As a lifelong 33-year-old Beatles fan, some things about the band have irked me in the last decade or so. The Beatles Anthology of the mid-1990's felt like the final chapter in the band's illustrious history, but then came the deluge of shaky releases that rehashed the Fab Four time and time again. Just relying on memory as a guide, there was The Beatles collection of Number 1's which wasn't much of a replacement for decades old collections found on the Red and Blue albums, then the reissue of the American album releases (which wasn't that bad of an idea but why they weren't remastered like the most recent collection is puzzling and really feels like a money grab with the worthy release of the mastered versions currently available), and a remix cd (yes a remix cd entitled Love) thrown in for bad measure which is probably buried under all the older Beatles releases in your car if you were a fool like me and purchased them. The irony of it all was that die hard Beatles fans have been waiting on the painful yet important movie release of Let it Be on DVD for well over a decade when the surviving members of the Fab Four and their spouses were serving up releases that seemed more like a money a grab. While I may have been disappointed with the lack of Fab offerings from Liverpool's finest recently, I never would have anything bad to say about their music. My love affair with the pop sounds of the band probably started even before I can vividly remember popping in an warped 8 Track Cassette of Meet The Beatles as part of my daily ritual coming home from school after the first grade. Maybe it was the serendipity of the famous number 9 in Beatles lore that had to pull the band out of their little funk. If John Lennon had been around for 9-09-09 he would undoubtedly have been happy to celebrate the occasion, and was probably smiling in the heavens yesterday when Yoko and Macca finally got something right for a change.

The Beatles finally matter again and like they did musically, set the bar extremely high for new editions of band based games with the release of The Beatles Rock Band . You can see an entire new generation of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr fans being groomed with the infectious sounds of the most important band in the history of music. Children, their parents, and their grandparents will all be able to enjoy the game and the elders will be able to share stories how The Beatles are such an important part in the soundtrack of their lives. The visuals are stunningly good and the gameplay is fun for people of all skill levels- ranging from guitar hero virtuoso to people with no rhythm whatsoever. And if you don't know the words to at least some of the famous singles, you probably know next to nothing about rock n roll music.

I tested the game in two different arenas. Once with my sister and brother who are lifelong Fab Four fanatics, budding Beatlemaniacs in 3 nephews who are all under the age 13, and my wife who is a fan but doesn't know the catalog backward and forward like myself. The children enjoyed the gameplay immensely while the adults capably sung their hearts out to their favorites. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was watching my 3rd grade nephew singing along to I Want You (She's So Heavy) and doing an admirable job on the dark John Lennon number that ends side one of Abbey Road. There was even a plea by my brother to borrow my newest prized treasure, but that had to fall on deaf ears as I had to get the review of the game up in the coming days.

The next evening, my wife and I took the game to my friend's apartment and played with what will be a weekly get together for the foreseeable future. Instead of going from track to track like we did the evening before, we went through story mode and saw how the Beatles and their music changed throughout the years. We made it through the Sgt Pepper era and all agreed that we would be back at it in one week's time as we all were having a blast being members of the Fab Four for a day. While most people know the story rather well, the story mode is a great to see the new graphics and become a "part of the group" thanks to the amazing technological advancements in the past few decades.

So should you splurge and buy the game? If you want to teach your children about The Beatles and also be able to sing along to some of the best tunes in the last 50 years I highly recommend it. Just be forewarned that the band will putting their hands out for more of your hard earned money in the coming months when they release the entire albums of Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, and Rubber Soul for the game. I hate to say it, but I am already hooked.