The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009music video game developed byHarmonix, published byMTV Games and distributed byElectronic Arts, in association withApple Corps. It is the third majorconsole release in theRock Band music video game series and is available on thePlayStation 3,Xbox 360, andWii consoles. The game allows one to six players to simulate the performance of songs bythe Beatles by providing the players with peripherals modelled after musical instruments (aguitar peripheral for lead guitar and bass gameplay, adrum peripheral, and amicrophone). Thegameplay mechanics of the game are similar tothose found in otherRock Band games, in which players use the instrument controllers to match scrolling on-screen notes in time to the music to score points.
The 45-song selection of the Beatles' music on the game's disc was praised by critics, considering the list to be emotional, sentimental and a good cross-section of the band's catalogue.[1][2][3] Compared to other music video games released previously, the number of tracks inThe Beatles: Rock Band was considered small,[4][5] and the inclusion of certain lesser-known songs, and the exclusion of more popular ones, was considered confusing.[2][6] In addition to the on-disc songs,The Beatles: Rock Band featureddownloadable content, in the form of both singles and full albums (excluding those songs already on disc), allowing players to play through the album in a single session, once the album has been obtained.[7]
The game disc features 45 songs chosen from the 12 original UKalbums by the Beatles, the US albumMagical Mystery Tour, the 2006 remix albumLove and several non-album singles.[8] Though "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "With a Little Help From My Friends" are considered to be two songs, they can only be played back-to-back within the game. All songs except "The End" are playable immediately in Quickplay and other multiplayer modes, while in Career mode, players complete through the songs in a loosely historical order; upon completion of the Career mode, "The End", the mode's final song, becomes available for all other game modes. Regardless of game mode, each song is played in a specific venue. Most venues are based on a historical progression of famous Beatles' performances, including their first appearance on American television onThe Ed Sullivan Show and their concert atShea Stadium. For theAbbey Road venue, each song (except "Hey Bulldog") has a unique "Dreamscape"; the songs start with the Beatles in the studio, then dissolve into the imaginative Dreamscape inspired by the song, finally arriving back at the studio at the end of the song.[9]
All songs byLennon–McCartney except "Here Comes the Sun," "I Me Mine," "If I Needed Someone," "Something," "Taxman," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Within You Without You" byGeorge Harrison; "Octopus's Garden" byRichard Starkey; "Boys" byLuther Dixon andWes Farrell; and "Twist and Shout" byPhil Medley andBert Berns.
The 45 songs included on the game disc are as follows, with the year the song was originally released, the album the song was published on and the game venue at which the song is performed:[10]
^b Amashup of the two songs, originally from theLove album.
^c Not initially unlocked in Quickplay, only achievable through completing Story mode.
^d Listed in-game as "The Beatles [White Album] (Disc 1)".
^e Listed in-game as "The Beatles [White Album] (Disc 2)".In addition to on-disc songs, players could purchase additionaldownloadable content forThe Beatles: Rock Band from their console's respective online stores. Unlike other console games in theRock Band series, downloadable content forThe Beatles: Rock Band was not playable in the other games, nor wouldThe Beatles: Rock Band use content from the other games.[12] Part of this was due to new Dreamscapes that have been created for the downloadable songs.[13] In the end, one song ("All You Need Is Love") and the remaining songs from three albums that were not already on-disc were released as downloadable content; content made available depended on the sales performance of the already available downloadable tracks, as Harmonix stated the costs to produce these tracks—including travel to Abbey Road studios and their engineers' time—were more expensive than their regularRock Band downloadable songs.[14]
All individual songs (including the two- or three-song segments from theAbbey Roadmedley) were priced at$1.99 (160Microsoft Points/200Wii Points) and were available for download through thePlayStation Network,Xbox Live and the in-game Music Store on theWii. The first album to be released as downloadable content,Abbey Road, was priced at $16.98 (1360Microsoft Points) as a whole.[15][16][17] Unique toAbbey Road, those that purchased the full album are able to play the entire medley as a single song in addition to the smaller segments offered.[15]
The download of "All You Need Is Love" was originally exclusive toXbox 360 at launch, with the proceeds of over $200,000 donated to the charityDoctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières. It was later released forWii on February 16, 2010 and forPlayStation 3 on March 4, 2010.[18]
All downloadable content forThe Beatles: Rock Band was removed from sale on the respective storefronts on May 5, 2016, as the licensing contracts with the rights holder expired, though players that have already purchased this content will still be able to download the songs.[19]
All songs byLennon–McCartney except "Think for Yourself" and "Within You Without You" byGeorge Harrison, and "What Goes On" byLennon–McCartney–Starkey.
The following songs are played atAbbey Road Studios except the songs inbold fromRubber Soul which are played atShea Stadium.
^b Song was only available for individual purchase on Wii. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 users must purchase the fullAbbey Road album.[20]
^c Song was only available as part of the fullAbbey Road album purchase for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.[20]| Main games | |
|---|---|
| Band-centric games | |
| Spin-offs | |
| Mobile games | |
| Additional songs | |
| Related articles | |
