Originally published on Diehard GameFAN

Fresh off finishing work on the much-anticipated BioShock 2, the teams at 2K Marin and Digital Extremes have surfaced from the depths of Rapture for a quick breath of air. Thankfully, during this time, Jordan Thomas, Zak McClendon and Hoagy De La Plante from 2K Marin and Mat Tremblay and Jesse Attard of Digital Extremes were onhand to field a mob of press questions on Friday in recognition of the finished product, which will be hitting store shelves on Tuesday. After the roaring success of BioShock, these team members have had some pretty big shoes to fill in this sequel, in which the single-player portion of the title takes place following the events of the first. However, after much work on the title, both companies came out confident, spilling a load of details and insight on next week’s big release.

Right off the bat, 2K Marin foresaw its biggest challenge: Creating a new experience that surpassed the original without stepping on the toes of the original release or the BioShock’s rabid fan base. While the members of 2K Marin and Digital Extremes agreed the biggest challenge was implementing multiplayer in a game built as a single-player experience, the developers of the single-player campaign noted pulling off the sequel effectively was still no easy chore. With a small core of members having a hand in the original title, creative director Jordan Thomas stated a team was built from scratch.

On the subject of the pressures of matching the success of the original title, Thomas stated the fact the original was so well received was perhaps the biggest pressure of producing the sequel. It was noted members of the Friday panel did have experience on previous games with titles such as Deus Ex, Deus Ex 2, Thief III and Project Snowblind being mentioned, but instead of focusing purely on the past, the two teams had a lot of work and expectations on their shoulders. “We built a team from scratch and it was mentally challenging because we were going against the weight of our own expectiations,” he noted. “Everyone was a fan of the first game and the pressure led to a lot of second-guessing and aiming to please everyone.”

Before moving on to all of the new additions to be pumped into the title, the teams had to take a step back and see what worked in the original title. Two of the biggest premises to return included the mystery-driven story along with the moral choices. “We wanted to keep the player’s choices … while growing the ecology of the world,” said McClendon, the lead designer of the project. “We wanted to expand upon the idea of the world being self-sufficent and keep everything acceptable and friendly to a wide audience. We wanted to respect anything the player decided on in the original game.”

It was stated that neither ending, based on the ethical choices of the player in the first game, was considered as “canon” for the story. Instead, the hope is that players will carry their morality from the first game over to the second. However the teams still treated the path of events very seriously and the game’s lineage unfolds in a manner that does the first entry justice.

“BioShock had an extremely full mythos,” stated Thomas. “Adding new history into that canon was a huge challenge. It was something we took very seriously. The writing team had to become painfully familiar with the first game in order to prevent contradictions.”

The goal in the sequel was painted out be surpsing to the player without removing what happened in the original entry, which is what the team would have referred to as a “simple-minded reboot.” Once again, the Little Sisters are running rampant in Rapture and moral decisions lie in your relationships with these ADAM-infused entities. “We wanted to focus on choice,” noted Jordan. “The player is granted freedom and can make a number of ethical decisions that shape the plot and how the story unfolds.” One of the main goals of story progression this time around, however, was in shaping the game well before the end, as it was carried out in the original title.

Not everything is new with the mythos, though, as De La Plante did indicate a small handful of characters and themes will be returning to the sequel, including Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum, along with the very obvious inclusions of the Big Daddies and Little Sisters. The one certainty De La Plante did spell out was the fact Andrew Ryan is dead.

“Through Rapture, you can see Ryan’s legacy and see his messages and ideals around the game.” he noted. “In this way, Rapture is a character of its own. (Ryan’s) story ended in a satisfying way. The player ended the game with conquest or redemption and we needed to allow the story to conclude and not interfere with that.”

After Jack Ryan leaves the “utopia,” the opening of the massive tower vacuum has allowed Rapture to evolve and feature the story elements introduced in the sequel. Fast forwarding to 1970, Rapture is now under the guidance of Sofia Lamb, who operates under the reverse philosophies of Andrew Ryan. Instead of focusing on the individual, Lamb stresses collectiveness in society, implementing vibes of Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill into the game’s philosophical tones, which still reflects writings such as those seen by George Orwell and Peter Watts. While a lot has essentially remained the same in BioShock 2’s premise and themes, though, the gameplay has been retooled to take the sequel beyond the original.

