I realized recently that I’ve probably spent more time listening to the voice of Paul McCartney than I’ve spent listening to any other person on the planet, save for immediate family members (who have the rather unfair advantage of knowing me personally). Friends come and go, but the music of the Beatles (in both their Beatle and post-Beatle guises) has been with me since infancy, and might very well play me off the stage when it’s all said and done.

For that reason, I’m torn between tailoring this review to two types of readers: those for whom the Beatles are just another band (I know you’re out there), and those for whom they’re something akin to a religion. Of course, you don’t need to know all the words to “Revolution 9” to find something to like in Beatles Rock Band, but your level of attachment to the band will largely determine whether you consider the game a worthwhile purchase.

You Say You Want a Revolution

Seth Schiesel of the New York Times recently suggested that Beatles Rock Band “may be the most important video game yet made.” While that lofty claim might have some validity in light of the game’s potential status as a “cultural watershed,” the title that started the franchise — the original Rock Band — was far more important from a gameplay perspective. Beatles Rock Band merely tweaks the established formula. You’ll still be strumming or pounding plastic instruments in time with “gems” scrolling down on-screen note charts, and while “Overdrive” has become “Beatlemania” and “Awesomes” have been replaced by “Fabs,” the core mechanics remain the same.

A three-second count-in before resuming play after exiting the pause screen and a more extensive drum trainer (“Beatle Beats” allows you to mimic 80 of Ringo’s signature strokes at reduced speed) are welcome additions, but Beatles Rock Band’s most notable innovation is its inclusion of three-part vocal harmonies. The Fabs were known for employing the sweetest harmonies this side of the Beach Boys or Zombies, and Beatles Rock Band capitalizes on the public’s familiarity with their songs to capture this essential element of their sound. Although the band bonuses conferred by activating “Beatlemania” encourage a degree of cooperation, the addition of vocal harmonies necessitates some planning and coordination, and goes a long way towards making each player feel like a part of a cohesive unit.

When harmonies are activated prior to starting any song that supports them, each player with a microphone can sing any of the vocal parts, with no penalties resulting from a failure to sing anything but the lead correctly. The vocal trainer in the practice mode allows you to isolate each vocal part and repeat each section of any song as many times as you like, and you might find yourself resorting to it when some of those peskier Double and Triple Fab scores prove elusive. As creative director Josh Randall noted, the Beatles rarely “shred,” but while Beatles Rock Band offers few instrumental challenges on par with those of the most difficult songs found in previous incarnations of the franchise, playing on expert while singing complex harmonies represents a feat that only the experienced can master. If you’re especially sadistic, you can activate “Super Speed” in the game’s settings, increasing the rate at which the note charts scroll, or enter “Performance Mode,” in which the notes themselves are hidden.

Is There Anybody Going to Listen to My Story?

In a nod to user-friendliness, Harmonix made 44 of the game’s 45 songs accessible from the start in quickplay mode (in previous iterations of Rock Band, one had to progress through a lengthy career mode to catch ‘em all). However, in order to unlock the final tune (it’s worth the effort), you will have to play through the story mode. Story mode divides the assembled fragments of the Beatles catalog into discrete historical periods, introducing each through an artful montage of animated archival material. Simply complete every song in a given period to progress to the next.

Once you complete each section, you’ll also have the opportunity to complete a “Chapter Challenge,” which tasks you with five-starring each of that section’s songs without interruption, but Beatles Rock Band’s story mode is far less involved than those in Rock Band and Rock Band 2. You won’t be forced to replay songs countless times in pursuit of riches, mostly because there simply wouldn’t be anything to spend them on.

You Can’t Do That

That brings me to one possible source of frustration for fans of the franchise: Beatles Rock Band features a notable lack of customization and interactivity in comparison to the previous Rock Band titles. In the interest of historical accuracy, you won’t be able to create your own character, design your own logo, play dress-up with the Beatles, or tinker with their instruments. You’ll also find that freestyle drum fills and crowd participation have disappeared, whammying sustained notes no longer produces an audible effect, and butchering a song results in a failure message, rather than an inglorious exit from the stage.

Notice that I didn’t say that Beatles Rock Band suffers from these changes. There might be a certain segment of the game-playing public that laments these omissions, but I found the commitment to historical accuracy and the core Beatles experience far more rewarding than the ability to scour the sunglasses rack in Rock Band 2. Fortunately, the Beatles’ array of iconic outfits keeps things from growing stale on stage, even without the player’s intervention.

Every Little Thing

Beatles Rock Band positively oozes with Beatles-specific audio, imagery, and extras. In days gone by, I yearned for downloadable Beatles tracks to appear in the Rock Band music store, but now that I’ve witnessed the power of this fully armed and operational Beatles-station, I’m glad that the folks at Harmonix resisted the urge to drop the Beatles bomb before they were prepared to deliver the maximum payload. The game’s breathtaking intro and outro videos, produced by Passion Pictures, convey some sense of the Beatles’ cultural impact while drawing upon elements of the band’s visual legacy, and shorter animations, prepared by graphic design studio MK12, accompany the introduction of each new venue. Selecting menu options even elicits a chord that sounds straight out of “Getting Better.” In-studio chatter from actual Beatles recording sessions, some of which had never been officially released prior to appearing in the game, both precedes and follows the playing of most tracks, and helps to foster an immersive experience.

If strumming along with some of the best songs ever written doesn’t sound like an ample reward for your $60 outlay, you’ll be happy to learn that Harmonix has included a selection of photographs and videos of the band which can be unlocked through the story mode. The photos and their accompanying captions were vetted by Macca himself, and the videos, consisting mainly of excerpts from preexisting Beatle documentaries, offer a glimpse of the game’s principal characters in action. There’s little here that hardcore Beatlemaniacs haven’t seen and heard elsewhere, and it’s hard not to wish that Harmonix had managed to cram more of this material onto the disk, but what there is does offer a powerful incentive for players to master all of the game’s tracks, and should provide a handy primer for those new to the band’s history. In addition, a long list of achievements provides a host of more specific challenges which can be undertaken for Beatle bragging righties.

All These Places Had Their Moments

Although the music is the headliner, the venues in which you’ll find yourself playing it certainly qualify as co-stars of this show. As you advance through the story mode, you’ll find yourself playing to screaming crowds in a number of immediately recognizable settings, including the Cavern Club, the set of the Ed Sullivan Show, Shea Stadium, the Nippon Budokan, and the rooftop of Apple Records. Each of these locales was meticulously researched and recreated, and only the somewhat generic appearances and recycled animations of the crowds subtract from their overall effectiveness.

If you turn on “Realistic Mode” in the game’s settings, your every action will be accompanied by the high-pitched hollering of an adoring crowd. It’s exhilarating initially, but after struggling to hear yourself sing for a few songs, you’ll understand why the band decided to call touring quits after playing Candlestick in August of 1966. Fortunately, rather than retiring, the band retreated to the studio, and that’s where you’ll head after completing the Budokan set in story mode. Beatles Rock Band’s selection of songs that the group never performed live is set in Studio Two at Abbey Road, where you’ll be treated to an intimate look at the Fab Four in some of their quieter moments. However, Studio Two merely serves as a launching pad for the centerpieces of Beatles Rock Band’s graphical gallantry: several song-specific “Dreamscapes,” psychedelic landscapes through which the virtual Beatles meander in mid-performance. The Dreamscapes draw upon the band’s artistic endeavors, the imagery inherent in their lyrics, and the creativity of Harmonix’s design team to conduct a visual symphony which non-playing observers might appreciate more fully than the frenetic fretters locked in concentration beside them. Only when the Dreamscapes dissolve at each song’s conclusion to reveal oddly motionless Beatles sitting in Studio Two does the spell dissipate.

Harmonix went to great lengths to perfect the looks and animations of John, Paul, George, and Ringo in a slightly cartoony form, and for the most part, they succeeded. Motion-captured movements and extensive research yielded in-game models through which the essence of the Fab Four shines. Catching a glimpse mid-play of a merrily bobbing McCartney or a collectedly crooning Lennon undoubtedly enhances the excitement to be had.

Money Don’t Get Everything, It’s True

The original Rock Band shipped with 58 tracks (albeit with only 45 that anyone had ever heard of) while Rock Band 2 raised the bar by hitting the shelves with 75. More importantly, an ever-expanding catalogue of downloadable tracks awaits anyone who procures either title. If you purchase Rock Band 2 today (for less than the price of a fresh copy of Beatles Rock Band), you’ll have (at last count) as many as 832 songs at your fingertips. In contrast, Beatles Rock Band offers you the prospect of only 45 (46 if you count “All You Need is Love,” available online on release day), with a relatively limited number of downloadable numbers in the pipeline. Of course, you could regard the package in another light: at an MSRP of $60, you’re paying only two thirds of the price of an imaginary 45-song Beatles downloadable track pack offered at the going rate of ~$2/song, and you’re receiving significantly more than the songs alone.

The Beatles weren’t given to writing songs of extraordinary length, so most of the 45 tracks supplied on the disc, which span the group’s career, will fly by. In essence, you can see all that Beatles Rock Band has to offer in a single evening (or, if you’re like me, you can see all that it has to offer three or four times, in three or four successive evenings). Harmonix is banking on the fact that you’ll want to revisit those offerings over and over again, just as any self-respecting Beatles fan regularly revisits the band’s oeuvre.

By the standards of previous band-specific offerings, Beatles Rock Band’s set list is an unqualified success. Guitar Hero Aerosmith and Guitar Hero Metallica padded their selections with tracks from related bands and included even fewer masters from the titular groups. However, Beatles Rock Band was not intended to be a greatest hits collection, and those expecting one might be slightly disappointed. Out of the box, the game features only 13 of the 27 mega-hits collected on the One compilation in 2000; instead of “Help!” “A Day in the Life,” “Hey Jude,” “Let it Be,” or “Strawberry Fields Forever,” you’ll find the likes of “Boys,” “Good Morning Good Morning,” and “Birthday.” The latter cuts add some musical variety and make up in playability what they might lack in renown, but it’s hard to escape the feeling that Harmonix decided to hold some of its most potent weapons in reserve to serve as the highlights of future downloadable offerings.

