The Beatles: Rock Band

The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band series. Gameplay mechanics differ slightly from previous Rock Band games, including the addition of a three-part vocal harmony system. The game’s soundtrack consists of 45 Beatles songs; additional songs and albums by the Beatles were made available for the game as downloadable content.

About The Beatles: Rock Band in brief

Summary The Beatles: Rock BandThe Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using controllers shaped like musical instruments. The game’s soundtrack consists of 45 Beatles songs; additional songs and albums by the Beatles were made available for the game as downloadable content. It was released internationally on September 9, 2009, coinciding with the release of new, remastered compact disc versions of the Beatles’ albums. Gameplay mechanics differ slightly from previous Rock Band games, including the addition of a three-part vocal harmony system. Although the game’s sales were considered respectable, with more than half a million units sold during its first month of release, analysts attributed the lower sales volumes to waning interest in the rhythm game genre and the video game industry recovery from the late-2000s recession. The Beatles: Rock Band was well received by the press, both as a genuine means of experiencing the music and history of the Lennon-Starr band and as a standalone music videogame. It incorporates many of the gameplay features of the Rock Band series; however, it is not an expansion pack for the series and content for it and other Rock Band titles is not cross-compatible. It was developed with the blessing and critical input of Apple Corps, including former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who both made public appearances promoting the game. It allows up to six players with the ability to play three different controllers modeled after music instruments.

Players simulate the performance of rock music by using their controllers to play scrolling on-screen notes. Each separate instrument is given a level, defined by their instrument icon, and the average level is also displayed. If a player fails to match the notes, their performance meter drops. If the meter empties, that player is forced to drop out of play, which in turn causes the band’s overall performance to drop. Any player who drops out can be saved if another player activates Beatlemania, which is collected by successfully completing specially marked phrases. For guitar, the controller must be temporarily shifted to an upright position; for drums, a special hit and for a special hit is not included. For lead and bass guitar, this is accomplished by holding down colored buttons mimicking guitar frets and pushing the controller’s strum bar. For drums, this requires striking the matching colored drumhead, or stepping on the pedal to simulate playing bass drum notes. When singing vocals, the player must sing in relative pitch to the original vocals. For songs with multi-part vocals, players need only to stay in tone with the lead singer to score points and keep their performance Meter up, but players earn additional scoring bonuses when they successfully complete phrases in harmony. For each track, the energy bar, displayed at the bottom of every track, fills by one quarter. If the phrase is completed, increase the number of points that can be used of the band to temporarily increase the score.