nd,
ou gotta get The Beatles: Rock
Band into your life. The game
hyped so extensively these past
few months actually lives up to all the
buildup prior to its September release.
It's a Beatles experience for everyone
that combines music, graphics, scoring,
competition, teamwork and some exer-
cise, whether ifs your vocal cords or your
body.
Participants can play guitar, bass or
drums and sing lead or three-part har-
monies to more than 45 Beatles originals,
with more available for online purchase.
We used the drums, guitar and micro-
phone from a Rock Band 2 package with
a bunch of songs from one-hit wonders,
cheesy boy bands and reprobate rappers
that I didn't know and really didn't care
to. Our teenagers were familiar with some
of the music that game contained, but
still were mostly drawn to the music and
groups they already knew.
That changed when we slipped
The Beatles: Rock Band disk into our
Nintendo
The music on my iPod is quite differ-
GG38
November 26 • 2009
a nt from at of y
to raged daugh rs, but It
was great to find out they had
a sweet spot for the Beatles. They
ven were curious to check out songs
they didn't know. I've come away with
a renewed appreciation for the Fab Four
and found myself pulling out some old
vinyl as well as downloading some new
tunes.
There was something for everyone
right off the bat as we watched the
impressive opening video rather preten-
tiously called "the opening cinematic"
(see it at beatlesrockband.com ). Songs
can be arranged by album, venue or dif-
ficulty and can be accessed directly or
as part of a Beatles career retrospective.
The retrospective allows you to unlock
pictures, video and music as you follow
the band from the cinderblock basement
of the Cavern Club in Liverpool to the
Ed Sullivan Show and New York City's
Shea Stadium, then to Japan and back to
London for the band's final concert on
the Apple Records rooftop.
It's great fun to get better acquainted
with the lyrics and marvel at the some-
times trippy and always way-cool graph-
ics. But singing the songs is the best.
You have much control over the options
so you can just do vocals or guitar or any
combination of instruments you choose.
Or you can forgo the instruments so you
can sit back and enjoy the graphics. Each
song has four levels of difficulty and you
can practice segments of each song to
improve your scores on the real thing.
We even used the game at our recent
Suldwt arty,
inviting Sohn, Pahl, George and
Ringo as special guests into Our suld‘h
with our friends joining in the fun. Even
those not ready to strap on a guitar were
impressed and reached for the micro-
GET FIT
phone.
• Wii Sports Resort: Save on airfare and
The kids had played Rock Band and
hotel this year and take the entire fam-
Guitar Hero before and found the Beatles
ily to the new Wii Sports Resort. The
version easier than some of the other
program upgrades favorites from Wii
games they had tried. But that was fine as Sports like bowling and golf and adds
their scores soared on the instruments as new stuff like table tennis, piloting an
we worked to nail the vocals.
airplane and Frisbee with a cute dog pro-
What is missing? Well, some of my
grammed to retrieve. It requires an add-
favorite songs were not among the 45
on MotionPlus motion sensor to connect
included, but they are supposed to be
to the remote, but it's worth it as it really
available online for the holidays. Also, for makes a difference in the control you
a key Beatles demographic like me — a
have and also makes it more challenging.
baby boomer — it would be nice to be
I have to relearn bowling, but hope to be
able to increase the size of the lyrics that
able to break 200 again some day. The
race across the screen on the faster songs. software, with two sensors, ships from
After all, I'm supposed to feel cool, not
Amazon.com for under $60.
old.
The software is about $60 at retail out-
• Wii Fit Plus: If you have been thinking
lets, but you'll need the platform to play it of buying Wii Fit, now is the time as the
on (Playstation 3, Xbox 360 or Nintendo
new Wii Fit Plus software makes some
Wii) as well as the instruments. Prices are real improvements. I got my Wii Fit and
already dropping for the holidays, with
Balance Board from a friend who didn't
the Wii reduced to $199. The software
like it and, after enjoying it for weeks,
and the instruments also are packaged
I have to admit it's been sitting around
together for about $139, though you can
quite a bit lately. But after trying Wii Fit
add individual instruments and micro-
Plus, which builds on the previous game
phones as you'd like, or even, no surprise,
and adds 15 new exercises, I realized the
buy special Beatles-branded instruments
game hadn't given up on me — I'd given
for a premium. With just a microphone, it up on it.
makes the ultimate Beatles karaoke.
I particularly like the new Obstacle
So check it out. I've got a feeling it will
Course and Snowball Fight, and there's
all come together.
Come Together on page GG4O
Photo by Ang ie Baa
erfec
ilies.