Green Day: Rock Band Review

Developer: Harmonix / Publisher: MTV Games / ESRB: Teen (Drug Reference, Lyrics, Mild Blood) / Played on: PS3 / Price: $29.99

MTV Games and Harmonix have followed the outstanding The Beatles: Rock Band with Green Day: Rock Band. It seems like an odd choice — going from one of the most iconic bands of all time to a very good band that’s still writing its history. If you think about it, Green Day is a perfectly fine choice. Their music appeals to younger gamers (as in people that thought Paul McCartney’s original band was Wings). And while they’re not as historically relevant as The Beatles, they’re certainly influential. Green Day is one of the bands that helped popularize “pop-punk” music and even has a Broadway musical, American Idiot. The band deserves their own game and Harmonix has delivered a good one. That said, MTV Games missed an opportunity by limiting the game’s musical selections.

Sound

The game includes 47 songs from the albums Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown. Every song in the game can be exported to Rock Band, Rock Band 2, or Rock Band 3 for a $10 fee. You can also import existing Green Day DLC into the game.

The song choice is fine, but limited. For many Green Day fans, Dookie was the first album they picked up. But the band had released a couple of albums before they signed a major deal with Reprise Records. 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk were underground hits that may be new to gamers who consider themselves fans. While the game shows you a lot of the band’s history through photos and videos (more on the later), it would have been interesting to have this earlier, rougher music included in the mix.

Green Day is very open about its musical influences and MTV Games should have taken advantage of this. Similar to how Guitar Hero: Metallica contains songs that influenced the band or that the band simply likes, MTV could have exponentially increased this game’s appeal by including songs by artists that influenced Green Day. Bands like The Clash, the Ramones, and the Sex Pistols would have been fantastic, showing how early punk influenced Green Day’s brand of pop-punk. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has cited Husker Du and The Replacements as major influences. Those bands would have been fine additions, too. MTV Games totally dropped a drumstick here in not fleshing out the selection.

Gameplay

If you’ve played Rock Band then you understand the core gameplay. Up to four players can participate in a band. Vocals, guitar, bass, and drums can be played. Your job is to hit the right notes at the right time. Every now and then, a highlighted group of notes appears. If you nail all of these then you’ll gain power for “overdrive”. This mode lets you double your score multiplier and rescue band mates that have failed out of the song.

In the game’s career mode, you start off in modest settings and play your way to big arenas. Initially, songs are tackled one at a time. The game challenges you with sets of three or more songs. Green Day fans or those curious about the band’s history get some unlockable treats. Photos and videos of the band are unlocked by meeting certain conditions and challenges. It’s pretty cool to see pictures and videos of the band throughout the years, watching them mature as artists and people.

Controls

The game plays like all the other Rock Band titles, which is to say it’s super tight. Since its days with the original Guitar Hero games, Harmonix has delivered precise controls and expanded on them nicely. The big surprise here is the use of harmonies. The Beatles: Rock Band introduced harmonies to the series and this game takes it to another level. Up to three players can sing a song — one on melody and two on harmonies. From a gameplay standpoint, the harmonies are more complex and intricate than those in The Beatles: Rock Band, which is surprising since that’s mostly not the case from a musical standpoint. I love that Harmonix has expanded and improved harmonies. They’re fantastic in this game and great for the series’ future.

Graphics

I was never a fan of the original Rock Band games’ graphics and art direction. To me, most of the visuals looked like crap drawn on a 14-year old’s binder. I suppose that was part of the intent, but the graphics always looked boring and generic to me. The Beatles: Rock Band was a big change, showing off the band’s different looks and visuals tied to their various albums. Green Day: Rock Band is similarly distinct. The visuals help you watch the band grow up. Starting off with the Crayola hair colors of Dookie to their current and more mature look, the graphics chronicle the band’s changes.

The arenas are similarly distinct. Starting off in a small club that was inspired by the band’s early days at 924 Gilman the locations get bigger until they hit the major arenas.

Bottom Line

If you love Green Day or really like them, then Green Day: Rock Band is a good purchase. You’re getting a game that plays well coupled with loads of great songs. If you’re not a fan, you won’t be buying the game and you likely haven’t read this review. In that case, I want to tell all the Green Day haters out there that they smell and their mothers dress them funny.

The tough part is if you “just like” Green Day, in which case it’s tough to recommend buying this game. It’s a shame that MTV limited the song selection and didn’t include the band’s influences. That would have broadened its appeal and snagged purchases from gamers that are on the fence about Green Day but happen to like punk music. At the end of the day this is a good game with limited appeal.

7.5/10

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