I Can’t Get Through, My Hands Are Tied

We took the Beatle-branded custom guitars for a test-drive at the Harmonix offices, but we haven’t yet gotten our mitts on the replica of Ringo’s Ludwig drum set, and we didn’t spend enough time with the replicas of Paul’s Höfner bass, John’s Rickenbacker 325, or George’s Gretsch Duo to produce authoritative judgments.The new instruments have been modeled to give fans a heightened visual and tactile sense of being Beatles, but they play very similarly to the older Rock Band models.

Fortunately, Beatles Rock Band is compatible with a wide array of preexisting fake instruments, so you really only need to pick up the Beatles-branded gear if you just don’t feel fab enough without them (I don’t). Because the game’s servers hadn’t yet gone live, we also weren’t able to sample its online offerings, but Rock Band 2’s online quickplay, Tug of War, and Score Duel modes have all returned for another showing.

Come and Get It

In the end, the love you’ll take is equal to your affection for the music you’ll fake, so you might be wise to steer clear of Beatles Rock Band if you’ve already proven resistant to the band’s charms. However, the multiple generations of would-be Apple scruffs who have come to cherish the music of those four lads from Liverpool should greet the game with nothing less than the love with which Harmonix clearly labored. Best played with a bandmate or five, Beatles Rock Band is perfect for parties, but it’s also an ideal solution when you’re craving a more interactive alternative to yet another listen. Now, just wake me when I can mangle the medley.

The End

Now that you’ve read Blast’s review, be sure to peruse our previous coverage of one of this year’s most engaging games:

• Oct. 30, 2008: Blast reports Beatles Rock Band under development
• March 5: Beatles Rock Band gets 9/9/09 release date
• June 3: Blast interviews Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos at E3
• June 10: Blast ranks Beatles Rock Band among the best games seen at E3 2009
• Aug. 18: Most of the track list is revealed
• Aug. 25: TV Spot
• Sept. Issue: Harmonix lead artist Dare Matheson interviewed
• Sept. Issue: Harmonix audio lead Eric Brosius interviewed
• Sept. Issue: Harmonix creative director Josh Randall interviewed

Present during the first exploratory meetings between Harmonix and the Apple Corps. shareholders, as well the game’s final days in production, Randall possesses a unique perspective on the monumental effort put forth by the 300+ employees at the music/gaming company to render the Beatles properly in the video game medium. We sat down with Josh to discuss the need for secrecy, meeting with Macca, and the end of the affair.

Josh Randall: I’ve been working on the game since we first started talking about the idea of doing Beatles Rock Band. I was on the front lines between Harmonix and Apple Corps and the shareholders — the shareholders are Paul and Ringo, and Yoko, and Olivia Harrison. So, we had most of the company working on it — we’re about 300 people now, so most of us were focused on that.

Blast editor John Guilfoil: What was the first game you worked on here?

JR: Frequency. Before Harmonix, I was with Looking Glass Studios. We did Thief and System Shock.

Blast’s Ben Lindbergh: Now that you’re so close to release, are you looking back and reflecting on all the things that had to come to come together for this to become a reality? Does it seem like something you couldn’t have imagined happening a few years ago, with all the people and companies involved?

JR: There’s definitely been some reflection. Yeah, it’s been amazing. I still kind of — I have to say, I’m still waiting to see it on the shelves before I can actually relax. Because it was so secret for a really long time, that it was really tricky to sort of, every day — like, every email that I sent, I’d have to recheck all the people that that I was sending to, just to make sure. You know, like, ‘Am I going to blow it today? Oh, I didn’t blow it today! All right, great, it’s good till tomorrow!’ But yeah, it’s been a pretty amazing journey for everyone involved.

BL: How receptive were the shareholders initially? I know it was an idea that came, at least in part, from George’s son. Was it something that they had to be convinced to do? Something that appealed to them immediately?

Beatles Rock Band has been Randall's biggest challenge in more than 10 years with Harmonix (Darcy Hofmann for Blast)

JR: It’s funny, Alex, our CEO, I remember talking with him years ago, and he was like, ‘Yeah, someday we’re going to do a Beatles game!’ I was like, ‘Ha ha ha, that’s hilarious.’ And then, I guess Dhani (Harrison) had been a fan of our earlier games, and somehow met the head of MTV, Van Toffler. And Van was like, ‘Oh, well we just acquired Harmonix, you should talk to Harmonix.’ So Dhani met with Alex, and they sort of kicked around a Beatles Game.

My interaction with all the shareholders was amazing. It was like they understood, just looking at what we showed them — you know, our first meetings were just showing them Rock Band and talking about our experience with Rock Band, and how we find that it’s encouraging people to play music, or to have a deeper understanding of the music they already love.

So I think they got that, and then once we started talking about some of the creative things we could do, I think they started getting excited, when they realized, ‘Oh, this is going to be like a new edition to the Beatles catalog, this is the real deal.’ So, with that in mind, they all really pushed us to do new stuff.

BL: You put a demo together for them initially, right? Did they play it, or did they just watch it?

JR: They watched us play it. It was basically, I think it was a few (Beatles) songs that you could play in Rock Band, and then there was a video, where we had spent a few months basically sculpting all the heads of the Beatles in 3-D, and sort of stuck them into the game, but didn’t have them animating, they were all just sort of posed. But our game engine used camera cuts and stuff to make it look almost like the Budokan concert, and we showed them that. They could use their imaginations to figure out where that was going to go.

JG: Obviously this game was a challenge, and every project you take on was difficult, but what was it like having Paul McCartney kind of correct you, and say, ‘No, that is not how I stand, this is how I stand!’ Did that, overall, make it a lot more difficult for you? What was that like?

JR: I think the biggest challenge for us on this project was really just the fact that most video games don’t look good until, really, the last month of production. And so, we were in a situation where we really wanted to show progress, and show that, like, ‘You guys are going to look amazing in the game, and the whole game is going to be fantastic and look gorgeous.

But, it was more like, ‘Right now all we can show you is that we’ve got guys on stage, and they’re kind of goofy because we might not have perfected all the technology’ or whatever. And so what we wound up doing was basically having a lot of visual milestones, where we would have to, pretty early on in production, push to have a demo that would maybe show like 3 or 4 songs, but they would be sort of like proof of concepts. Like, ‘Here’s what the guys look like in these outfits, here’s what they look like when they move, here are some of the venues,’ and stuff like that.

And every time we would get to one of those milestones, me and some of the team would get on a plane over to Abbey Road, or go to New York, or wherever we had to go, to basically sit with the Apple Corps shareholders, get their feedback, and discuss it. And then we’d get their feedback and be like, ‘Okay, we’ll see you guys in a few weeks,’ and then we’d iterate it and come back. So, trying to sort of push the visual quality earlier in the pipeline is really tricky. Sometimes you just need that time to get all the little nuances right. So, we would have certain meetings where we’d go, ‘Hey, it’s Shea Stadium, and it’s huge, and it’s awesome, and there’s a crowd, and there’s all this stuff,’ and Apple’s like, ‘Yeah, but they’re not singing into their microphones.’ And we were like, ‘Oh, yeah yeah yeah. Next milestone, next milestone!’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, but—,’ and we’re like, ‘No, it’ll be good!’

Before Harmonix, Randall was with Looking Glass Studios working on Thief and System Shock. (Darcy Hofmann for Blast)

And after a while, those guys started to trust us. When I said, ‘All right, trust me, next month you’ll see all this stuff,’ and then we would deliver, and then they’d be like, ‘Okay.’

JG: Was there a specific nuance that really stuck out that one of the shareholders made happen, and said, ‘No, this is how you’re going to do this, this is how this is going to look?’ Was there one particular thing that one of the shareholders kind of walked you through?

JR: No, I think it was more like helping us find our way through stuff. I think that just meeting with any of them, they could sort of help, like,’ Oh, actually, if you really want to capture the spirit of this particular Beatle, you should do this and this and this.’ Or sometimes they didn’t know the technical terms to be able to guide us to where we should go, but they would be able to say, ‘Oh, well…’ Like, our John model wasn’t that good for a while, because he was slightly stooped over a little bit, and talking like Yoko, she was like, ‘No, he was way more powerful-looking than that, he should look better than that.’ And we were like, ‘Okay, what is it, what does she mean by that?’ And we went back and looked at all the footage, and you watch John when he plays, and he’s just like (mimics John Lennon). Just totally owning 50,000 people. And it was like, ‘Oh, okay, I get it.’

So we basically just took his skeleton and bent him back, and made him always sort of look down his nose, and it was like, ‘Hey, it’s John.’ It was just stuff like that that they sort of pushed to capture that spirit. Paul sat with Chris Foster, and I think we had written a few things, and he was just like, ‘No, actually that’s not how it happened.’ I think Paul realized, ‘Oh, now I can finally clear the air on a lot of this stuff, or I can put down how I remember it.’

It’s weird, because that’s one guy out of four, and he remembers it that way. So we had to sort of talk to him, then basically I think what Chris did was have all of his facts straight from a bunch of different books, and when he walked in or when he talked with Paul, he could be like, ‘All right, well this guy reports that it was this way, and this guy reports that it was this way.’ And Paul would be like, ‘Oh, well maybe it was this way.’ It was a long time ago.

JG: You mentioned kind of being part of the Beatles catalog with this game. With all the previous music games, both of the major competitors, there are dozens of dozens of bands poured into the game, there are hundreds of songs now, and it’s a game. How do you feel about how now you have all the Beatles albums — and Beatles Rock Band? It’s got all the intimate details, and their outtakes and stuff. How do you feel about this game not being just a collection of songs, but actually part of Beatlemania?

JR: It’s amazing. For us to be a part of that is really like a dream come true. And I think that when we were showing it to the shareholders, they sort of realized, ‘Oh, this is the new Anthology.’ That’s what they were saying. And ‘This is the way that kids are going to be introduced to us now.’ And so, they were like, ‘Make sure this is right!’ And we were like, ‘Okay!’ So I think what we tried to do is really sort of make the game feel like it came through them. We wanted it to feel like the Beatles in-game. It hasn’t totally hit me yet, but I’m sure in a few years, I’ll look back at this time and think, ‘Whoa, that was really cool.’

