Review: Here comes fun with 'The Beatles: Rock Band'

As remastered Beatles box sets arrive in stores this week, so does the first video game based on the legendary rock group's repertoire: "The Beatles: Rock Band." The game is available on its own or in a limited-edition bundle that comes with several Beatles-theme "Rock Band" instruments.

This isn't the first rhythm game to focus on a single band. Aerosmith and Metallica have been the subjects of "Guitar Hero" releases. But those games included songs by groups other than their stars.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" has 45 songs, and while that's a smaller number of tracks than last year's "Rock Band 2" or the recently released "Guitar Hero 5," the track list concentrates exclusively on the Fab Four's music.

This version of "Rock Band" offers a Quickplay mode, a new Story Mode that has the player charting a course through the band's years of success, Chapter Challenges for completed story segments and several multiplayer modes. There aren't any costumes to buy or characters to customize, but getting high star ratings in the Story Mode unlocks photos of the band, and each chapter is preceded by a neat movie sequence.

Here's the thing: Those particulars don't really matter. What matters about "The Beatles: Rock Band" is in the title: It lets anyone who can pick up the guitar controller join one of the greatest rock bands that ever was. Get a group of players together, hook up extra microphones to sing in three-part harmony, and everyone's a Beatle. (The game's training mode allows separate vocal parts to be isolated for practice runs.)

The available tracks range from pop hits such as "Twist and Shout," "Paperback Writer" and "Can't Buy Me Love" to later recordings such as "Come Together," "Helter Skelter" and "Dear Prudence." More tracks are planned for release as downloads, including the remaining songs from the "Abbey Road," "Rubber Soul" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" albums.

The band's experimentations require some compromises: For example, several songs don't have guitar parts, and the player instead stands in for a cello or a sitar. It works, though — trying to keep up with the string arrangements of "I Am the Walrus" is just as entertaining as shredding through "I Me Mine."

The game looks great within the confines of the "Rock Band" formula, and the sound quality is exceptional.

Additional Information:

'The Beatles: Rock Band'

Grade: A+

Developer: Harmonix

Publisher: MTV Games

Platform: Xbox 360 (also on PS3, Wii)

Genre: Rhythm

ESRB: Teen

Retail: $59.99, game only; $249.99, limited-edition bundle