Pads & Panels

Title: “Abbey Road” DLC for The Beatles: Rock Band

Platform: 360 (Also PS3)

Publisher: MTV Games

Developer: Harmonix

Review by: Bill Jones

Usually the equation for whether to purchase DLC tracks for Rock Band is as simple as one’s love for Rock Band plus one’s love for the particular track. With The Beatles: Rock Band, however, it is a slightly different story, with the dreamscapes that play behind the tunes and, in the case of its first substantial track pack, two- and three-song sets, and a 16-minute B-side medley.

The “Abbey Road” pack fills out one of the most successful Beatles albums with three more singles – “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “Oh! Darling” and “Because” – as well as eight more songs that play either alone, as two-song sets or one three-song set that includes “The End,” originally included on the disc. The entire pack runs 1360 Microsoft Points ($17), but the songs and multi-track sets can also be purchased individually.

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Hardcore fans of Abbey Road will enjoy the pack, but the price seems a bit steep at $17. While the DLC does make use of the studio dreamscapes, none seem half as involved as those from the core disc. Most simply stay in the studio, with filters on the animations, and the medley is half-heartedly tied together, usually with fades to black rather than true transitions between the songs.

In the end, it’s always a good time going back to The Beatles: Rock Band, but for a collection mostly comprised of B-sides, with parts that are almost universally easy (one song even without any drum part), and “Her Majesty” clocking in at 23 seconds, it barely seems worth the money for the entire pack. The “Abbey Road” pack is for hardcore fans only. Everyone else is better off picking and choosing favorites.

For more info, www.thebeatlesrockband.com

Pads & Panels received a download code courtesy of the publisher for review purposes. We also received a download code for the “Queen” pack for Rock Band.

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