Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
The Beatles: Rock Band is the holy grail of music games. Since the advent of the original Guitar Hero, everyone and their brother has requested a Beatles song or two. Now that Harmonix has released this collection to end all collections, with heavy input from the surviving members of The Beatles, this is as close to a chart topper as they will ever come.

What's Hot
If you know someone who doesn't like the Beatles, they are either lying or have a poor taste in music. The four lads from England single-handedly changed the landscape of modern rock. If you listen to their music now, it is still as relevant and modern sounding next to another other rock songs today. Many of today's musicians are undoubtedly influenced to some degree by this legendary group. Needless to say, the list of songs on the disc is something out of a best of compilation of the group and it is hard to imagine people not getting excited about the songs that span the entire career of the Beatles. With the promise of DLC to fill in the holes, there is going to be a lot of Beatles to love.

The Beatles: RB doesn't just plug Beatles songs into the existing Rock Band formula as an excuse to feature some memorable songs, there are some new modes that go over well. The first is a technical feature by allowing up to three people to sing in harmony. If you have never taken a choir class, there is even a vocal trainer. It is a logical step in the evolution of the music genre but the Beatles: RB is the first to accomplish the task. There are also faithful recreations of the pivotal moments in the career of the Beatles like the Ed Sullivan Show and Shea Stadium, but that isn't all. For the more experimental years, Harmonix crafted what they call Dreamscapes for some of the songs. It shows that Harmonix is a creative tour-de-force by successfully adding visual elements to music that itself elicits imagery. With these Dreamscapes, Harmonix has broken down the barrier that music games are only for the ears with the Beatles: RB since the visuals are just as illustrative as the lyrics.



As you begin the career of the Beatles, you'll unlock special things that fill in the lore and history of the group. You get a narrative that Harmonix culled right from Ringo and Paul with the addition of some never before seen or heard pictures and dialog from the Beatles themselves. It is almost like a behind the scenes look that is usually only reserved for VIPs at a concert. There are even some Beatles fanclub memorabilia.

What's Not
This is a Beatles game and a Beatles game it will stay. Unlike previous Rock Bands, this isn't open to downloading different artists or importing the songs to another version. What you see is what you get. There will be DLC, but, you guessed it, it will be all Beatles. Not to diminish the music of the group, but it would be great to see them play nice with other musicians. There isn't much in the way of customization either so don't go thinking you could create a character and be the "fifth Beatle." It is easy to tell that more focus was put into making the Beatles: RB more artistic than filling it with a bunch of new modes that wouldn't honor the namesake of the band.

Final Word
There is a beautiful synthesis of creativity of the Beatles and creativity from Harmonix working together to make a chart topping game. The game might be light in the customization and expansion department but the Beatles: RB is all about the music and the undeniably legendary set list from a group that transcends time. Grab a ticket to ride this magical mystery tour.