The Beatles: Rock Band

The same applies to the other instruments. My drumming skills are average to say the least, but none of the tracks, even on Expert, offers a challenge that is particularly insurmountable to a Rock Band veteran. The difference is, what the tracks may lack in cripplingly traumatic difficulty, they make up for mostly by being a simple joy to play - creativity over cock-rockery, if you like. And since everyone involved wants the game to appeal to the broadest crowd possible, every track (bar the final one unlocked in Story mode) is accessible in Quick Play from the off, and a No Fail option is there for the most cack-handed novices.

Vocals see the biggest change. As you're no doubt aware, Beatles: Rock Band supports vocal harmonies for up to three people simultaneously. There's no better game for Harmonix to trial this feature in - and indeed 27 of the 45 tracks on disc support the full three-part warble. Harmonies are far more difficult to sing than a regular melody line, so the studio has included a vocal trainer to teach you - which does a reasonable if not brilliant job of spelling out the basics. Ultimately, practice makes perfect, but it's only truly fun with at least two people singing together.

Expense is a key consideration. To enjoy the full Beatles experience you need three mics, a drum kit, three guitars and three mic stands. That's if you really want to 'be' The Beatles. But this will not come cheap if you and friends don't already have the kit lying around. However, peripherals are cross-compatible between Guitar Hero and Rock Band, with SingStar and Lips mics also supported, which could ease the burden somewhat.

One thing I have not been able to try is any of the online features, which are blocked ahead of the game's launch. Full multiplayer support for bands and soloists is included, and should work just like Rock Band. Likewise, the DLC store doesn't open for business until next Wednesday.

Clearly, despite the overall quality of the content, not all songs are as much fun to play as others, and mileage will vary depending on your love and knowledge of the band's works. "Yellow Submarine" is a tedious plod for everything but the vocals, for instance. Of possibly greater concern, songs from later in the band's career are already stretching the format up to and occasionally beyond its limits, with compromises made where instrumentation does not match the basic set-up.

We've seen this before in previous music games of course, but it presents a genuine creative problem to Harmonix when they have entire albums to deal with. Are we going to end up playing the clarinet part of "When I'm 64" on the guitar? Won't that be a bit rubbish?

So while in some ways The Beatles: Rock Band marks the pinnacle of the series' and the genre's achievements, in other ways it also begins to expose its limitations. Nevertheless, viewed in terms of what it set out to achieve, The Beatles: Rock Band is nothing less than a triumph, and one with in-built longevity in the sense that these are songs that have already survived four decades unmatched, now given a new lease of life thanks to remastering and fresh enough to last another lifetime.