The most dramatic departure is obviously in the shift of the player’s role. Instead of Jack Ryan, players are placed directly under the mask of a prototype Big Daddy, a mechanic that 2K Marin admitted was one of the very first items decided upon for the sequel.

“Making this game was challenging and we felt changing the protagonist was the best focus,” said Thomas. “It provided a fresh perspective and it was hugely requested by fans. Most importantly, though, he has a purpose: He’s out in search of his original Little Sister.”

As a prototype, this Big Daddy does differ from those seen in the original entry. “In the original single player game, the Big Daddy was powerful, but slow,” recalled Thomas. “We just couldn’t do a game at such a slow, trudging pace – (the prototype) is more agile than the classic daddies and he can utilize the plasmids. He also has free will. The encounters with Big Daddies are still as rewarding as they were before, though. The ‘rumbler’ is a new type and the Big Sister is more challenging. The game’s situations are not always meant to be an even battle.”

Big Sisters, implemented as a new face of terror in the sequel, are Little Sisters that have matured physically based on an overabundance of ADAM. They embody an awkward transition into adolescence and feature a softer edge (detailed by items such as ribbons on their baskets or innocent drawings), but still carry quite the mean streak. However, this doesn’t mean the Little Sisters have been pushed out of the title. In fact, they are crucial element to BioShock 2. When a player encounters a Little Sister, not only can they be harvested for personal ADAM, but the player can adopt them in their search for more dead bodies full of the material. If the player allows the Little Sister to harvest from a body, it will be up to the player to defend her from incoming dangers. If players really sink low into morality, they can adopt, allow a Little Sister to absorb ADAM and then harvest a double dose of the precious entity. Such decisions are what really shapes the game, according to McClendon.

“It really undermines the moral value to force players into a specific morality choice,” he commented. “(BioShock 2) makes the choices around them a little more gray. It can be a little more rewarding to harvest in BioShock 2. You can be starved for ADAM if you do not adopt and you will have tons if you adopt then harvest. We’re hoping the choices are a little more reflective of the choices that go on in your head with such complex moral choices.”

Outside of the big baddies, the 2K Marin also noted even the general enemies have received a boost in performance thanks to reworked AI and players will be encountering these battles with more frequency. It was noted players will see some ambushes and the enemies are just a lot smarter overall, using cover, throwing grenades and effectively traversing ledges. Diversity also allows the enemies to be more threatening against your Big Daddy, with brute splicers throwing large blocks of concrete and being able to go toe-to-toe with you and other splicers that can climb walls and ceilings. The team even admitted the final boss from BioShock was something the original didn’t do very well so BioShock 2, without throwing out any spoilers, is “taking a different approach.”

However, thanks to being a Big Daddy, players will find they have more tools at their disposal to counter these threats. A lot more character growth has been implemented into the sequel with three upgrade levels to every single weapon, the ability to “dual-wield” plasmids and weapons and, of course, the trademark Big Daddy drill. The dual-wielding was admitted to being one of the very first mechanics the team implemented when doing early work with the BioShock toolset and the final results have the teams pleased.

“The Big Daddy really worked to our advantage.” noted Thomas. “Jack could go down quickly and by people’s expectations, (it) would be more durable, so there is more survivability. There are fewer stumbling block to your tools and with varying difficulty levels and internal play testing, we have made sure the levels are balanced. Everyone asked for the drill and that was something we put in, but it needed to be robust. We worked on upgrades and it became a core tool that was rewarding and visceral to use. With the way tools combine in defensive scenarios, we’re pretty happy with the end results.”

As mentioned, every weapon has three upgradable levels, which gives players something to work for and each changes up the game style a little bit. For example, reaching level three with the drill adds a magnetic coil, which can be used to reflect projectiles. Also, new plasmids have been worked into the experience for both the single-player and multiplayer modes with new single-player skills including a scout ability to leave your body and explore ahead for a short time. It was noted the single-player plasmids are meant for the players to use to have fun at the expense of punishing the AI while multiplayer plasmids need to be, “fun to use on others as well as fun to have them used on yourself.” Jesse Attard lead multiplayer programmer for the project at Digital Extremes stated the mode will feature a plasmid that allows players to move at extremely fast speeds and tackle enemies, one that allows players to become invisible and another that will freeze enemies into blocks that can be thrown around for more damage.

