The Beatles: Rock Band

Outside of Career mode, Quickplay enables access to every song on the disc from the word go, while supporting standard Rock Band fare like Tug of War and Score Duel. Easy difficulty is also now 'no-fail' as standard. Chapter Challenges, meanwhile, are tied into the game's rewards system - complete specific objectives to unlock images, audio and video from all points of the Beatles story.

Replica instruments, despite appearances, are identical to the ones that came with Rock Band 2. Paul Hoffner Bass, John, Rickenbacker 325, George's Gretsch Duo Jet and Ringo's Ludwig kit all look the part, for sure. But whether you really feel the need for them in your life depends on the extent of your Beatlemania, and the contents of your wallet. And they really don't come cheap.

The boxset - featuring game, bass, drumkit, mic and mic stand - weighs in at a hefty £179, while the Rickenbacker and Gretsch replicas retail at an eye-watering £90 each. And, bear in mind, if you truly want to recapture that Beatles magic, you'll need three mics, three mic stands, three guitars, a drum kit, and a massive overdraft.

If, like me, you are of the opinion that Guitar Hero guitars are infinitely superior, then you'll probably want to stick with those if you have them already.

It is to state the bleeding obvious to note that your enjoyment of the game depends on your love of Beatles music. Content aside, it is, as I've said, Rock Band 2 with vocal harmonies. In other words, it's a slightly improved version of arguably the greatest music game ever released. That said, we've still yet to experience the training modes, which will prove crucial to many in enabling them to get the most out of the experience. Harmonies are a great addition, but if they're a ballache to learn they could largely go ignored.

But it's hard to imagine Beatlemaniacs not thrilling at the attention to detail seen in the visual artistry of the animated sequences, and the use of archive and freshly remastered material.

Official DLC plans so far include Abbey Road, and a timed exclusive of "All You Need Is Love" for 360. One unknown is quite how tracks like Abbey Road's "Because", with its nine-part harmonies and keyboard line, translate into the game without being, well, rubbish. All Harmonix will say for now is: "You make adaptations so it's fun to play, even if it's not 100 per cent authentic".

It's hard to fault the game as a Beatles product, based on what's been shown so far. What we'll be looking for, come review time, is how those modes play out, and whether the experience - beyond the content - represents any palpable improvement over previous Rock Bands.