JG: What do you think is the most epic part of the game? The one that’s really going to capture new fans, and make our moms scream and cry when they see it?

One of the challenges Harmonix faced was showing the Beatles shareholders their progress over months and months of building the game. They created milestones to show specific aspects of development.

JR: Oh, yeah. Well, I think there are a few dreamscapes in there that have really had an emotional impact on people. I think it depends on what your relationship is to the Beatles. For my mom, she was more into the early pop stuff, and so when she’s seen the stuff in the Sullivan show, she actually remembers watching that on TV, or seeing the Shea Stadium concert. She gets caught up in the sort of Beatlemania, fan aspect of it. But I’ve seen other people really respond to dreamscapes. ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ that one in particular is really moving. And I think that for me, the most moving one is either ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ which still makes me smile every time I play it — I’ll get like halfway through the song, and think ‘This is cool,’ and then something will happen on-screen, like the guys will look at me or the sun will come up or something, and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is awesome.’ The one that’s probably most epic is ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ just because that was our biggest one. That one took a long time, and you’re sort of going from one place to another, and all this stuff. Another one that, for me, is pretty moving, is the ‘Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows,’ that’s another that’s really trippy and has some good shots of George looking at you, and the drums are really awesome.

BL: Does the fact that you’re dealing with such an iconic band, and the fact that most people will be coming into it knowing not only the music, but the visuals, the way these guys acted, and some of the history, did that make your job easier, knowing that there would be some currency among the players, or did it make it more difficult because you had to conform to those expectations?

JR: I think it was basically like, ‘Oh, great, everyone’s going to know these songs already. That’s awesome.’ And I think that happened with the whole vocal harmony feature, where it’s like, people already know how to sing the main part, so if they want to reach and try to sing the harmony parts, they at least have that foundation there. So, there was that. But more than that, it was the challenge of like, ‘Okay, we now have to make four of the most recognizable people in the world, and make their 3-D avatars look good.’ And that’s incredibly daunting. And then with the dreamscapes, that was another one where people have had this music in their heads for their whole lives, and every time they hear this music, they get a certain image in their head of what this song looks like. And so, we were pressed with coming up with these, basically interactive music videos, that somehow meet or exceed the visuals that they have in their heads. Which was like, ‘I hope we don’t screw this up,’ you know?

BL: Was there every any consideration of going with a hyper-realistic look, or was it always sort of a toned-down, Rock Band, cartoony version?

JR: I think that we very early on realized that the closer you get to hyper-real, the closer you get to the Uncanny Valley, where it’s like the closer it gets to human, but is not, your brain is like, ‘Hey, that’s not a human!’ and instantly picks it out. So, we were all really concerned about that. We didn’t want these guys to be creepy. We wanted them to be cute and lovable and have all the charisma that the real guys do. If you watch these guys play live, there’s just so much joy that pours out of these guys, and they’re so clever. They always seemed like they had some sort of inside joke while they were playing, little smirks and things like that. So we really tried to go in and identify that stuff, and sort of put that into our characters. But I think if we had gone for a more realistic thing, it just would’ve come off creepy. You just can’t do it yet. Maybe at some point your brain will not care, but right now, it’s like—especially if there are still movies that are kind of creepy in that way when they try to make 3-D humans, trying to do it on a game console is really hard.

BL: Was there any consideration ever given to trying to cram a second guitar note chart onto the screen, or did you always know that you were going to try to compress them into one?

JR: Yeah, I think that early on, we sort of realized that doing our standard Rock Band thing of taking all the guitars and putting it on one track was going to be more fun, because then you’d have, you know, when you design a Rock Band “level,” when you’re looking at a song, you want to make sure that each player has enough note content to last the entire song. So, if there are these big, long pauses while you’re waiting for someone else to play something, then it gets kind of boring. So I think if we had two guitar tracks, then that’s probably what would happen. Each person would have a track that was kind of spotty. So I think we all just kind of quickly were like, ‘Yeah, just put it all on one track to make it fun to play all the way through.’

BL: Did you ever worry that maybe the Beatles, despite their popularity, weren’t the band best-suited for a game like this, because of their experimentation, the unusual instruments, the fact that they don’t really fit into the “rock god” paradigm?

JR: Well, they don’t shred, right? That was one thing that was just like, ‘Oh, well, there aren’t a million insane guitar solos,’ so just from a difficulty standpoint, in the beginning I was like ‘Well, how is this going to work?’ And then once we added vocal harmonies and were basically having people play an instrument and sing in harmony like the Beatles did, it’s really challenging. So I think for people who want a challenge out of this game, it’s like, ‘Hey, the Beatles could do it — can you do it?’ That sort of thing.

JG: What’s your favorite song on the list so far?

JR: It kind of changes, you know? I think I’m still psyched about “Sgt. Pepper,” because that’s my favorite Beatles song, going back to when I was a kid, and favorite album. But it depends on my mood. We definitely play the game around here a lot. When we were making the game, we’d play the game just to sort of blow off steam, which was great. I’d sort of go between, if I needed to chill out, I’d play ‘Here Comes the Sun,’ if I needed to blow off steam, I’d play ‘Helter Skelter’ or some of the early tracks that are pretty fast and fun, and we’d sort of clear our minds to go back and finish working. But I think probably ‘Sgt. Pepper.’

JG: On the question of the two major music games out there: Guitar Hero was a phenomenon that Harmonix brought into the world, really introduced everyone to. And for the last couple of years, Guitar Hero has still been — when people think of music games, the first thing they think of is Guitar Hero. With Rock Band, you really turned a corner, and really got people thinking about the multiplayer aspect of this. Do you think Beatles Rock Band finally kind of comes full circle for Harmonix, that now you’ve kind of taken back the throne of the music gaming world?

JR: I don’t know. I guess for me, I’m still surprised that there are other people making music games besides us. When I started, there was Harmonix, and then these Japanese companies, whose games didn’t really come over to the States. So, now I think that it’s a really interesting time, that there are all these people making music games. And I think for people that love music, it’s a fantastic time. As far as the throne, or the king or whatever, I don’t really have a comment on that. I’m just really amazingly psyched that the Beatles chose to work with us, and I’m so proud of my team for what they were able to accomplish. And I really hope people will love it when it comes out. I think it’s an amazing game, and I think pairing the music and story of the Beatles with our gameplay is — well, it’s really fun.

BL: Could you see yourself doing another band-centric game in the future, or would it just be all downhill from here?

JR: Oh, it’s all downhill. (jokes) I don’t know. I’m taking a vacation. (laughs) It would be cool to work with other bands if they were cool and creative and wanted to engage with us on a creative level. I’m kind of up for anything.

JG: Is there a band that’s not been in a Rock Band game that you’d really like to work with?

JR: I don’t know. I’m actually a big techno guy, so there are a bunch of bands or types of music that I’d like to see in our games again, but I already got to make a bunch of those games ten years ago, so I’m not complaining.

BL: How much more effort goes into prepping one track for this game, as compared to one track for Rock Band, where you’re not necessarily having to tailor the video to a specific band, and maybe you’re not having to deal with audio that’s from 45-year-old two-track sources? How much more effort goes into a single track of this game than would go into downloadable content for Rock Band 2?

JR: Right. Well, Rock Band is made in a pretty modular way, that allows you to—talking about offering stuff. Our venues are set up in a way that basically for any song, it’ll sort of look good in any venue. For the Beatles Rock Band, since we have this concept of dreamscapes, we wound up making a bunch of graphical assets that are really specific to that one song, which is just a mammoth undertaking. Also, we had never done that stuff before. You know, we’d never had guys walking through a field or anything like that. So, from that standpoint, that’s a huge production difference, custom-crafting all the graphics for each individual song.

BL: Does that limit the scope of what you’re looking to do with the DLC at all?

JR: Actually, no. What we did, which was tricky, was we made, for songs that are going to wind up in dreamscapes in DLC, there’s actually stuff that’s on the disk that you haven’t seen yet. So when new DLC songs come out, that’ll help conserve new custom assets for that. And then some stuff is going to be, almost doing a mash-up of the stuff that you’ve seen before. So you might revisit certain dreamscapes that have been tweaked out or changed in different ways. We tried to come up with a modular system that would work for these dreamscape elements as well. If there were time, it would be cool to like, for every single song, go really deep and make it totally custom for every DLC song. But I think the level of customization that you’ll see is actually really good.

BL: Are you looking at making the whole catalogue available eventually, or is that a little ambitious?

JR: Yeah, it’s a little ambitious. I think right now we’ve got three albums that we’ve announced, plus the “All You Need is Love” single. It would be cool to keep going.

John M. Guilfoil and Marc Normandin of the Blast staff and Blast correspondents Steve Bagley and Darcy Hofmann contributed to this report.

NFS Shift represents a conscious effort on EA’s part to cater to hardcore fans of the sim-based racing genre. Which doesn’t mean that the mega-developer/publisher has decided to neglect the arcade junkies who used to compose the franchise’s core audience—EA’s also putting out Need for Speed: Nitro for Wii later this year, with Need for Speed: World Online to follow. EA’s Andrew Meakin represented this new direction for the series to me as an initiative akin to the foundation of EA Sports, a large umbrella under which gamers of all tastes and persuasions have been invited to shelter.

As Andrew explained, “The idea behind the game is all about the true driver’s experience—it’s all about the g-forces, it’s about the crashes, it’s about the cockpit, it’s about being the driver. When you are at speed, you feel the speed. When you crash, you feel the concussion.”

My driving naiveté prevents me from distinguishing between true and false driver’s experiences, and I can’t tell you whether the cars handled like they should (though the fact that I was more or less able to handle them after a brief period of smashing into every available obstacle bodes well). However, I can report that Andrew wasn’t kidding about feeling the concussion. Granted, I was standing mere inches away from a very large screen, so your mileage, as they say, may vary. But EA has done an excellent job at depicting a crash as something very much to be avoided—and, perhaps, to be secretly and guiltily enjoyed.