The combinations of attacks between plasmids and weapons is the goal of the teams involved, creating tactical and defensive gameplay. Other small tweaks to the gameplay include a simpler hacking system integrated into the core gameplay, forcing players to balance combat and hacking as simultaneous actions. Also, the research camera has been changed into a video camera that not only records subjects, but also judges how the player combats it and rewards the player accordingly. The vita chamber issue from the first game has been looked at as well, giving players the option to turn them off and while combating a Big Daddy, if the player dies, the enemy’s Little Sister will heal them to eliminate the cheap tactic of respawning to whittle down the Big Daddy’s health bit by bit.

Perhaps the biggest departure from the original title is in the fact players will get to explore a little more of Rapture by being able to traverse more of its outside environments. All of the environments are brand new, presented with improvements to shading and rendering and implementing areas the team imagined “players didn’t see the first time around.” 2K Marin did toy with possibilities such as implementing a flooded Port Frolic, but the team didn’t feel it worked out; however, the multiplayer mode will feature some familiar environments exclusive to that mode.

“(BioShock 2) is the same style in art with new environments and more art,” said De La Plante. “We created new manifestations of that style as reinvention was contrary to our goal. We played on an environment that was already strong and tooled with them a little bit. The setting of Rapture will never be new, but changing that wouldn’t work.”

Seeing Rapture from the outside will also allow players to not feel confined as the team noted the enclosed areas of the original made the title never feel safe so, perhaps, players couldn’t fully explore the beauty of the surroundings. The player will also encounter characters that are normal human inhabitants and these characters help progress the narrative.

The multplayer portion of the game was developed externally by Digital Extremes and actually takes place in a civil war storyline preceding the original title. The civil war explains the transition from utopia to dystopia and Attard felt utilizing the story in multiplayer as opposed to creating a full-fledged prequel was a perfect fit for the series.

“An honest prequel would be a very different game.” he explained. “We felt it didn’t speak directly to the values of the first game. The civil war and going from utopia to dystopia, translating those events into multiplayer was extremely honest and the competition over ADAM was compelling to us.”

The multiplayer aspect will feature modes such as the “civil war” team deathmatch, “capture the Sister” (similar to capture the flag) and a free-for-all “survival of the fittest.” Some of the modes will allow the player to become a Big Daddy, which comes with its additional strengths (a rivet gun, stomps and proximity mines) and weaknesses (doesn’t regenerate health, bigger and slower target). Unfortunately, there is no support for system link or LAN, but online, the game will accommodate for up to ten players. Taking place prior to the events of either game, the multiplayer mode will feature unique characters and players can learn more about them by unlocking diaries.

Obviously, taking the foundations of a single-player title and crafting a multiplayer experience from that was quite a task for Digital Extremes. Attard noted the team not only had to contend with a proper networking code and making sure the game was accessible, all the while not sacrificing the feel of the game’s universe. For example, he felt it would be out of place if an announcer called out a headshot; instead, a headshot may do something such as shooting a player’s mask off their face. Balance was another concern and Digital Extremes has noted many focus groups and interview have helped them identify areas to improve the mode and make it more fun. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the mode for fans, though, is in the familiar Rapture environments that have yet to be ravaged by the civil war and the events of the two single-player games.

“Rapture is rich with narrative elements,” said Temblay, the art director of multiplayer at Digital Extremes. “With the experience of the single player, there is so much to look at and experience and that’s what made Rapture. Rapture is pristine and new before the fall and the single-player mode freed us up to go back with multiplayer while the other mode drove the story of Rapture forward.

Looking at the sequel, 2K Marin did comment on the direction the team had to take in developing for all three platforms – Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC – simultaneously. The original title landed on the PS3 much later than the other formats and the teams shared the goal of compromising with the strengths and weaknesses of each format.

“We had a goal to make each format an identical experience,” said McClendon. “We don’t want to reward or punish someone based on their system.”

Commenting on the delay into 2010 for the title, both companies stated the extra time allowed for more balance and polish and Digital Extremes noted the delay allowed it to place in four more multiplayer modes that weren’t originally going to make it in the original 2009 release. Giving the title more time allowed 2K Marin to take a long look at the early moments of the game in order to bring forward the best impression for new and veteran BioShock players.

