Standing outside of the famous Abbey Road, I thought about all the artists that have passed through into stardom. The doors opened to a vintage theater seating, a stage and curtain and giant LCD monitors. The curtains drew revealing Studio 2 made famous by the Beatles. The instruments were cardboard cutouts and we were still in the Los Angeles Convention Center, but as Harmonix began to demonstrate their newest Rock Band offering, it was difficult to not be swept up in the melodies and harmonies of a band as influential as The Beatles.

Releasing on September 9th, the disc will have 45 tracks with plenty of DLC to follow, beginning with "All You Need is Love" (time-released exclusive) on Xbox 360 and the entire album, Abbey Road. All proceeds from purchases of All You Need is Love will benefit Doctors without Borders. Songs we saw Harmonix play included "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Day Tripper" and "Back in the USSR."



The game itself handles similarly to any version of Rock Band save Unplugged. There are a few minor enhancements and changes that will affect how you see and play. The colors of the buttons and bars scrolling down the screen are more muted tones of the colors of previous Rock Bands. It took me a few moments to adjust to the change. The microphone / singing part has also been modified to include 2 harmonies along with the main vocals. Each microphone connected up to three is given a specialized arrow that is not the easiest thing to follow on the screen. Luckily, they have made the vocal tracks score so that the harmonies can help carry the lead and vice versa. They have also made no-fail mode easier to employ, which anyone that has had a “Rock Band party” can tell you, is not the easiest function to use. Instead of digging around 3 menus deep, the game automatically sets the song to No-Fail Mode if anyone plays the song on Easy ensuring a positive play experience for newcomers and veterans alike.

The newly designed peripherals felt pretty good as I had the Höfner Bass and our Managing Editor David Becker handled the Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars. The bass handled well though I admit that I wasn’t paying too much attention to feel as when I was playing bass on Tuesday, I was dealing with poor game to TV synchronization. David mentioned that while he liked both the new peripherals he tried, he is used to the original Rock Band’s Fender. The new peripherals had raised ridges in between the keys making it more difficult to slide the fingers across positions.



The in-game art is much improved over Rock Band 2; the cartoonier look of the Beatles in this game gives a better tie between you and the characters you portray. The opening sequence of the game shows more of a cel-shaded look to the characters and other assets and I wish they had continued the in-game assets like that as it had a better feel. I’m not complaining about the graphics, at all, more that this would have been a good route to go. One small change I really liked was that Harmonix changed out “Awesome” for “Fab.” So, instead of an Awesome Solo, you would get Fab Solo.

The Beatles: Rock Band was a lot of fun and is an excellent and warm addition to the Rock Band universe. This will definitely be a pre-order for me. Fab!

...but that's not all...For ordering now, you receive 1, yes 1 new video of David playing guitar and Brian singing with Binh narrating. Disclaimer: Pwned.com and its subsidiary, Aggrogamer.com take no responsibility for any broken glass or mirrors that may shatter during Brian's display of vocal dexterity.