The psychological impact of the faux-physical impact begins with the level of detail presented on-screen. Andrew assured me that in the unlikely event that I ever do find myself steering one of the game’s 67 playable vehicles (including the ’09 BMW M3 GT2 featured on the cover) in real life, I’d recognize every curve of the cockpit and light on the dashboard, since every detail has been painstakingly modeled in-game. Swiveling the joystick while playing from the in-car view doesn’t just move some disembodied camera; it shifts the driver’s head and perspective. Side and rear-view mirrors perform the functions for which they were intended, and various readouts alert the player to overheating engines and other motor-vehicle minutia.

When your inherent lack of coordination conquers these assorted aids (and the color-coded guide paths superimposed on the road’s surface) and you hurtle head-on into a thoughtfully placed barrier, another set of visual effects takes over. The screen assumes a reddish tinge, followed by a black-and-white vista drained of all color, and a blurry haze and careening camera make you want to rub your neck and blink a few times in sympathy.

The attention to detail apparent in the visuals also extends outside of the vehicles. Each course has been meticulously researched and rendered. Again, I can’t tell you how well they resemble their real-world counterparts, but they sure are pretty. Windmills turn, balloons float by, barely glimpsed spectators snap pictures, and very convincing clouds of dust accompany the squeal of tires. Velocity changes aren’t only reflected on the speedometer—the motion blur and tunnel vision employed to suggest the effect of g-forces make glancing at your instruments only partially necessary.

As you drive through NFS Shift’s scenic environments, regardless of mode, race type, or success level, the game will constantly update your driver profile in response to your tendencies and achievements. The points you earn will allow you to fan the flames of your car fetish with abandon, but the game also classifies your style as “precision” or “aggression,” depending on how you drive. Cutting corners cleanly is considered precise, while ramming opponents and knocking them off the track will result in your being labeled an aggressive driver. Fortunately, the game won’t force you to enroll in a remedial driving program if its sorting hat places you in the racing equivalent of Slytherin; these classifications are made purely for online matchmaking purposes, so you can always race how you want, and against whom you want. Even when you’re racing offline, your adversaries will show some personality; 20 different driver personalities have been included as an alternative to rubberband AI and a pack of opponents racing in unison.

Of course, every aspect of every car can be micromanaged, but EA has also included more simplistic sliders for the less seasoned automobilistas among us. In addition, the devs have inserted the option to take a test drive at the start of your experience, during which the game’s AI will determine, Left-4-Dead-director style, exactly how far it can push you before you break. Nice to know that EA’s still looking out for those of us who wouldn’t know a carburetor from a camshaft.

Be sure to check out the latest trailer and screens. Need for Speed Shift will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, PC, and a smartphone near you on September 15.

Blast editor John Guilfoil: Well, we’ve talked to the audio guys already, and the project lead on the game. You had to kind of take the audio and the concept and all the orders from the shareholders and crew and make it look good. What was part of the challenge of doing that?

Dare Matheson: What wasn’t part of the challenge of doing that? Obviously, it’s like you’re taking some of the most iconic popular music, and everybody who likes the Beatles, and who’s listened to the Beatles, has their own sort of connection with it. People listen to the lyrics, and have their own interpretations and visualizations that go along with it.

It’s sort of like, with the historical venues, that’s sort of one thing, and that’s really tied up in our interpretation of the characters and the settings. Maybe I’ll just speak to that really quickly and then go to the dreamscapes, because I think that’s really where things get crazy, and that’s really where the biggest challenge for us in the game was. So, with the characters, we really wanted to get something that felt—you know, there’s a whole range of ways that the band has been depicted in terms of art. Everybody’s familiar with their likenesses and their personalities, and the emotions that they show on their face, so we really wanted to get the emotional side across. They’ve been depicted in, for example, the Yellow Submarine movie, which is a great reductive approach to them that could represent the furthest extreme of what we could’ve done. And we like that style, we like that look. But it felt like that would be too limited for the majority of the experience, for a total experience of the band in this medium. So we kind of looked at that possibility.

What we wanted to do was get something that immediately was familiar as the Beatles, had all of their unique identity and personality that could show through for the four guys, that people could pick up on and really connect with, and have it be a bit stylized. Because on the one extreme would be going too cartoony, and you wouldn’t get enough of the identity and richness of connection — you’ve seen photos and footage and all that, so it could be sort of like you go too far in that direction. The other danger would be to go sort of too realistic, and you know how it is in games where it’s like, you see something where somebody’s trying to make a real person, and it just looks creepy, and it just looks kind of scary and kind of gross, so we wanted to avoid that.

The dreamscapes Matheson helped create add to the Beatles experience in the game.

So that was the key, and that’s the thing that stands true whether you’re talking about the historical venues or the dreamscapes. With the historical venues, we really just looked at a lot of the archival footage, and we really tried to get a sense of the atmosphere, and that’s the thing that we went for, we went for the atmosphere and tried to find, for each one of the five historical venues, that each one of them had a distinctive atmosphere from each other, and it so happened that we did. In some cases, we exaggerated a little bit.

For example, Budokan was — you know, typically in these games we go from a smaller venue setting to a bigger one, showing a sort of career arc there. And in this case, Budokan was a smaller place than Shea Stadium, and Budokan happened afterwards. So in the case of Budokan, we didn’t want it to feel like a letdown, so we exaggerated the verticality of Budokan, and really had it feel like this sort of compressed version of a giant arena. And the stage in Budokan is — I think the real stage was something like 12 or 15 feet, really tall, just this giant blue plan box — so we even exaggerated that a little bit further, and just made everything feel like it was going ‘up.’

From the beginning, with the psychedelic dreamscapes, when we showed an early prototype of a dreamscape — it wasn’t even a prototype, it was just a storyboard, an animatic — to Giles Martin, it was this idea that the band would depart from Abbey Road, and they would change into more psychedelic outfits, and they’d be in a magical land. And Giles was like, ‘Okay, that’s cool. Looks good. I just want to make sure that you guys don’t hold back.’ And he’s like, ‘Make sure this is as psychedelic as you can make it.’ Because, going to a magical land — I think the land in our animatic looked a little bit like the Yellow Submarine movie, and he basically said, ‘Okay, that was psychedelic in the sixties, but what’s psychedelic now? You guys have to bridge the gap, because something that is truly psychedelic is something that is a new experience.’

You're taking some of the most iconic popular music, and everybody who likes the Beatles, and who’s listened to the Beatles, has their own sort of connection with it, Matheson said. (Darcy Hoffman for Blast)

So, that was our big call for ourselves, that in the dreamscapes, and in the style of the game generally, we wanted to find something that — you know, the Beatles’ music, the most amazing music, happened forty years ago. So, we’re trying to find something that will feel authentic and connect clearly and well with that time, for people now, so that people who were there then and saw the Beatles will immediately connect with it, and yet people who have never heard of the Beatles, who see this game and will be able to experience them for the first time, it will feel connective for them, as well.

Blast’s Ben Lindbergh: How much of a help or hindrance was it that the Beatles have this legacy of visual creativity themselves? We didn’t get to see your dreamscape for “I Am the Walrus,” but I’ve read that it sort of mimics the Magical Mystery Tour ethos that they created. Is that something that made you feel constrained by what they had done in that area already, or did that free you to be even more creative?

DM: No, it was awesome. First of all, they set the bar high, and so there’s a ton of rich material there. There’s all the album art, there’s their movies, their crazy clothes, their avant garde look, the music itself. It’s like they shot for the skies, so there’s a ton of rich material to draw from, for one thing. For the second thing, they — Apple Corps, and the shareholders themselves and everybody we worked with — were very encouraging of us to not hold back. So, basically, as opposed to what you might think could happen with sort of a ‘brand’ that is from that far away of an era, there’s a chance that it could have become rigid, and only presented to the world in a certain way that’s comfortable for them. But no, they totally wanted—once we gained their trust, once they saw that we had people that could interpret the Beatles, and they were comfortable with that—they really encouraged us to go nuts. You know, they told us what they thought, we had weekly calls with them, and we worked through everything together, but they were very encouraging of that. So, again, on another level, it was not constraining. And I thought there was a third thing, but, there’s only two.

JG: Building the characters themselves, the four guys on the stages, were there specific things that the shareholders would insist on, or were there things that you really wanted to make sure you captured, like the way someone stood, or the way someone strummed the guitar, or the way Ringo banged the drums? Were there certain things about the Beatles, when building the characters, that you were encouraged not to miss?

DM: Well, first of all, we absolutely set that challenge for ourselves. We knew that we wanted to make the characters look, visually, a little bit reductive — you know, they don’t have skin pores, and we sort of buffed out certain areas of detail to try to find the distilled version of Paul McCartney’s face. But we really wanted the animation to feel very much like them. So we really tried to nail the movements and the little nuances. We tried to pick up everything little nuance. Generally, peoples’ faces are much more expressive than you find in videogames, and much more nuanced. And we tried to get that. Somebody told me recently — maybe it was a cover band or something — got a hold of one of the demos and was like, ‘Oh, this will be the acid test for this game — did they pick up on Paul’s crazy, weird, extra eyebrow motion on one side? They got it, they got it!’ We concentrated on Paul’s eyebrow for like a week straight.

One of Matheson's challenges was capturing the essense of The Beatles without crafting creepy, hyper-realistic computer people.

But in answer to your question, we had our own bar set very high. And we actually got feedback directly from the shareholders. Most intensely, actually, from Olivia and Yoko. I think Paul and Ringo gave us feedback, but they were kind of like, ‘Yeah, I look awesome in that!’ I think Yoko and Olivia have a legacy to maintain that goes beyond their own selves, so we got a lot of direct feedback from both of them, and it was super-helpful, incredibly useful.

A few of us went out to meet with Olivia in Friar Park out in England, and we brought the George model that we had at that point. And she opened up her private photo albums and showed us a bunch of pictures of George. And we earmarked some, and she had her assistant scan it and send it to us. And Yoko visited here, visited the office, and we looked at the game together. And she gave us a lot of detailed feedback on, specifically, ‘Well, there’s something going on here, there’s a way that John is nodding his head that he just doesn’t do that, he wouldn’t do that.’

