bdavid81
09-05-2009, 02:22 AM
Once again, got my hands on it early, though I need to give it back to my friend at work before Wednesday. :)
First off, cool presentation... very 60's, but still keeps the smooth Rock Band atmosphere. You boot up the game and the first thing that occurs is a pop-up recommending you to calibrate the sound/video. You can skip it, or you can do it for the 5G Achievement. I skipped it personally, and went back in the extras menu to complete it, when I had discovered there was an achievement for it.
You can jump right into the 'story' mode or quickplay. Anyway, jumped right in the story mode and the game plays cinematic scenes of the Beatles before each song, whether they are headed to a show, flying across the country, or just hanging out. The scenes are short, and rather pointless, but it's colorful to watch.
Everyone wants to know... how are the note charts in the game? Well, overall I'm impressed. I played through on both expert, and hard (easier to 5 star all songs for an achievement) and almost every song felt fun to play. There were of course a few that I just wanted to get done with, and not really bother doing it again unless I had to. Overall, it was relatively easy to get 4 stars on expert guitar, but once I hit the song 'Revolution', I was stopped dead in my tracks. I still can't beat that one on expert, and although I find it to be the hardest in the game, it's not even in the final tier of songs.
For videos of all songs, check out this Nalopean on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Nalopean&view=videos
Achievements? They range from extremely easy to ridiculously hard. You get one after the first song in each tier, just for playing at a specific location. You get one for 5 starring every song in the game (any difficulty), and there's a few that require 350 note streaks. If you want more of a challenge, get 85% or higher on all expert guitar solos in the game, or maybe 100% on Expert Drums in Helter Skelter? For the guitarists, the biggest challenge will be earning expert gold stars on numerous 4 song sets and the songs are specified in the achievements screen in the story mode menu. Unless you're an expert on all instruments, don't expect to get 1000/1000 on this game. I'm currently sitting at 19/50 unlocked, 300 points. The greatest feature here - achievement stat tracking. If you don't know which songs you've 5 starred, or which songs you need to perfect the solos on, the achievements screen will let you know.
Replay value? This depends if you want the achievements, and like competing against friends. By playing through the story mode, you collect Beatles Photos (1 Photo @ 3 Stars, 2 Photos @ 5 Stars). The more photos you unlock, the more prizes you unlock. You also unlock challenges as you play through. The challenges aren't special, as it's just every tier of songs to play over again back-to-back, but it does support leaderboards against your friends, so that'll keep you wanting to get better at the songs. You'll need to 5 star the challenges as well, as you get 1 Beatles Photo from each of them...another achievement of course!
While it's not really replay value, you also unlock videos of actual footage of the Beatles. There's a rehearsal for the Ed Sullivan show, a Christmas video, and unsure what else as I haven't checked since I unlocked more tonight.
Not really sure what else to say, but if there are any questions, let me know. I'll be confirming tomorrow if the game works with the wireless microphones from Lips. :)
First off, cool presentation... very 60's, but still keeps the smooth Rock Band atmosphere. You boot up the game and the first thing that occurs is a pop-up recommending you to calibrate the sound/video. You can skip it, or you can do it for the 5G Achievement. I skipped it personally, and went back in the extras menu to complete it, when I had discovered there was an achievement for it.
You can jump right into the 'story' mode or quickplay. Anyway, jumped right in the story mode and the game plays cinematic scenes of the Beatles before each song, whether they are headed to a show, flying across the country, or just hanging out. The scenes are short, and rather pointless, but it's colorful to watch.
Everyone wants to know... how are the note charts in the game? Well, overall I'm impressed. I played through on both expert, and hard (easier to 5 star all songs for an achievement) and almost every song felt fun to play. There were of course a few that I just wanted to get done with, and not really bother doing it again unless I had to. Overall, it was relatively easy to get 4 stars on expert guitar, but once I hit the song 'Revolution', I was stopped dead in my tracks. I still can't beat that one on expert, and although I find it to be the hardest in the game, it's not even in the final tier of songs.
For videos of all songs, check out this Nalopean on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Nalopean&view=videos
Achievements? They range from extremely easy to ridiculously hard. You get one after the first song in each tier, just for playing at a specific location. You get one for 5 starring every song in the game (any difficulty), and there's a few that require 350 note streaks. If you want more of a challenge, get 85% or higher on all expert guitar solos in the game, or maybe 100% on Expert Drums in Helter Skelter? For the guitarists, the biggest challenge will be earning expert gold stars on numerous 4 song sets and the songs are specified in the achievements screen in the story mode menu. Unless you're an expert on all instruments, don't expect to get 1000/1000 on this game. I'm currently sitting at 19/50 unlocked, 300 points. The greatest feature here - achievement stat tracking. If you don't know which songs you've 5 starred, or which songs you need to perfect the solos on, the achievements screen will let you know.
Replay value? This depends if you want the achievements, and like competing against friends. By playing through the story mode, you collect Beatles Photos (1 Photo @ 3 Stars, 2 Photos @ 5 Stars). The more photos you unlock, the more prizes you unlock. You also unlock challenges as you play through. The challenges aren't special, as it's just every tier of songs to play over again back-to-back, but it does support leaderboards against your friends, so that'll keep you wanting to get better at the songs. You'll need to 5 star the challenges as well, as you get 1 Beatles Photo from each of them...another achievement of course!
While it's not really replay value, you also unlock videos of actual footage of the Beatles. There's a rehearsal for the Ed Sullivan show, a Christmas video, and unsure what else as I haven't checked since I unlocked more tonight.
Not really sure what else to say, but if there are any questions, let me know. I'll be confirming tomorrow if the game works with the wireless microphones from Lips. :)