Green Day, you either hate ‘em or love ‘em but one thing is for certain, their infectious brand of catchy pop punk has earned them a tasty wad of cash. With 50 million sales under their studded belts there is clearly going to be a large audience for the latest band specific Rock Band release. The all important question? Is this a tired cash in or a genuinely fun game?
Cleverly, the developers have decided to focus on the band’s most popular releases, 1994′s Dookie, 2004′s American Idiot and last years 21st Century Breakdown. The two early albums have all tracks making an appearance in the game, with six from the last fleshing out the listing. The rest of these tracks have already been offered as downloadable content so you can import them if you bought them before. If you are a fan of the less successful albums, Insomniac, Nimroad and Warning there are token gestures incorporated to keep the fans happy – 7 tracks in total are included.
This decision has pleased many of the mainstream fans, but some of the most serious followers have been upset with many of their favourite, lesser known tracks being omitted. It also has a negative effect on the progression during career mode. I guess in reality no one will ever be happy unless all the tracks are included, but this is hardly practical.
Comparisons with The Beatles Rock Band are inevitable and unfortunately unfavourable as the 60′s psychedelic outing was massively superior. Gone are the glorious period piece environmental designs, exclusive never before heard material and plethora of trivia based content. We are left with three locations and a selection of archival material, which while substantial enough never really impressed me in quite the same way.
Negatives aside, the locations are well designed with The Warehouse taking centerstage for the earlier 1990′s material. The Fox Theater in Oakland, California has been selected for 21st Century Breakdown which makes sense as Green Day used this location for the first live performance when the record was released. Lastly, The Milton Keynes Bowl is used for the more recent material which was famous for being their first ‘headline’ stadium show five years ago.
Surprisingly, even though I would class myself as a relatively skilled axe meister I found some of the tracks to be challenging on the tougher settings. This was quite a shock as I beat every track on the Beatles game first time on the toughest difficult setting (and I could beat Through the Fire and The Flames on expert - well I did once anyway). Some of the chord driven arrangements can be difficult as it relies more on positioning stamina, rather than finger solo based dexterity. As we all know Billie Joe is no Joe Satriani so you won’t be faced with double tapped hammer ons.
The drums are also rather troublesome, especially on the highest setting. Again it is more an endurance based stress test, rather than Neal Peart based off beat timing challenges. All instruments from previous titles are supported so you don’t need to purchase Green Day ‘specific’ versions.
What pleased me most however was the fact that the game is actually a lot of fun. While Green Day will never deliver the same range of material that The Beatles offered, the songs are fun to play and create a happy vibe if you are in the company of some buddies. I actually feel that the stripped down nature of the game offers a very different appeal than the fab four’s title.
Graphically, the game looks very similar across both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions. All three members have been motion captured and deliver a sense of fluidity and realism which help to suck the player into the game. Sadly the crowd don’t move in a realistic manner and many form ‘groups’ of movement patterns which are easily noticeable if you pay attention.
The overall interface implementation is strong and many will be pleased to hear that the two and three part vocal harmonies concept have been carried over from The Beatles incarnation.
In closing I can say that I really enjoyed the game over the last week. A few friends have helped me through the experience and while I have focused on the guitar; the drums and vocals are also entertaining, especially as Billie Joe Armstrong has a more limited range than many singers, making it easier to tackle. I still feel it hasn’t been as lovingly developed as the Beatles title but for fans of the punk pop trio it will certainly prove an entertaining diversion.