So somewhere along the way, we may have added in a little of our own thing, or a motion capture actor added in something extra, and that was something that Yoko didn’t find to be authentic, so we stripped that out. We had pages of notes. She was here for about four hours, and we had pages and pages of notes, and we just responded to that feedback. Super, super helpful.

JG: What was it like being that hands-on with the band and the shareholders? Usually you’re dealing with dozens of bands, and you’re never really putting that much detail into what specific members of bands look like, like in Rock Band or Rock Band 2. What was it like having this level of detail, focusing on this one particular band?

DM: For me, it was great. I love it. I mean, I love Rock Band, and it’s sort of a platform, and that’s its purpose. But because of that, you’re automatically, things get more sort of dispersed. So it’s great for me. This game has been my favorite version of this type of game to work on, because the music — there’s something already that roots it and makes it consistent, and that is that it’s based on a real band that had an artistic legacy. And it was such an artistic legacy that, like with your question, it basically, we had the world to go after with this one.

Blast got to play Beatles Rock Band at the Harmonix Studios in Cambridge (Darcy Hofmann for Blast)

BL: Do you feel that some of the customization options that were present in Rock Band or Rock Band 2, do you think that’s something that will be missed? As a fan, I don’t think it would be for me, but if there are players who take a lot of pleasure in dressing up their characters, or making them personalized, putting their stamp on them somehow, do you feel like that’s something that will be lacking here?

DM: Well, I think that the idea of a Beatles dress-up shop would be fun for some people, because obviously they had this very exciting, avant-garde fashion sense. But really, the choices that we made in terms of the design, and what we exposed to the player, we tried to keep everything to the core experience of the Beatles. And I think that that might be a fun novelty, but I don’t think that it would add to the game, and in fact, it kind of would subtract from it. And there are other places that we had to make concessions like that, but I think that with every choice we made, we tried to always go towards advancing this very core, Beatles-centric experience.

BL: Do you feel that in the in-studio portions of the game, does the fact that the band was, at least by modern standards, pretty restrained in terms of their movements and actions on stage — obviously with the dreamscapes, you can kind of get away with it, but with those actual segments in a live setting, was there less for you to focus, less going on on the screen, less action?

DM: Well, the Beatles had a ton of energy on stage. I mean, they weren’t kicking over props or spewing fire or anything, but they had a tremendous amount of live energy. But yeah, in the studio, the great thing about the studio is, so, right, they’re not performing for an audience, they’re not performing for the camera, they’re performing for the audio track. In the studio parts, every time they’re in the studio, and you see that in the game, the song ends up expanding out into a visual dreamscape. So it’s actually really cool, and this is something that we haven’t seen in these games before, where it’s a much more intimate feeling. So rather than having it be about, ‘I’m performing to a million people,’ or whatever, it’s more about, you really do feel like you’re sitting there watching John Lennon close his eyes and rock his head back and just sing into the microphone, and you get this much more emotional thing that just sort of bravado and antics. Which is fine, too, but this is something a little bit nice to have in a Beatles game.

BL: How much research did you do even before you put anything on paper?

DM: Well, I’ve been researching this band since I was six years old. As a team, we did a ton of research, and in addition to other planning meetings and design meetings, we had, a couple times a week, we would spend an hour or two together. We spent, probably, several hours a week, just as a whole team, watching the Anthology, watching the movies, watching whatever we could get our hands on that would expand our knowledge. We were sending around emails with links to anything we could find. It was crucial. On the team, it goes from people who have been mega-Beatles fans since they were born because of their parents’ record collections, to people who, it’s newer for them and they’re learning a lot about it. But it’s crucial for everybody to be experts, Beatles experts, so that’s what we went for.

BL: Have you gotten a chance to see in person any of Paul’s recent concerts, where he had the footage playing behind him? Because for me, certainly, that would be pretty awesome.

DM: Yeah, I did, actually. It was cool, yeah. It was great. I saw him at Fenway Park a couple weeks ago, and yeah, he had two songs where he played footage from the game. One song he had dreamscape footage, and another one, he used some of the Passion Pictures intro footage. Yeah, it was great. He talked about the game on stage, and it was really, really cool.

John M. Guilfoil and Marc Normandin of the Blast staff and Blast correspondents Steve Bagley and Darcy Hofmann contributed to this report.

We talked to Eric about crossing Abbey Road, the fleeting nature of fame and the tyranny of two-track recordings.

Blast’s Ben Lindbergh: When you sat down to select the songs initially — I don’t know exactly who was involved in that — how much weight was assigned to the popularity of the song of the song or the success of the song, versus how much fun you thought it would be to play, or how easy it would be to represent with the notes?

Eric Brosius: We definitely considered both of those things, like we always do. Actually, that’s pretty much what we do in all of Rock Band, there’s always this balance between playability and how popular it is, and some songs are in there for different reasons. But yeah, we wanted to find—pretty much all the Beatles songs are famous, outside of just a few. They’re one of the rare bands where like 80 percent of the catalog is completely famous, and 20 percent is lesser known. So, it was pretty easy to find songs that we thought everyone would just love playing, but that were also giant hits.

But we definitely looked at that, for sure. We also looked out for — you know, we wanted to grab songs from their entire career. From the beginning, and have roughly an equal number of songs from the different periods, just to make sure we hit all of their major albums and all of the time periods, and stuff like that. So it was just balancing those things together. There were some tricky things in the early songs, because some early songs were maybe harder to get, just because of the limited number of tracks that they had. So, we were always balancing that, and then we were talking to Giles Martin, who did all the actual mixing for us, because he knew the track layouts for every single song they’ve ever done, and he would always go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s problematic because of this, but this one I think we could do instead, because there’s some an extra tape of other stuff on here that we can use to make the song work.’

BL: So he had some sort of software that would be able to pick out the instruments individually when there was only a two-track recording, and then separate them somehow?

Harmonix Music Systems audio lead Eric Brosius makes his living playing with the soundtrack to your life, and he’s never had more fun than with Beatles Rock Band. (Darcy Hofmann for Blast)

EB: Yeah. And sometimes with a two-track recording, it also depends on even what was on the tracks, because some things are easier to separate, and some things are not, just depending on how it was mixed. If it’s a two-track recording, and they had some things panned to one side, that’s easy to separate from stuff that’s in the middle or on the other side. If it was a two-track recording where the whole thing was a stereo wash right down the center, that makes it a lot harder. So he kind of knew, not just the number of tracks of each song, but kind of where things were, and whether we would have an easier time separating them. Because yes, you can separate stuff, but it’s not a perfect solution. Some songs are kind of easy to get nice, clean separation, and some songs are harder, so we used all of that knowledge together.

BL: So then he would do all the work in Abbey Road, with some assistants, and then someone would come over here with a briefcase chained to his arm?

Sometimes with a two-track recording, it also depends on even what was on the tracks, because some things are easier to separate, and some things are not

EB: Well, he knew all about the Beatles stuff and mixing, so he and his guy, Paul Hicks, were in charge of actually recreating the mixes. Because the first step is just to like bring up the tapes, transfer them to digital, and then recreate the mix. Because what’s on the raw tape doesn’t usually sound like the raw mix in music. So, they spent a lot of time doing that, just making sure it came out, and they can recreate all the effects if there weren’t effects. Because sometimes effects weren’t printed to tape, right, they were this old gear, so they spent a lot of time doing that. And then we would usually fly over there and spend like five days there when we were going to pick up a batch of songs, and where they would bring up the mixes they had, and we would do some further editing, deciding which parts are going to be our playable guitar part, and which parts are not.

And then while we were at the studio, we’d bounce out the actual stems we needed for the game, and then we’d encode them into the final version that the game ships with right there, which was encrypted and high-security and all that kind of stuff. So we did everything there, and then we just brought the finished game assets back with us, because they were pretty keen on leaving all the original assets at Abbey Road, because they’re somewhat protective, as they should be.

BL: Was the fact that the remasters were being developed simultaneously, was there any work that was able to be saved or shared there, or was it just two separate processes?

EB: It was pretty much two separate processes, because on things that we’re doing, we’re going back to the multi-tracks. I’m not sure what was done in the mastering process, but usually remasterings are just, you go back to the two-track mixes, and then you use modern mastering techniques. So it was kind of separate, what they were doing was totally separate. I mean, it’s nice that they’re going to release them at the same time, which kind of shows how enthusiastic Apple and the Beatles are, which is cool, but it was really two separate processes.

Blast editor John Guilfoil: Can you kind of run our readers through the process of taking a song and putting it into Rock Band?

EB: Sure. So, for old songs like this, a lot of them are stored on magnetic tape. So the first thing to do is to transfer them to a digital format like Pro Tools, which is the standard that everyone uses. So you digitize all the tracks, and then the next step would be to take those and remix the song so it sounds like the original. Once the song is sounding good, with all the effects and levels balanced, then we bounce out stems, according to our specific needs, the ones we need in the game. Because we have one guitar player in the game, so if there are several guitars playing, at every given moment through the song, we decide which one is going to be the part you’re going to play. And that ends up being a composite of, maybe a little of John’s guitar here, maybe a little of George’s here, and that kind of thing.

And we bounce out the stems that we actually need for the game, then we basically encrypt them, interleave them into a single file that our game reads. So we have that, and that’s the audio part of it, it’s fairly straightforward. And then we have a team of people here that kind of transcribe all the music, putting down all the gems that you see, laying down all the tracks and putting the lyrics in. And that’s basically kind of like transcription using MIDI files, basically.

BL: So for someone who grew up listening to the ’80s pressings of the CDs, or compressed .mp3 versions of the songs and hasn’t heard the remasters yet, would this be the cleanest and the best they’ve ever heard the Beatles, even though it’s meant for playing as well as listening, and so there are compromises that have to be made there?

Blast spent the day at Harmonix learning about the game and its development. (Darcy Hofmann for Blast)

EB: I think so. And the thing that’s going to — yes, because part of the thing with Rock Band is, we’ll sometimes make some changes to the mixes. Sometimes, if there was a guitar part that was pretty buried in the original mix, but we want that to be the playable one, sometimes we’ll boost it a little bit so you can hear it more, because you want to hear the notes that you’re actually playing. So we always try to walk this line between — we don’t want to change history or anything like that, but with Giles’ approval, we would sometimes alter things. You know, ‘Let’s bring that up a little bit, because that’s going to be the playable part.’ So there are some things like that.

