Review: "Green Day" Game Is 21st Century Letdown |
| Review: "Green Day" Game Is 21st Century Letdown Posted: 08 Jun 2010 05:30 AM PDT Message from Five Filters: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Review: "Green Day" Game Is 21st Century LetdownFORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Well… nobody. The folks behind the "Rock Band" video game franchise set the bar so high last year with the highly acclaimed "The Beatles: Rock Band" that almost any follow-up attempt was sure to be a major disappointment. But Green Day was selected as second in line, as the California punk rockers stepped up to the challenge. It actually makes a lot of sense. Green Day has matured so much throughout their decades-long career, going from small-time alternative artists to Grammy Award winners with a hit show on Broadway. (Their 2004 "American Idiot" concept album has been turned into a Tony Award nominated musical.) Plus, the band has plenty of catchy singles that are recognized by even the most casual music fans. So, what went wrong? After the masterpiece that was "The Beatles: Rock Band," why does "Green Day: Rock Band" feel like such a letdown? Personally, I believe that the game was conceived incorrectly from the start, made as an attempt to cash-in on Green Day's success, not chronicle it. First, Green Day is simply not as musically creative as The Beatles. As a result, a large collection of tracks are mindlessly repetitive and somewhat dull to play. But still, for the most part, these are terrific songs. It's hard to fault the band for not being The Beatles, because there is still an enormous joy in strumming along to hits like "Welcome to Paradise," "Warning" and "Basket Case." But not all of the 47 songs included in "Green Day: Rock Band" are terrific. In "The Beatles: Rock Band," a handful of tracks were selected to represent various moments of the band's career. Full Beatles albums were then released later as optional downloadable content. "Green Day: Rock Band" takes the opposite approach, including the entire albums of "Dookie," "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown," and only a pitiful handful of other album songs. Yes, the band's biggest albums are included in their entirety, but that means we miss out on great tracks from the albums "Insomniac," "Nimrod" and "Warning," not to mention the non-album tracks and Green Day's early stuff. There is no "Redundant," no "J.A.R.," no "Walking Contradiction." I was shocked to see such popular songs be ignored. This game could have been a storybook of Green Day's influential career, as was "The Beatles: Rock Band." Instead, we only get this extremely narrow view of the band. And the lack of details only added to this limited scope. There are only three venues to play, none of the elaborate, song-specific 'dreamscapes' that were featured in "The Beatles: Rock Band." The three band members have a specific look for each venue, so we're not treated to the various hair colors and funny shirts of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. The game's note highway is standard. The introduction movie is uninspiring. The ending video is simply an unlocked live performance. We see very little of the band's character, their charisma. And overall, "Green Day: Rock Band" does not feel epic. When "The Beatles: Rock Band" was released, it felt like more than just a video game. It felt like a major pop culture movement. Even now, nearly a year later, it still feels like something much bigger than it is. But "Green Day: Rock Band" does not. It just fees like… a video game. Perhaps that is because Green Day does not have a single message that defines them as a band. In "The Beatles: Rock Band," the message was clear: the love you take is equal to the love you make. Green Day has all of these ideas of rebellion and anarchy, but the developers did little to promote these ideas and turn them into a theme. So, ultimately, "Green Day: Rock Band" feels like a standard "Rock Band" game with a very expansive Green Day skin layered on top. And, as a brief aside, censorship in music games is awful. "Green Day: Rock Band" features plenty of racy words and earns its Teen rating, but it is still toned down for that adolescent crowd. Harsh curse words are silenced, which is a slight distraction when playing something like "Minority" or "Holiday." But more importantly, in a band-specific game like this, censorship prevents us from seeing the band in their most pure form. Without that vulgarity, we lose a part of Green Day. If the developers were uncomfortable with that adult language, they should have chosen another band to highlight. So, despite all of the criticism, I do think that "Green Day: Rock Band" got one thing right. The game was able to renew my appreciation for a band that had been waning in more recent years. They are certainly not irrelevant by any means, but they have come a long way since the "Dookie" era, where they helped shape a budding genre of music. I can't imagine going through high school without "Longview" or "When I Come Around" or "Brain Stew" on the radio. This game helped me remember when alternative music was new and unique. I am a Green Day fan, and a music fan in general. The best part about "The Beatles: Rock Band" was how much that game revered the Fab Four. Likewise, the most disappointing thing about "Green Day: Rock Band" is how much it fails to capture the spirit of the band and hold them on a pedestal. You should be able to play this game and instantly 'get' what Green Day is all about. But between poor song selection, lack of a details and censorship… you get a solid music game, but not a tribute to a remarkable band. "Green Day: Rock Band" is available in stores now for a suggested retail price of $59.99 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, or $49.99 on the Nintendo Wii. "Green Day: Rock Band Plus" for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 retails for $69.99, and includes six more songs as well as a code to play all Green Day songs in other versions of "Rock Band." The Xbox 360 version was tested for this review. (© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.) Five Filters featured article: Into the Abyss. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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