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Rock Band lets me fulfill my rock star dreams

This isn’t a review of Rock Band, or The Beatles Rock Band.  I don’t have the patience to do a proper video game review — but I did want to write a few words about why I think these games are so much fun.

I’m not going to lie — I still harbor fantasies of being a rock star one day.  Sure, my odds are going down the older I get, but those fantasies are more alive than those of being a professional athlete.

Rock Band (and, right now of focus Beatles Rock Band) lets me, at least for a little while, pretend those fantasies have come true.  Sure, the instruments are plastic, and my TV doesn’t get nearly as loud as the ole Orange amplifier and a drum kit.

But, the tunes are fun to play.  And you really are singing, and you really are beating drums and strumming a guitar.

Of course, you’re not REALLY playing them — Rock Band guitar is easier than the real thing, and more forgiving of mistakes.  The vocals are real, but you can mix the game’s vocals higher so as to drown out the atonal mess coming from the room.  The drums are the closest to the real thing, minus dynamic control and lack of left foot action.

But, Rock Band comes close enough to providing the illusion that you are playing.  It comes closer than any other simulation I know: playing Rock Band puts you closer to making music than Madden Football does to putting you in the NFL; closer than Gran Turismo puts you to auto racing, and, luckily, closer than Grand Theft Auto puts you to being an actual deliquent.

For a few minutes, it’s easy to pretend you really are a rock star, singing, pounding, strumming, away.  Smartly, you can even practice your rock star moves — the guitar is wireless, making it easy to introduce the smooth moves.

Rock Band makes it easy to pretend.  And for that, is a successful game.

Sun December 6th, 2009 6:22 pm

Filed under Gaming