As a wrap-up to the panel, on an aside, even though Thomas did not jump on board the development of BioShock during its planning stages, he shared one of the proposed premises of the original title focused on World War II, with Nazis having a secret lab underwater for use in inhumane experiments. Also, 2K Marin commented on the collector’s edition, stating the pressed soundtrack vinyl was felt to be a more meaningful collector’s item and better sets the tone of the game.

Originally published on Bemanistyle

Back when news of this year’s brand new DanceDanceRevolution titles surfaced during July’s E3 event, Konami of America went out of its way to state it was going to feature “major licensed master Latin tracks.” While we were initially ignorant about the impact these Latin tunes would have on the final product, DanceDanceRevolution X2 released in North America on Oct. 27 and it became clear exactly how far Konami was looking to go in featuring Latin-style music in the title. Of the title’s 60 songs, nearly 17 percent of the list features Latin songs and/or artists and it seemed as if the company purposely went out of its way to reproduce Konami originals in this styling in bringing revival songs from previous entries into the mix. It’s hard to deny DanceDanceRevolution is as global as it has ever been, originating from its humble, nine Konami original songs on the original DDR arcade cabinet, evolving to later include European influence with the company’s Toshiba EMI partnership and, finally, breaking out into recognizable tunes made popular in America. While Latin-style songs are hardly nothing new to series, what attributed this focus to load almost one-fifth of DDR X2 with this music genre?

“We believed that the PS2 market in Central America is relatively large, so we decided to implement Latin/Spanish-influenced licensed and Konami original songs that might be better accepted in that region and for the residents in North America who enjoy this type of music,” stated series producer Naoki Maeda in a recent e-mail interview with Bemanistyle.com. Looking at recent events that have unfolded in 2009 between Central America and Sony, perhaps saying the previously untapped video game market in the territory is large could be an understatement.

A February announcement made by Sony Computer Entertainment America officially put the company’s consoles and services available to the territory for the first time(1). Prior to this point, residents of the area had to either swallow heavy-hitting price tags for systems and games thanks to customs taxes and import tariffs or take part in playing pirated copies of games titles. In fact, a 2008 editorial by Pascal Clarysse, who was formerly a marketing manager for Lik Sang, commented on Edge Online that a popular title such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl could cost as much as $110 U.S. at retail in Columbia – a real slap to the wallet when you take into account that Clarysse states the minimum and average wage in the country is $260-280. Because of these limitations, he states the Game Boy Advance and Playstation 2 continue to be the best-selling systems in Central America(5) and when you factor in the huge install base the PS2 has in Brazil – the largest in the territory - it becomes easier to understand SCEA’s decision to officially enter the market(2).

“The significance of the Latin America market is huge. Obviously from a population standpoint I don’t think it’s a big secret that this is a huge opportunity. We will put a number of resources in place to cater to that market,” stated Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Vice President of Sales Ian Jackson one year ago at a BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference. “… We’ve identified the Brazilian market as probably the biggest market opportunity for us, and that will be the third part of our launch which will take place over Spring 2009."(3)

Thanks to the official distribution of Sony product in Central America, the distribution has made the prices of official games a bit easier to swallow for the 13 countries within reach of Sony Latin America, even though the territory has some fierce competition in the form of the regional Zeebo console and pirated discs that provide games at a lower price. Regardless of where players are receiving their games, it can’t be denied that gaming is a huge hobby in Central America and the Playstation 2 is a common system, much as it is worldwide, where it has been cut to a $99.99 U.S. price tag. Konami’s efforts to market DanceDanceRevolution to this territory rolled off of Sony’s momentum in the region as X2 and Hottest Party 3 made appearances the weekend prior to the titles’ release at Latin America’s largest video game event, the eighth-annual Electronic Games Show in Mexico City, which saw more than 30,000 attendees(4). As such, Konami certainly isn’t ready to give up on the system, which still has a full year to follow Sony’s intention to give the Playstation 2 format a 10-year life cycle.

“We still look at the PS2 as a competitive platform in today's global market but the so-called next generation consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 have great possibility of permeating throughout the world even more,” noted Konami's Naoki Maeda. “Our goal is to foresee the needs of the market and provide titles with the hardware that best suits these needs.”

