The Beatles: Rock Band

"...[brings] the Beatles' music to life in an interactive setting...the most aesthetically beautiful music game to yet release.  Game Informer
"A peerless offering that blows any comparable 'band-only' music title out of the water.  IGN UK
"Harmonix and MTV Games have created an exceptional representation of The Fab Four that needs to be lived by all music aficionados.  Strategy Informer
"...a true representation of a legendary band. Great songs and great fun make for a great game.  GameZone
"...sets a new standard for how band-focused music games should be executed, one that will be very difficult to match.  Giant Bomb
"Once again the developers at Harmonix have shown the gaming industry how it's done.  William Abner, GameShark.com

Game Bomb 9 of 10
The Beatles: Rock Band is not the first band-specific music game of its type, but it might as well be the last. Harmonix and Apple Corps have come together (sorry) to create a package that pays carefully enthusiastic tribute to the musical legacy of those four lads from Liverpool, and I'm not sure you could ask for more from a game that focuses on the Beatles--or, really, any band. Sure, if you measure this by the cold metrics of gameplay features and the length of the song list, The Beatles: Rock Band comes up quite short against Guitar Hero 5 or even Rock Band 2. The gameplay itself is, generally speaking, much easier than what genre fans might have come to expect by now. And if you're expecting all the sordid details on the band's slow and tense disintegration, you're better off watching Let It Be, because this is definitely the glossy fan-club version of how things went down. Even with those restraints in place, The Beatles: Rock Band is a fun and occasionally magical experience, whether you're a Beatles fan or not...The Beatles: Rock Band is absolutely brimming with details and bonus content that are sure to please fans. Success in the story mode, for example, is rewarded with behind-the-scenes photos of the band, and accruing enough photos will unlock a series of interesting videos of the band as well. One of my absolute favorite touches in The Beatles: Rock Band is how, during the Abbey Road years, you'll hear studio noise as a song loads. It's not much more than idle chatter, analog equipment hum, and the occasional practice riff, but it's stuff that's all been pulled from the master tapes at Abbey Road, and it goes a long way towards establishing a sense of authenticity...The Beatles: Rock Band sets a new standard for how band-focused music games should be executed, one that will be very difficult to match. Beyond all the stylistic flairs and the fan-service touches, this is just an incredibly fun, incredibly accessible bunch of music, with very little filler in its track listing. This isn't a music appreciation class, and I'm not at all qualified as a music critic, but I feel very comfortable saying that the Beatles is one of the most "important" musical acts of the past, let's say, 60 years. This significance warrants the time and detail that has gone into The Beatles: Rock Band, and I'm not sure that there's another band out there that deserves the same treatment. This is a first big step into the digital age for The Beatles, but it might also mark the end for band-specific music games.

Digital Chumps 9 of 10
I love Rock Band, LOVE it. It's no wonder that being a Beatles fan and a Rock Band fan that I was selected to do this review. My personal bias aside, this game truly is for everyone. This past labor day weekend I made mention at a barbecue with some friends that I was reviewing this game and I had young kids, teenagers, college students, young adults, and older adults gathered round asking when they could play! The Beatles are a pop culture phenomenon that transcends generations. Their iconic sound and catchy music are tightly interwoven into not just the music scene, but television, movies and now finally... video games...In November MTV Games, and Harmonix are releasing "Lego Rock Band" to provide the masses with a more child friendly version of the game. Rock Band isn't highly provocative in it's imagery, but some of the songs just aren't for everyone. With the release of The Beatles: Rock Band, I think they beat themselves to the punch. This disc does net a "T" rating, but the reasoning is for "mild lyrics and tobacco references). I would feel perfectly safe sharing this game with all ages, something I got the chance to do with a friend's four year old son as he played this game for the first time ever on drums in "No Fail Mode". No Fail mode is easier than ever, because you are automatically entered into this mode when you select "Easy". That means that when you match a four year old drummer with a 26 year old guitarist who has played every Rock Band and Guitar Hero game that has ever come out, the game experience is fun for everyone! - Paul Ross

GameFocus.com 9 of 10
The music/rhythm game genre has become very popular over the years. Since the first Guitar Hero game, an incredible number of musical games have emerged. Lately, games based on music groups have started to appear. While some have earned praise (GH Metallica), others failed to meet expectations and became laughable efforts (GH Aerosmith). Strong of their success with the Rock Band franchise, Harmonix decided that it was time for them to pay tribute to a legendary band. Not just a simple band but certainly one of the most iconic: The Beatles. Harmonix, Apple Corp., Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison and the two remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr could have just taken advantage of the popularity of these musical games, go for the quick cash and get out. Instead, we got The Beatles: Rock Band, a game like no other. For the elder to remember, for the youngest to discover, a videogame that finally binds multiple generations together...If the Rock Band franchise managed to interest non-gaming adult audiences into buying music/rhythm games, The Beatles: Rock Band will not only do the same but it will also reach out to the very last folks who up until now did not care about playing with plastic instruments in front of a television. If games like Pong and Super Mario Bros. managed to pike the interest of mom and dad to play with their kids in the living room, there's no doubt that The Beatles: Rock Band will make the rest of the family join in and have a great time. Don't get me wrong, the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games have done great things but I think The Beatles: Rock Band is the ultimate multi-generation gathering videogame. - Jay Acevedo

The Onion A.V. Club 10 of 10
There's only one truly disappointing aspect to The Beatles: Rock Band: Future games made around your favorite band probably won't be half as good. If you're part of the largest fan demographic on the planet and the four chaps from Liverpool happen to be your favorite musicians then you're dialed in. This game is the ultimate love letter, crafted with reverence and imagination. It feels like no expense was spared. Unheard studio chatter fills the anticipatory moments before songs kick in. Abbey Road Studios is digitally enshrined, like a mythical font where only magic can be conjured. And the musicians themselves? They live on as romanticized digital avatars -- like archival footage freed from the frame, filtered through the hands of animators and brought to new, somewhat artificial, life...The songs, of course, are uniformly great. And the game's loose story does a fine job of Gumping through the band's progression from amped-up rabble-rousers to pioneering arena rockers before settling on their final incarnation as beings of pure energy at one with the universe. That's the one tiny detail that The Beatles: Rock Band artfully sidesteps. Despite needing only love, the four mortals that made up The Beatles were, like us, weighed down by everything else. The only way to pick up anything suggesting conflict or turmoil in The Beatles: Rock Band is to read between the lines. And that's totally cool. Nobody really expects to see bloody letters spelling "death to pigs" splattered across the wall of Abbey Road when the band plays "Helter Skelter." But a few more teeth ought to have been bared when The Beatles surely intended to break skin...But this is a family game, and one notable bit of subversion is plenty. The Beatles: Rock Band lets the Fab Four reclaim their role as the pre-eminent purveyors of pop psychedelia. It's been decades since The Beatles first touched a tab to the world's tongue, and the trippy goings-on w - Gus Mastrapa