Beatles Rock Band

I'm not a video games guy. The only game system I have is a Super Nintendo which has sat in the back of my closet for a decade. But last weekend, spending the night at a friend's house, I couldn't resist the chance to play Beatles Rock Band. We ended up playing for about six hours.

It's not so much a game as a chance to simulate playing or singing along to Beatles songs. To call itself a game, there are scoring mechanisms, and different levels of difficulty, but to me that was all beside the point.

For those who have played Guitar Hero or the other versions of Rock Band, (which I haven't) I guess the premise is the same--one holds a small guitar and as different color notes appear on the screen one must hit them on the guitar. Matching them earns points, while missing them does not. Beatles Rock Band also has a drum kit (which I didn't try) and a vocal track, in which you must try to hit the pitch as it shown on screen. It looks easy, but if you can't sing very well it can end up sounding awful.

I mostly stuck to the easy levels. On the basic level there are only three different colors to deal with (the colors refer to the frets on the guitar, which one must hit while simultaneously strumming the guitar). If you go up a level, you get a fourth color, and also get chords, which is hitting two frets at the same time. The higher levels introduce a fifth color, which is interesting considering you only have four fingers to use on the fret. The notes also come a lot faster, and one can quickly become hopelessly lost.

What makes the Beatles Rock Band game more meaningful for fans is the way that game encapsulates Beatles' history. My friend and I chose to play in "story" mode, which meant we started at the Cavern Club. As we progressed, we made it to the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, their final concert at Candlestick Park in 1966, and eventually to the rooftop concert on the Apple Corps building. The changing styles of music and appearance accompanied us, as animated graphics of the Fab Four play on the background as one attempts to hit all the notes.

I know that those who frown on these sort of games wonder, "Why don't these people who play it just pick up a guitar?" A fair question. But for the musically challenged (a college roommate once tried to teach me guitar and gave up after about five minutes) this is a great substitute. I ended up humming Beatles songs all weekend, never a bad thing.