Before the attempted penetration of DDR into the Central American territory, however, local players had long been accustomed to Andamiro’s Pump It Up series, a cheaper arcade alternative that served as the go-to dancing title for this territory along with Korea. In 2005, Mastiff CEO Bill Swartz, who was at the time preparing Pump It Up Exceed for a home console release in North America, told Edge Online, “It's insanely popular in Latin America and Korea. Every year in Mexico City there are tournaments. This year's drew more than 15,000 people and they had to open the doors an hour early to avoid a riot. " Interestingly enough, the same interview has Swartz stating the release features “lots of Latin music,” showing the dancing game market has in some form catered to the territory for a number of years(6). According to Maeda, the global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution stems from the art of dance being a global language that is enjoyed by everyone across the world, however, cultural differences are what tend to bring such “market targeting” into play.

“The global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution lies in the fact that the main idea of the game is ‘dancing,’ which is a method used to express oneself that can be seen throughout the world,” he explained. “However, there are several different types of dancing which can come from elements such as the characteristics of a country or what they deem beautiful. We believe that holds great importance in that the recorded music fitting the dance type of a specific region is essential.”

Of course, targeting the Latin music market isn’t an unfamiliar endeavor, with Konami of Japan releasing Mambo a Go Go (which, unfortunately, missed the U.S. market with an intended, but cancelled, release under the name Mambo King) and SEGA developing Samba de Amigo during the Latin pop craze that hit at the turn of the century. Even though neither title had a huge impact, if any, on North America, Maeda noted Konami hasn’t given up on the theme as long as its games are openly available to the region.

“Yes, depending on the location of where we release our titles and the characteristics of the people in the country, we would like to provide content that is geared more toward that region,” he stated. “Music in Southern America has its own characteristics with a very unique history and developing games with these themes are in one of our best interests.”

Will the adjusted focus help Konami and its DanceDanceRevolution series in the long run? Only time will tell in the long run, but, currently, the company is keeping a positive focus on the market for now.

“Our view of Central America is that there are several unknown elements in the market, but features such as their national trait where they look at things objectively and with the way ‘dancing’ is positioned in their lifestyle, we believe that it is a very hopeful market,” concluded Maeda.

[1] Official SCEA Press Release, “Sony Computer Entertainment America Expands into Latin America” - GameSpy
[2] Theo Azevedo, “Produção do PlayStation 2 e jogos no Brasil é aprovada” – UOL Jogos
[3] Staff, “SCEA: Latin America is a Huge Opportunity for PS2” – Playstation Universe
[4] Official Michael Meyers Public Relations press release – “Eighth-Annual Electronic Game Show Draws 30,000” – (received internally by Bemanistyle.com)
[5] Pascal Clarysse, “Gaming in Latin America” – Edge Online
[6] Staff, “Pump it Up” – Edge Online 

It seems a decade of King of Fighters wasn't enough for the flagship SNK series as the franchise now enters its 2006 installment. The last time KOF entered the PS2 arena, the series evolved into the third-dimension, with the lackluster Maximum Impact. And while 2006 improves upon the previous iteration, it still limps away from the fight.

The most notable improvement in King of Fighters 2006 is the bump in the number of features - the roster nearly doubles, new fighting mechanics are introduced and new single-player modes are added.

The entire cast of Maximum Impact makes an encore performance and are joined by four new characters, and 14 unlockables, which are playable in story, versus, mission, survival and, of course, versus play modes.

In the midst of game play, SNK Playmore has implemented two new fighting mechanics that cover both the offensive and defensive sides of the coin.

Super cancels allow for your character to interrupt the final animations of a special move and combo straight into a super maneuver and allow for extended and even more damaging combos. The second addition comes in the form of parries and allows players to turn the tides on overly aggressive players.

While the additions give the game play a little more depth, overall, the game still feels much like the previous edition and falls into the trap of throwing a 2-D game into a 3-D engine. Jump attacks and sidestepping still feel a tad clunky and I just feel like I'm playing Street Fighter EX all over again.

It's not to say King of Fighters 2006 is a bad game, but on the PS2, it hardly matches up against the competition (or even the recent Japanese SNK Playmore released Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum).

Graphically KOF 2006 gets the job done in the hand-drawn 2-D to rendered 3-D transition. The character models, while not as detailed to the degree of a game like Tekken 5, are nicely done and bring the fighters every recognizable characteristic straight from their 2-D romps. Overall, the game animates nicely and runs at a constantly smooth rate with flashes of pizzazz emulating from special and super maneuvers.