And the other really cool thing about the game is that, because most of our game is kind of featured around live stuff, most of the songs, we don’t have fadeouts in them, usually. And many times they went back to the way they actually played it in the studio, that usually had a proper ending. Because they’ll usually do the fade-out later, right in the mix. So in our game, a lot of times you get to hear the proper endings, which is really cool. So it’s like a little bit of extra material in most songs. And probably the biggest one is in ‘Helter Skelter,’ we don’t do the big fade back in, so you get to hear the way they played it through, which is pretty cool, and I think Beatles fanatics will love that stuff.

BL: Did you sit down initially and say, ‘We know we’re going to have forty-five songs,’ and then get a list of the catalog and cross things out, or did you start with a blank page, and say, ‘We have to have this one, and we have to have that one?’

EB: Well, we knew that we were going to have roughly forty to fifty songs, but we didn’t know exactly until the whole deal was worked out. So basically, everyone wrote down sixty or seventy of their favorite songs, and it was a bunch of the higher-ups at Harmonix, and the people at Apple, and Giles, and everyone, and we all kind of got together and came up with about forty-five, and then once in a while Giles would say, ‘Oh, I know this one can’t work, because this was actually just recorded on one track,’ and we would just kind of work it out.

And then there would be a little bit of back-and-forth, of course, about, ‘Let’s make sure that we have a good balance of Paul and John songs, so that we don’t just by accident have too many John songs and too many Paul songs,’ and ‘Make sure that we include the important George songs,’ and all this balancing. Same thing we do when we select songs for Rock Band. You balance out a bunch of things—we want to have songs from different decades, different styles, different things, so the same kind of process went through. And then we presented what we thought was our song list to the shareholders, who were Yoko and Paul and Ringo and Olivia Harrison, and they would give us their two cents on it, and we would make some adjustments. The song list was fairly easy to do.

BL: So they weren’t dictating anything, like ‘This song has to be in there, this one’s off-limits.’

EB: No. And the good thing is that Giles has worked with them before. He did the “Love” show, which is the big Cirque du Soleil thing in Las Vegas, he’s already kind of gone through this process with them, and he knows them very well, and they trust him. So that was one of the best things. Because we could kind of make all of our musical decisions, and if we got them blessed by Giles, then we were pretty confident that he could get them blessed by the important people. So, it made things very smooth.

Three-part vocal harmony is part of what makes Beatles Rock Band different from all other music games

BL: Were there any specific challenges that you faced as a result of the Beatles’ experimentation in the studio, or using somewhat exotic instruments that might not conform to the four-instrument mold? I know you have songs like ‘Because’ or ‘She’s Leaving Home’ coming out soon—how do you face those challenges, or how do you conform to this set-up?

EB: Well, in some songs—in the Beatles game, one of the cool things is we’re doing the harmonies, so that’s a big thing, because there’s so much importance on that. On other things where they had, maybe not a prominent guitar, but they had different instruments, we would probably swap them around, which we do in Rock Band once in a while. Like in, I think in ‘Strawberry Fields,’ you might end up playing the string parts a little bit on the guitar. And in a song like ‘Because,’ which has no drums, right, that would be a song where the drummer just kind of sits out and relaxes for a while. We’re not going to add anything to it, because we don’t want to change the song.

BL: I know you wanted to span the whole career and represent each part accurately—was there any thought that maybe the early Beatles or the late Beatles would appeal or connect to the modern audience more? Your first three downloadable albums coming out are from the middle-to-late period—is there any consideration given to emphasizing that period?

EB: We didn’t really think about that too much. I think that we wanted to—different fans have their different favorites, of course. So we really just wanted to tell the whole story of their career, so we wanted to just do that. As far as the downloads go, we know that technically we have an easier time with the later albums, because they tend to be cleaner, on four-track, where it’s easier, and harder times on the earlier albums. So it would be difficult to do Please Please Me as a full album, because while we could probably do a lot of the songs, it might be difficult, there might be some there that we’re just like, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to get the separation.’

But that being said, if we choose to do more albums, I’m sure we’ll do some early ones too, because we want to do as much as we can. It just also happened that I think the first three albums that we picked are three of the pretty big, iconic ones—Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper’s. And we were going back and forth between Rubber Soul and Revolver, because we wanted something from that period, but we were debating back and forth.

BL: Would most of the team working on the game have described themselves as Beatles fans coming into it, or just sort of passionate music fans who came to appreciate the Beatles more during the process?

EB: Well, everyone’s a passionate music fan. I don’t think we had everyone was a passionate Beatles fan — certainly a fan in some ways — but we have a few people who were just obsessive. And so we set those guys on all the research. They’re the ones who spent hours poring over things, and making sure that the right person was playing the right guitar part, and they would look up, ‘Okay, is John playing this lick, or is George playing this lick?’ And they would try to figure it out to make sure the animations looked right, because we can kind of control that. So we had at least a half a dozen Beatles fanatics, which was really good.

John M. Guilfoil and Marc Normandin of the Blast staff and Blast correspondents Steve Bagley and Darcy Hofmann contributed to this report.

We may have learned to overlook the inherent absurdity of these over-the-top troopers, but developer Vicious Cycle still views their adventures as fertile territory for satire. Enter Matt Hazard, an 8-bit 80s relic who’s fallen on hard times since his brand became diluted with kart racers and non-violent  water-gun shooters in the 21^st century. Hazard signed a lifetime contract with “Marathon Software” at the height of his popularity, but now that the has-been hero no longer stars in popular titles, he represents something of a liability for the company.

The only way to void the contract is to kill Hazard in-game, and evil CEO Wallace “Wally” Wellesley (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris), who remains scarred from his childhood inability to beat Hazard’s 2D side-scrollers, sets out to do just that. He lures Hazard with the prospect of a next-gen outing, only to attempt to kill him at the end of the first level and install a dim-witted narcissist named “Sting Sniperscope” in his place. Hazard’s having none of it, and with the help of a renegade programmer, he’ll fight his way through an array of environments from his previous games, seeking to make Wellesley pay for his treachery.

I’ve devoted this much time to the game’s backstory because it deserves to be commended. Vicious Cycle formulated a fantastic premise for a game, and developed the idea to the fullest extent possible. This is no flimsy scenario fabricated merely as an excuse to shoot bad guys; it’s a fleshed-out alternate reality. By the time the credits roll, you’ll come close to believing that you’ve been aware of Matt Hazard’s exploits not only for the 6-8 hours it takes to complete Eat Lead, but throughout your entire experience as a gamer. This curious effect stems from the fact that the game’s levels and cutscenes are peppered with references, both verbal and visual, to Hazard’s earlier outings, most of them inspired by easily identifiable games you know and love.

Eat Lead seizes every possible opportunity for humor; a litany of memorable moments, coupled with an impressive attention to detail, combine to form a complete comedic package. An intentionally bland rock soundtrack evokes memories of the game’s generic forebears, transitioning to themed motifs at suitable junctures. The jokes can come from anywhere: they’re buried within the menu screen (one message actually defines the word “tip,” rather than providing one), the “objectives” text that scrolls across the screen at the beginning of levels, and the text on the bulletin boards within the levels themselves. The game lampoons long elevator rides designed to hide loading points, exploding barrels, text-heavy RPG’s, and a number of other gaming staples. One sequence forces you to stand at a sniper rifle emplacement reminiscent of the Silent Scope arcade game, rather than toting around the portable version

Throughout the game, you’ll encounter a dizzying array of characters, ostensibly drawn from the extensive Matt Hazard archives. The levels themselves are fairly unexceptional carbon copies of the warehouses, factories, restaurants, and ships you’ve fought through a hundred times before, albeit with some nods to particular games and subject matter. Populate those levels with hooded Russian troopers, cowboys, zombies, space marines, and pixellated, paper-thin pseudo-Nazis straight out of Wolfenstein 3D, however, and you have something special. Fighting zombies and Russians simultaneously (on a tennis court, no less) is an experience you’ll remember for some time. Each enemy model spawns in a unique manner; for example, the cowboys push their way through saloon doors which materialize in mid-air. Each class of adversaries wields its own type of weaponry, from the standard to the futuristic and exotic. You can pick up and use anything they drop, which makes for a fair fight under any circumstances; ammunition can be scarce, so you’ll find yourself switching weapons often. You’ll also encounter several memorable leading characters from Hazard’s past, including a wizard with Shatner-esque diction, a Mario look-alike, and best of all, the “Master Chef,” who bears a striking resemblance to a certain cybernetically enhanced supersoldier.

I expected the jokes to dry up as the game wore on, but Matt Hazard’s brand of humor proves surprisingly sustainable, most likely thanks to the award-winning writing of in-house scribe Dave Ellis. Publisher D3’s promotional materials trumpet Ellis’ influence over the finished product, eliciting a warm glow deep within my English major’s heart. In addition to Harris, D3 enlisted Will Arnett (who voices Hazard) to deliver his lines, exhibiting a laudable commitment to storytelling, an art often neglected in the “shooter” genre.

You’ve probably sensed that there’s a “but” on its way; it’ll be pulling into this station presently. Ellis is quoted in D3’s reviewer packet as saying the following:

“We set out to make a solid shooter first and foremost. If you don’t make the game fun and competitive in a gameplay sense, nobody will play long enough to experience the story.”

I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care.

I’ve adopted consoles of all shapes and sizes as my own, and like any proud parent, I wish all my charges nothing but success (even when they start wearing faceplates and embracing alternative high-definition formats). When I look at them, I don’t see colors or corporate logos; I see beautiful hunks of plastic and circuitry, all of which I cherish to an equal degree (or maybe, like some parents, I merely pretend to in public, on the rare occasions when I find myself there). When one console goes through an awkward phase, I lavish my attentions on another. I realize that this isn’t an option for everyone, especially in an economy where consoles may soon become more valuable as doorstops (after all, doorstops work for free), but if you can raise the cash, you’ll recoup the initial investment during the time you won’t be spending defending your purchase on message boards.

