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Normally, I play through a single player campaign once and that’s it. After that, the game either goes on the shelf or the single player is ignored while the multiplayer options are explored. I suppose the single player could be re-played at a higher difficulty level, but I normally try to choose the highest difficulty level on my first play through. With Role Playing Games, I always have intentions of playing through multiple times but it never happens.

Recently, I’ve been playing through games multiple times when they have a New Game + mode. With New Game +, you are able to restart a Single Player campaign with the level ups and advancements that you made in your initial play through. Dead Space, Borderlands & Resident Evil 5 are three recent examples of video games that include the New Game + mode.

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As a fan of both the Rock Band series and The Beatles, I’ve been excited for The Beatles: Rock Band since it’s announcement. In fact, I think The Beatles are about the only band that I would be happy with an exclusive Rock Band title. I own their entire catalogue and you can count the number of worthless songs on one hand.

I’m mainly going to point out the differences and additions of this Rock Band title compared to the previous Rock Band and Rock Band 2 releases. If you aren’t familiar with either game, than I congratulate you on crawling out from under a rock.

In regards to Single Player, The Beatles: Rock Band is a much more in-depth and better presented experience. You play thru 45 Beatles’ tracks chronologically. The game is divided to a handful of stages that each consist of 4 – 6 songs from that era. Each stage is meant to represent a pivotal moment in the Beatles history. This means you make the journey from Cavern Club to Abbey Road Studios. It also means the first half of the game is played in Live venues, whereas the second half is played inside a studio. The presentation of the game really kicks it up a notch because each song has it’s own individual and specific presentation. There is definitely a big difference between “I Feel Fine” in Shea Stadium and “I am the Walrus” inside a studio. The drawback to all of this is there is zero customization inside the game. You won’t get to create a 5th Beatle or dress up John Lennon. I can understand some complaints to this, but it really amps up the authenticity.

As for the gameplay, Harmonix made a few minor tweaks that really improve the overall game. First off, the addition of harmonies. With The Beatles: Rock Band, you have the option of hooking up 3 microphones and each person can take a different portion of the song. For a track like “Paperback Writer” can this result in massive lols and giggles. You can score a lot of points if everyone hits their notes, but the fun factor alone for this addition is huge. The gameplay is also easier than it was in either Rock Band game. The downside is some of the expert players might not feel as challenged, but the upside is it’s a good way to transition from one difficulty level to another.

Additionally, there were two minor tweaks that were made that really make a difference. First, resuming a paused game in the middle of the song starts a 3 second timer until the song resumes. This means an emergency pause or an accidental slip of the finger doesn’t ruin the entire song. The other tweak is that playing on Easy is automatically no-fail mode. I play Rock Band to have fun with friends, so allowing someone new to jump in and not worry about failing out the rest of the band is a nice feature. I know this was an option in Rock Band, but this feature is much more accessible in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Finally, the track listing is varied and chosen well. It’s pretty split between early Beatles and late Beatles, so you get the fun pop songs like “I Saw Her Standing There” to the trippy art-rock songs like “Lucy in the Sky of Diamonds.” Personally, I was really happy with the addition of some of the deeper Beatles cuts that are some of my favorites; such as “Hey Bulldog”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Boys” and “I Me Mine”. To top it off, the next three months will include releases of Abbey Road, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver. I really hope the entire discography is eventually released.

Overall, The Beatles: Rock Band is the most accessible and finely tuned Rock Band release yet. The addition of harmonies alone might be the best feature Rock Band has come out with yet. I’ll still be switching between this game and Rock Band 2, but The Beatles: Rock Band is a very worth title on it’s own.

The Beatles: Rock Band

One of my favorite activities is to get a group of friends together and play Rock Band all night. On Saturday we perfected it and four of us played from 11-4 AM, enjoying adult beverages and turning the stereo up louder and louder.

Below are my 10 favorite Rock Band songs to play with a group of friends.

1. Foreplay/Long Time – Boston
   Without a doubt, the best song in Rock Band and a capital way to end a night.
2. Moving in Stereo – The Cars
   In between rocking songs, switch to this and groove for 5 minutes.
3. Baba O’Riley – The Who
   Classic.
4. Under the Bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers
   Take your shirt off and sing your heart out.
5. Undone (The Sweater Song) – Weezer
   When it’s time to EMOTE.
6. Black – Pearl Jam
   “Do-do-do do-dee-do”
7. Hey – Pixies
   Nearly everything off of Doolittle is fun to sing, but this is my favorite.
8. In Dreams – Roy Orbison
   It’s really fun to watch people tackle the vocals.
9. Don’t Look Back in Anger – Oasis
   It’s great when everyone harmonizes “sooo..Sally can wait”
10. White Wedding (Part 1) – Billy Idol
    A little attitude and fist pumping to start out the night.

Once again, Microsoft dominated E3. Here are the top 5 reasons to stay excited about the Xbox 360 console:

1. Share Netflix movies – Create a party and watch a Netflix movie with your friends. 
2. Left 4 Dead 2 – 4 new characters, 5 new campaigns, melee weapons and a director system that can alter the physics of the map.
3. Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm integration with Xbox 360 – Thank you Microsoft for embracing current social networks instead of trying to create your own.
4. The Beatles Rock Band – I’ve been excited since the announcement, but the harmonies and confirmed Abbey Road DLC makes it a must-buy.
5. 1080p Streaming videos – The few times I’ve rented movies on my Xbox 360, I’ve had to wait a long time for the HD movie to download enough to let me start it.  Now, it will start up automatically and stream.

I know I’ve done a Top 5 albums of 2008 post, but I haven’t written one for Film or Video Games yet because there are still a few things I need to see/play. Still, I can safely say that Left 4 Dead is my favorite video game of 2008. It’s a game that I normally play 1-2 hours every night before I go to bed.

For those of you unfamiliar, Left 4 Dead is a 4 player co-op game that revolves around a Zombie Apocalypse scenario. The game consists of 4 campaigns (each roughly 1 hour long) that you play thru along with 3 other players online. At first glance, this sounds like something that would get old quick. That’s not the case, instead, it’s one of the most re-playable games I’ve ever experienced.

First off, the game has an AI system called The Director. This Director tweaks and adapts the game depending on how you are playing. This means every play thru is different. While the maps in the Campaign remain the same, the location and type of Zombies changes as do the weapon and health placement. As it is, I’ve probably played thru each campaign 20-30 times.

Left 4 Dead also has the best co-op gameplay available. It’s a game where Teamwork is so important and the design of the game reflects this concept. Along with the hordes of zombies, there are special infected that enforce teamwork in different ways. The Hunter will pin down a team member that decides to go off on his own. He’ll stay pinned until another teammate shoots the Hunter off. The Smoker grabs and drags a teammate away, attempting to break up a close knit team. The Boomer will vomit resulting in a horde attack. If you shoot him when he is too close, he explodes resulting in a horde attack. The point of the Boomer is to prevent the idea of “shoot anything that moves”. Finally, the Tank is a huge steroided up Zombie that requires the entire team to take down.

The end result is a game that is great to play with three friends and never gets old.