Almost all of the environments are fairly generic but do feature some nice subtle touches in the damage to the ground and arena walls. However, the environmental damage strangely doesn't carry over to all the stages. If you can smash the cement with a bone-breaking throw, why wouldn't you be able to do so in a different stage with a concrete surface or even the marble in the mansion?

Perhaps the titles biggest drawback is in the sound department. First, I would like to write a 10-page thank you letter to SNK Playmore for including the original Japanese vocals, but I'll save that for a different time. The selection will spare players from perhaps some of the worst English voice acting that could possibly be conceived.

Aside from the dangers of the game's English (the menus aren't even free of typos), everything else is standard fare. The music lacks the drive to fuel fiery fights and is easily forgettable, plus the sound effects could have been easily ported straight over from any previous King of Fighters game.

Fortunately, the game's strong suit is in its game play, which tries to keep a balance of satisfying longtime fans of the series while keeping a pick-up-and-play feel for those new to the series. All of the characters feature a surprisingly beefy set of signature, special, throw/hold, super and combo moves aside from their standard punches and kicks. Not only have the characters carried over every single one of their special moves from previous games, but 2006 also gives them new moves into the mix.

The 3-D element also includes the ever-popular "dial-a-combo" maneuvers. By stringing together mapped out combinations of punches and kicks, characters will execute a barrage of attacks in succession. The pre-determined combos end in a brutal punch or kick that sends the opponent flying, but players can throw in a special or super move in at any time before the finish of the combo and dish out even more punishment.

Players will need quick fingers to execute high-hitting combos, as the game play in 2006 is fast and furious. True to the series, matches are brief and brutal running at a speed almost comparable to the classic Street Fighter II Turbo fights. Everything definitely has a classic feel and runs as one of the fastest fighting games on the Playstation 2.

Even though there is no online fighting option once again, the mission modes will give those looking for a fight a run for their money. Not only does the mode extend the single-player experience, but it also uncovers a number of unlockables including clothing options and stages apart from the slew of hidden characters.

The hidden characters range from additional King of Fighters characters to those tossed in for some fan service to those who follow SNK - Hanzo from Samurai Showdown, B. Jenet from Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Fio from Metal Slug and more. While, unfortunately, the secret characters do not feature their own segments and endings for the game's story modes, they give players a lot of incentive to dig around in the game.

Obviously the most glaring omission from the game is the three-on-three team-based combat the series was founded on. Even featuring two-on-two battles would be a step in the right direction for the 3-D installments.

The game still feels a tad unbalanced in areas with some questionable super moves executed by the characters. While the level three super moves should be extremely damaging compared to the lower level moves, the damage scaling limits how effective the characters' ultimate super moves should be.

If a level one super does about one forth the damage and a level three super does roughly one half damage, isn't it more effective use three level one supers?

Some characters have horribly unbalanced level three supers, most notably Nagase's were she just turns invisible, and some supers such as Mignon Beart's projectile-based attack take forever to execute and just require a simple sidestep to avoid. While most of the long-time characters balance pretty well, the 3-D additions most notably fall victim to balancing.

There seemed to be a few other game play nuisances that went overlooked such as the inability to move your character into a position of your choice prior to the start of round one. However, before rounds two or three (or higher if you change the options), characters can freely move around before the round commences. The game, much like Mortal Kombat, also has some rough crossovers during jumping attacks.

Overall, however, the game play is solid and still maintains as much of the classic feel of the series SNK could capture in the extra dimension of game play. King of Fighters 2006 offers players a large number of characters old and new as well as numerous one-player modes to keep the game going just a little bit longer.

While it doesn't compare to the Playstation 2's other top-selling 3-D brawlers, King of Fighters 2006 marks the series' most impressive entry onto the system and adds enough to the mix to provide an even stronger basis to work from in future editions.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 3 of 5

It only took the better part of a decade, but, now in 2009 video gaming is finally home to one of the most lucrative and sought-after catalogs of music in modern history. The inclusion into video games was undertaking that was nearly 50 years in the making, with the band originally performing in its five-piece ensemble starting in 1960, but Beatlemania was finally captured by Harmonix with The Beatles: Rock Band, immortalizing the fab four members that carried the name from 1962 onward in a familiar digital format. Given how difficult it was to procure these rights, one would have to assume Harmonix would put every ounce of effort it could into doing the source material justice and, thankfully, the end result should be enjoyable for anyone while serving up a once-in-a-lifetime interactive experience for any Beatles fan.