I won’t venture an opinion on whether Killzone 2 is a “Halo-killer”-the gaming landscape is big enough for both franchises to coexist peacefully. However, I won’t hesitate to report that it’s worth every penny of the hard-earned $60 you’ll be asked to exchange for the privilege of playing it. If you harbor a fondness for well-designed games featuring disembodied arms clasping high-powered weaponry, you’ll enjoy this one immensely.

If you haven’t played the original Killzone, be prepared not to follow its sequel’s plot (I’m speaking from experience here). Shortly after selecting “New Campaign,” you’ll find yourself invading the planet of Helghan, the homeworld of the (presumably) alien Helghast race, as part of a massive Interplanetary Strategic Alliance taskforce. Your motivations for doing so are only vaguely alluded to, but all indications are that the Helghast had it coming. Any qualms you might feel about attempting to, uh…finish the fight in this manner are quickly quelled by their standard issue, villain-class British accents, fascist ideology, striking resemblance to RotJ-era Anakin Skywalker, and frequent attempts to kill you and the rest of your squad. Think The Forever War, without the moral ambiguity (or, if you’d rather spend less time imagining, and more time playing, just think “Starship Troopers”).

It’s a shame that developer Guerrilla Games didn’t demonstrate the same ingenuity in crafting a narrative that it did in honing its product’s gameplay and technical underpinnings, but the cookie-cutter sci-fi plot doesn’t detract from the action, and you won’t have much time to dwell on the lost opportunity once the bullets start flying. Just don’t expect to get to know your enemy before you mow him down.

You’ll spend most of the game fighting to occupy the decimated Helghast capital, Pyrrhus (based on the name, take a wild guess at what sort of victory the successful completion of your mission would represent), an urban center composed of labyrinthine shanty towns, interspersed with imposing, monumental edifices that only a Speer could love. Killzone 2’s level design might be its crowning achievement. Throughout the first half of the game, you’ll be escorting a sluggish convoy through the winding streets of Pyrrhus, which might sound like the antithesis of an action-packed assignment. But the vulnerable column’s reliance on your efforts provides a coherent rationale for all your objectives, and ensures a focus on the collaborative aspects of combat. Though Killzone 2 presents only a moderate challenge on the “Trooper” difficulty level, its inspired level design imparts a genuine sense of accomplishment to be savored after gaining each piece of ground, as well as a palpable sense of fighting on unfamiliar territory against an entrenched foe. On multiple occasions, you’ll spend an entire level taking a roundabout route to a fiercely defended position that was visible from your starting point; often, these extended sequences are followed by exhilarating breakthroughs, when the terrain grows more open and the firefights increase in intensity.

Did you like GTA III? If so, chances are you’ve enjoyed each subsequent entry in the celebrated Grand Theft Auto franchise, up to and including GTA IV. And if you liked GTA IV, boy, does Rockstar ever have the game for you: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned!

I chose not to do that, because it wouldn’t have made for a very interesting read (not to mention the fact that it wouldn’t have been published). But it might have conveyed the necessary information, regardless. The GTA brand has become synonymous with liberating, open-world gameplay, compelling narratives, and mature themes. The Lost and Damned is no exception. If you played GTA IV (and you’ll have to have purchased it in order to play TLAD), you’ll find plenty here to make a return trip to Liberty City worthwhile.

The Xbox-exclusive TLAD provides significantly more “C” than your average DLC; in fact, Rockstar prefers to call it a DLE (downloadable episode), in recognition of its status as an independent product which stands on its own merits. While this semantic distinction is justified, raising your expectations to too lofty a level might lead to disappointment. At least half the fun of a major GTA release stems from the process of discovering an immersive new metropolis; if you haven’t paid a visit to Liberty City since last summer, you’ll enjoy re-familiarizing yourself with its crime-ridden streets, but you won’t experience the same thrill of discovery that you did while first learning its layout. That certain segment of the GTA-playing population which delights only in causing mayhem, and rarely deigns to participate in any activity as structured as an actual story mission, might find relatively little to appeal to it here, aside from an assortment of new vehicles, weapons, and multiplayer modes.

Of course, faulting TLAD for not being GTA V would be an unfair criticism. Rockstar built an incredible sandbox last time around, and it’s only right that they (and we) should get to play in it a while longer before moving on (a second downloadable episode is on its way). By the standards of prior downloadable efforts, TLAD is truly massive, tipping the scales at 1.78 GB of goodness, and very little of that space is wasted.

As befits a fresh entry in the GTA canon, TLAD features an original protagonist, complete with his own cares, concerns, and surrounding cast of characters. His name is Johnny Klebitz, and you’ll get to know him quite well over the course of the game’s 8-10 hour campaign (your mileage-literally-may vary). Klebitz, voiced by Timothy Olyphant sound-alike Scott Hill, made cameos during two of GTA IV’s most memorable missions (“Blow Your Cover” and “Museum Piece”), but in TLAD, he steps out of Niko Bellic’s shadow and grabs the spotlight for himself. Klebitz is the franchise’s first Jewish leading man, though his religion plays no role in the story. He’s extremely patriotic, eschewing foreign-made vehicles in favor of domestically-manufactured rides. Most importantly, he’s a member of “The Lost MC,” a motorcycle gang based out of Acter, in Alderney. Johnny’s decision-making progress begins and ends with how his actions will affect his “brothers,” a term you’ll be hearing over and over as you progress through the game’s twenty-plus missions.

Johnny’s a likeable sort-for a mass murderer-but his character suffers from the same quandary which has plagued every GTA main character since Vice City’s Tommy Vercetti. In order to forge a bond with the player, Johnny has to behave like a fairly civil human being during cutscenes and exposition. Once the action starts, however, he must check his conscientious objections at the door in order to make possible GTA’s brand of wanton demolition (and I say that with all possible affection). The result is an inconsistent characterization, which only grows more glaring when Johnny’s stated desire for peace is followed by an inevitable, unsanctioned, four-star rampage undertaken by his controller-wielding puppet master.

At least Johnny can claim to be doing things he finds distasteful for the benefit of his brethren; his predecessor could avail himself of the same excuse only rarely. “I don’t want to cause trouble. I just need the money,” Niko Bellic would often insist. “Really?” I’d wonder. “Even after you robbed that bank?” None of these issues interferes with my enjoyment of GTA’s gameplay, but it does lessen my emotional investment in the narrative. If future iterations of the franchise feature irredeemable hard cases or taciturn heavies in leading roles, I won’t complain.

Like countless other entries in almost every conceivable video game genre, Flower charges its players with the daunting task of righting a world gone wrong. In its literal interpretation of that enterprise, however, Flower resembles a more exclusive group of games, including Okami, de Blob, and the most recent Prince of Persia. The world of Flower’s ills are reflected in the diminished beauty of its natural landscapes; transform a patch of scorched earth back into fertile ground, and you’ve fixed whatever ails that particular portion of the map.

However, Flower takes a unique approach to this familiar undertaking, allowing players to unleash their inner Linka by harnessing the power of the wind. Though a casual glance at the screen (or the title) might yield the impression that the flowers themselves are under the player’s control, it’s really the zephyr that does your bidding-the flowers simply go along for the ride.

Each of the game’s six levels (technically seven, but I’ll get to that later) begins with the blossoming of a single flower, which releases one lone petal to be buffeted by the breeze. Gameplay consists largely of directing that petal towards other flowers (I’m no horticulturist, but they appear to resemble tulips), which release petals of their own when touched. These petals combine to form a sinuous, Katamari-like cloud (or, perhaps more accurately, a more benign version of the smoke monster from Lost) which usually trails out of view behind the camera, though it can be glimpsed on occasion after sharp turns. Since the flowers hail from several points along the color spectrum, the petal potpourri which results from their union constitutes quite a feast for the eyes.

Most flowers are arranged in discrete clusters within the larger level; once you pseudo-pollinate a certain number of them within a cluster, vivid color will be restored to that segment of the map, and the camera will gently nudge you toward another area in need of your attention, which may have been inaccessible earlier. The brief cutscenes depicting the return of color (which usually emanates outwards from the newly opened flowers in concentric waves) are suitably uplifting, and accompanied by a powerful, sustained rumbling, for those of you equipped with DualShock 3’s.

Flower adds a few wrinkles to this entrancing formula as you progress. The first level is little more than an open field, with a few stones scattered over its gently undulating hills. In succeeding levels, signs of human occupation appear, generally to the detriment of the landscape’s natural beauty. At first, only windmills and lampposts mar the idyllic scenery, but before long, electrical towers and unsightly steel girders blight the countryside.

These cosmetic additions bring corresponding alterations in gameplay. With the arrival of electricity comes the appearance of a luminous orb, which can be guided in the same manner as the petals. The passage of this ball of light causes nearby swathes of foliage to glow, illuminating vast tracts of land and unlocking adjacent areas. In later levels, you’ll be taking the fight directly to electrical towers and other man-made objects, breaking them apart with the force of your gusts (thereby robbing the unfortunate occupants of Flower’s universe of the ability to play Flower). Each level features a different stage of the day-night cycle, which helps to keep things fresh from a visual standpoint. More variety in the terrain might have improved matters further, but could just as easily have fallen under the heading of-if you’ll pardon the expression-gilding the lily.

The simple elegance of the control scheme matches that of the gameplay and level design. Tilting the controller determines the wind’s direction, and pressing any button causes it to blow-and I do mean any button, other than Start and Select. Even the joysticks can be used to perform this function, though they can’t be used to control the wind’s trajectory. Occasionally, portions of a level funnel your flowers through a pre-existing wind current, allowing you to release whatever button you’ve chosen and focus entirely on steering. At theses times, Flower is closer to a rail shooter than-well, whatever it is during the rest of the game, though the “enemies” are picturesque plants that don’t return fire. At no point did I become frustrated with the responsiveness of the motion controls. Of course, the game rarely requires extremely precise movements, and perhaps I subconsciously expected some degree of imprecision from a force as nebulous as the wind. Still, the fact remains that tilting the controller produces a corresponding on-screen movement in the direction of the tilt. That shouldn’t be cause for celebration, but in light of other games’ failures to achieve that modest goal, it is.

