Lego Rock Band
Feels a little pieced-together
Tags: LEGO Rock Band Categories: Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews
Posted by Mark "MadMup" Zwolanek on Nov 20th, 2009
The Lego Star Wars games were kind of a revelation to me. Before I played one I was under the impression that a game based on Lego pieces would be silly and not worthwhile. Once I started playing, though, and got the chance to build Lego structures using the Force and breaking Lego Jar Jar into a bunch of pieces with a Lego lightsaber, I was sold. Add to that the gameplay element of Lego piece collecting, and I was more than sold. I put somewhere near 30 hours into that first game, trying to get every last piece of every last Lego ship model. Then came Indiana Jones and Batman, which also took hours and hours of my playing. Along the way there have been rumors of other games that I’d rather play the Lego version of then the “actual” version (Halo, for instance), and I honestly look forward to each new Lego game, even if it seems like an obvious attempt at cashgrabbing (Lego Indiana Jones 2? Really?).
Lego Rock Band was very clearly aimed at me, then. The lure of the Lego gameplay combined with my love of the Rock Band series meant this was going to be my favorite game ever! So why isn’t it…?
The standard Lego “silent movie” storytelling is present, as is the humor (the junior Rocktopus instantly became one of my favorite characters ever). The Lego collecting is here as well, with points equating to Lego Studs and Studs being used to buy things in the Rock Store, from newly unlocked characters to signs and giant speakers used to decorate the lobby area. Finishing gigs unlocks new characters which can be used in character creation, and some unlocked characters can affect the gameplay. Hiring entourage members can increase the amount of studs or fans earned per song, and they can also open up new venues.
The venues are fun, and the challenge levels are particularly fun…but really only for an observer. The players might be affecting the outcome (ridding a house of ghosts, fighting off a sea creature, etc.), but can’t really watch the action unfold since they are focused on playing. During multiplayer attempts at beating the challenges, players have sections where only they play, so the others do get a chance to watch, but most of the time a lot of the nice touches are lost because the player just can’t see them during gameplay.
One especially nice Lego touch: the notes are all Lego pieces. An expected touch, but nice all the same.
There are a few great songs included with Lego Rock Band – “Ghostbusters” and “Kung Fu Fighting” spring immediately to mind – and the songs can be exported for use in previous Rock Band games. Not all DLC from the previous games can be used in Lego Rock Band, though. Since this game has the “Family Friendly” stamp on it, some songs just aren’t playable. While it makes sense that you might not want little Jimmy to sing “Psycho Killer,” it is a little less clear why a couple of on-disc songs have “hell” as a lyric. Apparently “Family Friendly” means different things to different people.
Still, the game doesn’t reach the same levels as previous games in either genre – as a Rock Band game it feels watered down and it doesn’t quite work as a Lego game, largely in part because pieces are awarded rather than found. It isn’t a terrible game by any stretch, it’s just not the fantastic merging of genres I was hoping for.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Lego storytelling is always fun + Ghostbusters! + Songs can be exported for play in other Rock Band games |
8.6 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Fewer character customizations than Rock Band players are accustomed to - Fun, but not outstanding |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Cute, but not a significant leap forward. | |
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Tags: LEGO Rock Band
Posted by Mark "MadMup" Zwolanek on Nov 20th, 2009 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox 360 Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