I’ll just start off by stating up front that I am not the biggest Beatles fan in the world. I appreciate the band’s music and mostly prefer its earlier material, but I am far from being a Beatles fanatic. On this grounds, I am able to look at the game a little more objectively, but, let’s be honest – what we have here is a brand new presentation with Rock Band 2 running under the hood. With this, obviously, the hook of The Beatles being featured in the game is the major draw here and for fans of the band will no doubt be the target audience for the title. However, looking at the title from a pure music gaming focus, the stranglehold placed on the likenesses and content of the game really put forth a good group of limitations that are hard to ignore for those not as enamored with the band and want to enjoy a new rhythm-based game title.

Eschewing the company’s standard of releasing handfuls of content at reduced prices, The Beatles: Rock Band storms in as a full offering, demanding a meaty $60 from your wallet, but, given we won’t see Rock Band 3 this year, it’s hard to suggest that Harmonix is milking the franchise. What players will receive is a stripped down Rock Band 2 experience, customized to accommodate The Beatles, which means features that players are normally accustomed to are absent from the title. The character creation tools are given the boot, which will probably upset some, but, for me, it is a godsend – I can finally just jump into a game without having to wait around because somebody decided they wanted to change the shoes their avatar is wearing. While players can still fail songs, The Beatles can never be booed and the band’s in-game tracks and material cannot be ported over to any other Rock Band offering, which shows the power Apple Corps. holds over Harmonix. A bunch of these omissions come across as minor gripes, as it is a miracle Apple even allowed such a game to come into fruition, however, this serves as another example of how spoiled Rock Band fans will hit a brick wall when the features they expect to see in every installment are absent in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Another question has been popping up in regard to the title’s value. At $60, Rock Band fans, which we no doubt have on a site dedicated to music gaming, may be wondering why they are only being presented with around 40 songs when Rock Band 2 easily doubled the offerings at the same price. If you were to consider each track as a DLC offering at $2 a piece, there does appear to be an evident value in the content, but the shilling of future DLC packs at an extra cost might disinterest some fans and the audience the game is trying to reach out to might not be frequent gamers, tasking them to put down around $300 for a full experience. Obviously, there has been much debate on the game’s value, but the attraction merely hinges on how big of a Beatles fan a potential buyer is.

Cracking into the actual game itself, players will have a quickplay mode and a career-based mode along with a few training features that can isolate the drum and vocal gameplay bits. Everything outside of the career mode works just like any other Rock Band entry, but it is sad to see the creativity of the career mode nerfed so much in The Beatles: Rock Band. This Rock Band iteration merely puts players into chunks of songs with the only “career” additions coming in the form of stylized cutscenes that depict the current phase of the band’s career and dictating the players’ song choices according to what songs the band had crafted at that moment in time. Harmonix creates some cheap replay value for the mode in opening up challenge segments that are nothing more than performing the aforementioned song chunks in a continuous setlist. Also, since the mode amounts to just playing the game’s song catalog, players will blow through the mode in a handful of hours with very little reason to come back to it. The mode still lets you jam to the band’s trademark songs, but the void of innovation and cycle of repetition really makes this entry’s career mode pale in comparison to Rock Band’s previous efforts.

That being said, however, stars earned in career mode go toward worthwhile unlockables for once. Instead of unlocking uninteresting avatar clothing, The Beatles: Rock Band instead unloads exclusive, never-before-seen photos, videos and sound bytes that will fascinate fans of the band and possibly intrigue casual players (I found the Christmas vinyl montage to be quite interesting, actually).
Looking at the gameplay itself, there is only one innovation to see in the harmonized vocals, which allow up to three people to grab a mic and sing simultaneously during a song. The feature works similar to the standard vocal setup, with each pitch determined by colored bars that anyone familiar with how Rock Band operates should be able to naturally follow. This does add a deceptive amount of interesting moments to the gameplay, letting an additional two players get in on the standard gameplay or challenging more dedicated bands to sing and play instruments simultaneously. Outside of this mechanic, however, players are getting Rock Band 2 pound for pound, although a number of the personal freedoms are taken away in order to wholly preserve The Beatles’ content. The overdrive drum fills are replaced by a single green note, misplaying the guitar does not result in a change of pitch and the beginning and ends of songs don’t allow for players to lay into the drums a little. In all, a bunch of minor changes add up to really limit the player in comparison to other Rock Band titles, which is disappointing considering the caliber of quality seen in those titles.