If “because orcs are ugly” doesn’t seem like sufficient reason to put your life and credit rating on the line, Bioware has come up with six additional (though not necessarily more convincing–orcs are really ugly) reasons for your character to take up arms. You’ll want to think about these for a while, since your choice will affect far more than the opening cinematic. Each backstory will provide a unique experience throughout the final product’s sure-to-be-lengthy playtime, ensuring plenty of replay value . CYOA below.

From EA/Bioware:

BIOWARE REVEALS ALL SIX DRAGON AGE ORIGIN STORIES

BioWare’s Spiritual Successor to Baldur’s Gate Weaves an Epic Tale
that Begins in One of Six Different Ways

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (February 12, 2009) – Leading video game
developer BioWare(tm), a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:
ERTS) announced today the highly anticipated details of all six Origin
Stories featured in the upcoming dark, heroic fantasy Dragon Age(tm):
Origins. Each Origin Story starts the player off with a unique series
of locations, characters and events that establish their motivations
and lay the groundwork for the adventure to come.

With each Origin Story boasting several hours of unique game play, as
well as challenging strategic combat and exploration, these 6 distinct
preludes make Dragon Age: Origins the first BioWare game to offer not
only multiple endings, but also multiple beginnings. Players will
start their adventure in one of the following roles:

Dalish Elf
As one of the last “true elves”, you were content to spend your life
wandering with your clan… until a chance encounter with a relic of
your people’s past threatens to tear you away from everything you’ve
known.

City Elf
You have always lived under the heavy thumb of your human overlords,
but when a local lord claiming his “privilege” with the bride shatters
your wedding day, the simmering racial tensions explode in a rain of
vengeance.

Dwarf Commoner
Born casteless in a land where rank is everything, bound as the lackey
and thug of a local crime lord, you have spent your life invisible…
until chance thrusts you into the spotlight, where you can finally
prove whether you will be defined by your actions or your birth.

Dwarf Noble
The favored child of the dwarven king, you proudly take up your first
military command… only to learn that the deadly intrigues of dwarven
politics pose an even greater danger than that faced on the
battlefield.

Mage
Gifted with a power considered a dangerous curse by most, you have
spent most of your life secluded in the remote tower of the Circle of
Magi to be trained and watched closely by the dreaded templars. Now
your final test is upon you — succeed and prove your strength, fail
and you will perish.

Human Noble
Born to wealth and power second only to royalty, you find your
training in both diplomacy and war put to the test when your father’s
castle is betrayed from within on the very night your elder brother is
to lead the family’s forces to war.

The player’s choice of Origin Story lays the foundation for a profound
journey based on the character’s past experiences, establishing how
they perceive the world and how the world perceives them.  The choices
you made during an Origin Story will influence the way the game
unfolds, including different story elements, dialogue options and even
plot branches, providing a wealth of replayability.

Dragon Age: Origins offers an immersive, beautiful and often
threatening world in which the player will live out a fantasy of epic
proportions.  With six unique paths to choose from, the choice of
Origin Story will be the first of many important decisions players
will face in Dragon Age: Origins.

For more information, visit www.dragonage.com.

Though the battle-hardened RTS gamers among you may question my suitability for this assignment, I’d like to contend that my inexperience makes me the perfect man for the job; after all, as a Halo-playing console gamer, I’m the target audience. If I could be turned-well, I wouldn’t be a powerful ally. But my conversion would bode well for the game’s chances of succeeding on a platform which has represented a formidable proving ground for RTS games in the past.

After downloading the 1.4 GB demo and navigating past an extremely prominent seizure warning (does Ensemble know something I don’t?), I found myself gazing at the soothing blue tones of a Halo menu screen, as remixed monks (or monk impersonators) chanted with abandon. Because I’m the methodical sort (and an RTS n00b), I made a beeline for the tutorial option, which was divided into “basic” and “advanced” sections. The former provided instruction in, well, the basics: unit selection, movement, and attacking. The latter forced me into the deep end, introducing me to the harvesting, “expo,” and research mechanics which normally send me running for the nearest shooter, platformer, or RPG.

Halo Wars’ controls are fairly intuitive. The left joystick controls the camera; leave the cursor centered on one of your units, and the camera will move along with it. Individual units can be selected with the A button, and the left bumper selects all units. The X button is context-sensitive, and can be used to mark destinations, attack enemy units, and salvage supplies from conveniently situated crates (where would gamers be without them?), depending on the cursor’s location. Y controls special attacks-grenades for foot soldiers, a “ram” attack for warthogs, and the like. If “preserve your own base long enough to destroy the enemy’s, and occasionally blow up other stuff,” proves too complicated an assignment for you to recall, you can press the Back button at any time to call up your objectives. “Leader powers,” accessible via the D-pad, allow you to call upon the UNSC flagship, “Spirit of Fire,” for an orbital bombardment. D-Pad commands also allow you to jump quickly to the opposition base, or to your army’s leader.

The game’s streamlined control scheme is designed for ease of use, and, given the limitations of the Xbox 360 controller, it mostly delivers the goods. However, I did have a few complaints. Even with the rather generous radius surrounding each actionable item, I experienced occasional difficulties in selecting the objects I meant to select; unfortunately, if you intend to attack an enemy unit, and miss by a millimeter, you’ll send your unsuspecting, unprepared proxies directly into the line of fire. Path-finding didn’t seem to be an issue, except for one instance, when I ordered a contingent of Locusts to obliterate a legion of Marines, only to watch them concentrate their fire on a rocky outcropping between the two.

Rather than mapping the zoom level to a button, Halo Wars consigns this setting to the start menu, making it difficult to gain a different perspective in the heat of battle. At the default setting, camera movement is somewhat jerky, but its scroll speed and “stickiness” can also be adjusted in the menu.

Despite Ensemble’s lofty claims about Halo Wars’ handling, I don’t believe that it measures up to the precision of the traditional mouse-and-keyboard arrangement. The absence of a click-and-drag feature (which somehow made its way into Mech Platoon on the GBA) limits the player’s ability to divvy up his or her forces. Although the right trigger enables sub-selections (a feature which the tutorial fails to mention), I found myself most often using employing either one unit, or all of them. The lack of an option to build units without placing the cursor on a base, or to have newly constructed units join the fray automatically, rather than loitering outside of the barracks, also hurts the game’s flow.

Upon entering a level, you’ll find yourself situated near a base, or a likely location for base construction. A few button presses later, you’ll have a large central building, multiple supply pads, a reactor, and a barracks, all airlifted from orbit or assembled from scratch-the United Nations Space Command doesn’t believe in getting estimates and hiring contractors. Selecting new units, buildings, and technologies is accomplished through a circular menu system, which seems quite natural after a brief adjustment period. The Covenant base features a radically different design aesthetic, as one might expect, but functions in much the same way.

The main campaign takes place 20 years before the “Halo event,” and pits human and Covenant forces against each other on the surface of Harvest. A lengthy opening cinematic sets the scene, providing a glimpse of the carnage which the conflict has already engendered, as well as a new AI hologram, Serena, who has Cortana beaten handily in the looks department. The demo’s two playable missions, which provide roughly half an hour of gameplay, charge you with rounding up scattered survivors in an effort to retake a vanquished base. After the conclusion of each level, a mission summary recaps your performance, awarding a medal based upon your completion time, damage accrued, and havoc wrought. More detailed statistics offer information tailored toward helping you identify weaknesses in your game, not unlike Halo 3’s post-match summaries.

The demo also includes a skirmish mode, limited to a one-player showdown (with deathmatch mode locked) against an AI opponent on the “Chasms” map. You probably won’t want to play it more than once.

Visually, the game shines-packed with detail, the landscape of Harvest looks just like a Halo environment should. Bases bustle with activity, featuring flashing lights and hovering transports, and the exteriors of damaged buildings and units convincingly reflect their conditions. Warthogs move just like warthogs, which only served to remind me how much more I’d prefer to drive one than control one from afar. Weapons sound like they should, and the orchestral score picks up at all the right times, though the voice work is somewhat lackluster.

The Halo Wars demo may have made me pine for a lengthy Halo 3 session, but it also heightened my previously feeble sense of anticipation for the game’s March 3^rd release. Ensemble’s parting effort appears on track to deliver an experience over which RTS veterans and console shooter fans can bond, which should add to the popular franchise’s already impressive legacy.

Edit: Thanks to JadedTarget and Jason for throwing a rookie a bone in the comments below. Also, thanks to William, who emailed me with the news that holding A and moving the left joystick around controls the click-and-drag function I was pining for. The moral of this story is: don’t believe anything I say when I’m talking about an RTS game. With those concerns addressed, though, I’m certainly feeling more optimistic about the Halo Wars experience. I just hope there’s a more detailed tutorial in the final build, or one humdinger of a manual.

Case in point: developer Bioware has released the first in a series of video diaries chronicling the evolution of its much-anticipated MMORPG, this time choosing to focus on the creation of the planet Tython.  Rather than hew to the traditional elemental design philosophy of Star Wars games past (“Hey, it’s an ice planet, kinda like–oh, never mind, it is Hoth”),  Bioware’s concept artists (and the designers who love them) have modeled  a variety of terrains in an effort to keep things fresh during the hundreds of hours they hope you’ll spend romping around their virtual playground.

The video provides an in-depth look at Bioware’s creative process (as well as the sweet action figures on the desks of the creators), so wannabe artists, writers, and figurine collectors may find the content especially edifying. Everyone else  can content themselves with the extensive in-game footage, which demonstrates the full power of this battle sta-er, game engine.

Looks like everything is proceeding as Bioware has foreseen, but don’t take our word for it: check out the video below.

The game is set roughly 300 years after the events of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I & II, and will feature Bioware’s usual plot-oriented approach to gameplay, centered on the eternal battle between the Jedi and those pesky Sith. Players will be able to choose sides and wield the Force (or a good blaster, if hokey religions and ancient weapons aren’t your thing) for either faction, alongside a host of AI companions. The game has thus far been confirmed only for PC, but console versions are re-port-edly under consideration (that joke’s for all you Jar Jar fans out there).  We won’t see the final product for some time, but there’s no reason to have a bad feeling about this one.