Game review - Lego Rock Band

I love Rock Band. I love the Lego games. So it's only natural that I'd like the idea of them together, and wouldn't you know it, I was right! This game is the more "family friendly" entry into the Rock Band series. It's rated E, as opposed to the other games which are rated T. This does pose one small problem. A good number of the downloadable tracks from other Rock Band games won't work in Lego Rock Band because they've been deemed unsuitable for the E rating. Same goes with the songs from the first Rock Band, if you've transferred them to your hard drive.

The game is also a bit easier than the other Rock Bands. Songs that have, say, a four point difficulty rating on guitar in Rock Band 2 might have five red points (the equivalent of devil heads) in Lego Rock Band. And, of course, all the characters in the game are Lego people. The notes that scroll down the play field are even Lego pieces. Other than these minor differences, this game is pretty much like any other Rock Band.

The tour mode, while still kind of repetitive, is fun, and has a lot of funny moments with your Lego people band. The achievements are pretty easy. With a bit of time, anyone could score 960 points. The flawless instrument achievements in this game aren't restricted to the expert difficulty, you can do them on any setting you want, including the new super-easy setting. The last 40 achievement points that many, including probably me, won't get is to score a perfect solo on The Final Countdown on expert. Very tough. Still, 960 is pretty good. Only the completionists will have a problem with that.

Lastly, there's the song selection. Now, everyone has different tastes in music, especially rock fans. I'm not really going to get into my views on specific songs, though I will say I was mostly happy with the music in this game. The only specific song I'll touch on is the Ghostbusters theme. Two words: freaking awesome.

So, if you like Rock Band then pick this game up. Despite the Lego look it plays just like all the other Rock Band games, just maybe a bit easier.

Some quick game reviews

Okay, once again sorry for the delay in posting. I had a pretty busy few weeks, but now I've got some time to catch up, so here are some game reviews.

First up, Ghostbusters!

I was very excited about this back when it came out, but at that time my 360 was busted, so I never got around to buying the game. I finally got a chance to play it recently and it was flat out awesome. This game was actually written by Harold Ramis and Dan Ackroyd, and it's an official part of Ghostbusters canon. Not only that, but it stars the same cast as the movies. Yes, Ackroyd, Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson voice the Ghostbusters in this game! So this game is pretty much Ghostbusters 3. If you're a long time fan of these movies this game will be a total treat for you.

As far as the actual gameplay goes, it's pretty great. There's a bit of a learning curve, but once you figure out how to wrangle those ghosts into the traps, you'll be busting like a pro. On the higher difficulties, the game can be quite a challenge. Getting the achievement for beating the game on its highest difficulty was just plain hard, but doing so made me feel really good about my skills. Just as good as beating The Force Unleashed on its highest setting did.

There is online multiplayer for this game, but I didn't play it. It sounded really cool, a lot of different modes where you both co-operate and compete with your fellow players. Problem is, two of the online achievements are currently glitched. They simply can't be unlocked, no matter what you do. So, no K'ing this game. Sorry, achievement whores. But you can still squeeze 800+ points out of the offline achievements.

Next, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

I played the first Lego Star Wars on GameCube. This was Episodes I-III. I ran through the story mode, but never bothered to do anything else. Lego Star Wars II (Episodes IV-VI) I played on my 360, and because of the achievements I finished it 100%. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga was the perfect opportunity for me to revisit Episodes I-III and score some achievements at the same time.

If you've played either of the other Lego Star Wars, then you've already played at least half of this game. But if you love the Lego games and/or Star Wars, and you're looking for 1,000 easy achievement points, you'll want to pick this up. It takes a lot of time to K this game, but it's still easier than Lego Star Wars II. It takes much less money to buy the score multipliers in this game.

At the moment, I'm playing The Orange Box, Lego Rock Band, and Saw, so expect reviews on them soon.