I don’t mean to cast a thunder cloud over everyone’s opinion of the title, though, as the fact the game is essentially Rock Band 2 with a fresh coat of paint means players are getting the foundation of what is arguably the greatest music gaming engine available on the market. Anyone who has had any shred of fun with any of the series’ other installments will continue to do so with The Beatles: Rock Band, with the only determination of enjoyability being the players’ opinion of The Beatles. Even on that note, however, fans of The Beatles might question the song selection slapped into the game, which does omit some classic and notable songs. With the source band and choice of songs included in the title, much of what is encompassed in The Beatles: Rock Band will boil down to subjective, personal tastes that I couldn’t fairly assess in a review. What I can look over, however, is how the tunes are implemented.

Audibly, the title is just as superb as any other Rock Band title – the songs ring through in high quality, which is most likely due to the fact the songs have been remastered, much like they were for the band’s audio CD release that hit stores, also on Sept. 9. The title also enjoys a number of other audible touches such as the crowds going bananas during the band’s touring years and the realistic mode toggle that has the crowd drowning out the band with a symphony of screams are quite interesting diversions and well implemented. With the manner the songs are implemented, though, it should be mentioned there are very few challenging segments to be found in The Beatles: Rock Band’s gameplay, even on the expert difficulty, which may disappoint band game masters, however, on the other side, the ease in difficulty allows for casual players to enjoy a wholly accessible game title. Fans of the band probably won’t care either way, but if you’re looking for the next challenging guitar solo to test your skills, you won’t find it in The Beatles: Rock Band and this may alienate some longtime players that have little to no interest in the band.

On the other side of the presentation, the graphics do the game justice as well. The graphics arguably take a step back with some fuzzy visuals and jaggies, but, somehow, the pastel-laden animated fab four works quite well, which is most likely due to the significantly pumped up animations given to the band. The close-ups of the crowd also give the visuals some juice with a variety of emotions ranging between 1960s girls going nuts and screaming in tears to street goers looking up solemnly to the top of the Apple Corps building, knowing this is the last time they will ever see The Beatles publically perform. For the most part, these animations really lend to the visual appeal of the title, showcasing amusing animations inbetween career sets and creating trippy, creative (although potentially distracting) “Dreamscape” sequences to compliment the band’s studio years. The game’s environments are also very well crafted, accurately reflecting the current time period with clothing fads, 1960s television presentations, hair trends sported by the band members throughout the decade and, of course, the Dreamscape sequences create plenty of interesting environments. If you look closely, you’ll find some graphical snags, but most players will be too wrapped up into the world of The Beatles to notice and, overall, the title is a treat to the eyes.

Overall, the game may rely a little too much on its source material, however, as players that have no interest in the band or are looking for a challenging outing to test their skills should more likely turn to Guitar Hero 5 for a more suitable modern experience. With the advancements made to Guitar Hero 5, the impression is given that The Beatles: Rock Band has done little to advance the series, however, this will probably not matter very much to the game’s target audience. When you put The Beatles to the side for a moment and look at the game as a whole, there are some very evident downsides to the way the game plays out, but, thankfully, the pros far outweigh the cons in this entry.

With the production of the title being all said and done, Harmonix has done well in crafting an experience that any true Beatles fan cannot be without. However, the game limits creative freedoms, provides an extremely shallow and potentially dissatisfying career mode, a lack of difficulty and features a handful of other minor downsides, which may eat away at the interest of music game fans that have little to no interest in the band. That being said, however, it can’t be denied that The Beatles: Rock Band is a very well crafted game overall. The main debate to be had with the title really lies in personal tastes – the player’s opinion of The Beatles, the choice of songs included/excluded, etc. – since the game is built upon the solid foundation of Rock Band 2. I would suggest to anyone on the fence about the game to review its content and if you feel the pros outweigh the cons, I could recommend picking up the title without hesitation.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5