mop tops. Later material from the band's non-touring Abbey Road days is played out to some gloriously psychedelic “dreamscapes”, each one created specifically for the song it accompanies. They really show the care and attention that Harmonix have put in for the game!

  Naturally it's better with a little help from your friends. Come together as a group and you can expect a hard day's night to just fly by!

  The package is rounded out with quickplay modes, online multiplayer, tug of war/duel options, and the usual tutorial modes. The Beatles: Rock Band includes a special Ringo drum trainer section as well, so you can learn how to play some of his iconic beats, which is a nice touch.

  Negative points? Well, there's the microphone issue as mentioned before, and the tracklisting isn't as perfect as we could have hoped for. There's no 'Help!' or 'She Loves You' for starters, and when the painfully dull 'Yellow Submarine' is included, it seems a bit silly. However, we expect songs not featured in the 43 song playlist will be available as DLC, with 'Abbey Road', 'Sergeant Pepper' and 'Rubber Soul' already promised as future downloadable albums. We just hope they sort out 'Everybody's Got Something To Hide, Except Me And My Monkey'.

  Tried and true

  Taking the tried and true Rock Band formula and dipping it into a vat of 1960's nostalgia, psychedelic colouring, and chiming Rickenbacker heaven, The Beatles: Rock Band is a lovely slice of honey pie that will appeal to all ages. Basically it's a fab game, and you've got to get it into your life. Believe us, you'll be playing it eight days a week!

  GAME's Verdict

  

  • Fantastic tunes.
  • Great presentation
  • A joy to play

  

  • Quite expensive for the full set if you don’t already have instruments.
  • Headsets don’t work as microphones anymore.
  • Yellow bleeding Submarine.

  Review by: Ian 'All My Lovin' MacDougall
  Version Tested: Xbox 360
  Review Published: 17.09.09

  Published: 17/09/2009

• Ringo Starr at work on a videogame?

  It's easy to think that you've heard everything these days: a 3D handheld gaming device, a PSP follow-up with the power of a PS3. Then you hear something like this: Ringo Starr, drummer in The Beatles, is apparently hard at work on a videogame.

  That's worth saying twice, just so you can get your head around it: Ringo Starr is making a videogame.

  That's according to Gamespot, anyway - thanks for the heads up, Eurogamer - which is running a story after spotting a trademark filing for a game called Ringo. Other than the name, there's absolutely nothing else to go by at the moment, however.

  So what do you want from a Ringo Starr game? Rhythm action would be the obvious choice - Starr's already been involved with the genre, with the excellent The Beatles: Rock Band Edition for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii - but it's nice to think he might be a little more ambitious. Taking the Liverpudlian legend through his paces in a first-person action game might be nice, or how about a bit of cartoon platforming?

  If anything ever comes of this, we'll let you know straight away. In the meantime, it's good to know that videogames still have the power to shock and surprise.

• PlayStation 3 - The Essential Games

  
  

  So, you've got yourself a shiny new PlayStation 3. You know all about its fantastic online features, like PlayStation Network, BBC iPlayer, 4OD and more. You know about its awesome graphics and Blu-Ray player. What you really need to know is - what games should I get?

  Well, help is here! We've taken on the hard work and come up with our PS3 Essentials List - the 'hot half-dozen' you really need to get your game collection going.

  

  Action/Adventure

  SONY's flagship console needs SONY's flagship title - the Uncharted series. Since 2007 we've seen three adventures for Nathan Drake, the everyman hero whose treasure hunting escapades take him all over the world - and into all kinds of trouble. Featuring visually stunning locations and traditional action adventure gameplay like running, shooting and jumping, the Uncharted games are ideal for just getting stuck in and having fun while playing. Grab Uncharted: Drakes Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in a special double pack, or jump straight into the latest instalment Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

  

  Shooter

  Killzone 3 is the latest chapter in PlayStation's signature shooter series. Putting a sci-fi twist on the traditional first-person shooter, Killzone 3 takes place across a range of locations from alien jungles, to nuclear wastelands, to outer space, marking a strong visual change to the usual combat zones found in FPS games. There's the usual single-player campaign and a host of multiplayer maps and mission-types to keep things interesting. Plus there's a choice of classes to play as and the use of things like jet-packs which put a new slant on the genre. And if you really want to, you can grab the first two chapters too!

  

  Sport

  Sports on the PS3 are taken to the extreme in SSX. A revival of the classic snowboarding series that helped launch the PS2, SSX presents players with an assortment of mountain slopes to conquer, and whole heap of tricks, moves and skills to learn, and playing modes that reward speed, skill and survival. While the single-player mode is fun enough, the online multiplayer works in such a way that you don't actually have to be playing at the same time to challenge your friends, with a league-like system that makes every race very competitive. If you're looking for a new sporting challenge, SSX is the game to beat!

  

  Sci-Fi/Fantasy

  The Resistance series was a bit of old-school sci-fi, an alternative history where alien race the Chimera had invaded and overrun the planet, thanks to a virus that turns humans into, well, more Chimera. Your job is to stop the Chimera take over Europe (in the first game) and North America (in the second and third), using a combination of contemporary and futuristic weapons. The alt-history setting makes for an interesting storyline with some fun 'what-if' scenarios, while the multiplayer options expand not only the world of the game, but also the fun you can have within it. Grab the first two games in a Platinum Double Pack and start fighting those aliens!

  

  Party

  If you really want to get the party going, you want to get the party singing, and what better way to do that than the SingStar series. The gameplay is simple - two people competing to out-sing the other... or at least trying to score higher than the other while singing, as actual singing ability is far from required to make this game enjoyable! With a range of games and songs to suit almost any age and taste, SingStar has proven to be one of the most inclusive and easy to play franchises to hit any console. For the ultimate in friendly competition, SingStar is the winning choice.

  

  Racing

  The Gran Turismo series has been a stalwart of the PlayStation brand for more than a decade, and Gran Turismo 5 continues the fine tradition of ultra-realistic driving simulation that leaves other racers in the dust. Like the earlier games in the series, GT5 is a showcase of the PS3's lifelike graphics and gameplay physics, this time incorporating realistic damage to your car as you compete. There's an enviable range of locations (26), tracks (71) and cars (over 1000!), and combined with the gameplay choices of career mode, arcade mode and online multiplayer, Gran Turismo 5 is the racing game that puts you on the right track.

  Of course, this list is far from definitive, but it does showcase some top games in each of the major categories of modern gaming. If you think you have a better champion for any category, or can think of a key title we've missed, please feel free to share your advice below!

  Published: 10/04/2012

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