Lego Rock Band

Review from AJ - Sunday, 24 January 2010 @ 12:26pm

I love Lego. Note: that is Lego, not Legos. The plural of Lego is Lego. It’s not a variation on the theme pasta sauce, dumbasses. I especially love Star Wars Lego. I have thousands of dollars of the stuff. Mostly in boxes now that I have a son who wants to play with it all. Maybe I’ll let him when he is old enough to appreciate the pure awesomeness of the Lego Star-destroyer. I’m also a big fan of the Traveller's Tales Lego Star Wars video games. To a lesser extent, the Indiana Jones and Batman games were also pretty cool. What makes these games fun is the fact that the games are based on movies we love and feature Lego sets and characters you can buy at your local K-mart (well, some of them at least). It’s a nice circle. Hell even Harry Potter Lego makes sense in a strange kind of way.

But Lego Rock Band? Really? What the hell kind of cross promotion is that? Unless they’re coming out with Lego Rock Band toys, I don’t really see the point. I’m trying to think of a really bad analogy to prove my point, but I think the stupidity is sufficiently obvious that it doesn’t really need one.

LOOK!! THEY'RE LEGO! AND THEY'RE IN A BAND!!!

The fact of the matter is, other than being just SUPER cute, there isn’t really much “Legoness” about Lego Rock Band. You could replace all the Lego items with non-Lego variants, and the game would be exactly the same. To me that’s the biggest problem with this crossover. The only remotely-Lego-like feature is character customisation which, when you think about it, is exactly the same as normal Rock Band anyway. Sure you can customise your Band’s hangout, and you get to “own” some cool looking Lego vehicles, but in all other respects Lego is purely a display item. You don't get to build anything, you don't get to create and you don't get to enjoy the creations that are made for you. The only real highlight of the game is the cut scenes, which are as funny as anything you’d see in any other Traveller's Tales game....but cut scenes don't make a game.

So if you take away the Lego, the rest of the game really is just Rock Band. I know you could say the same thing about The Beatles Rock Band, but I think there could’ve been a lot more “fun” to be had with Lego Rock Band. I think it was an opportunity to do something very different with the music genre, but instead we just have another Rock Band wrapped up in a different skin...again. Don’t get me wrong, anything with Lego stamped on it is pure awesome in my book, but after a lot of playing, I still feel like I’m playing just another music game.

Only cut scenes contain this amount of fun

One thing I did enjoy, however, was the “themed” challenges. These challenges involve playing a song (obviously) to try and resolve some problem in Legoland. Demolishing a building by playing “Tick Tick Boom”, bringing the rain by playing “Thunder” and fighting off a giant disgruntled Octopus by playing “In too Deep” were definitely entertaining. Playing Ghostbusters whilst watching minfigs being chased back and forth by ghosts was almost too distracting!

Now, I don’t think I’m “over” rhythm games just yet, but the story mode of Lego Rock Band has definitely moved me one step closer. Along with just playing through the song list, the game also features “Luck Dip” set lists and “choose your own” set lists. Whilst you don’t always have to do these, sometimes you will have to do them to get sufficient stars to unlock the next area. The problem here is that, initially at least, you don’t have a whole lot of songs to choose from, meaning you end up having to repeat songs you literally just played. When you add in the MANY other one off events (like trying to impress record execs, or entertain the miners, pirates, construction workers or whatever), the repetition is almost brutal. If it were just the occasional “Lucky Dip” set list I wouldn’t mind, but later in the game you record custom "albums". Recording an album essentially means creating a track list from songs you’ve already played, and playing them again. Then later in the game you will be asked to “tour” the songs by playing them AGAIN, often multiple times. So whilst you may still only have unlocked half the songs, you’ve already played some songs 3 or 4 times. This wouldn’t be so bad if there were a heap of good songs to choose......but there aren’t. If it weren't for the fact that I could play my AC/DC tracks and other purchased Rock Band tracks, I'd surely have hung myself.

Now they're on a SHIP! It's so awesome!!

The song list does have its highlights, and is at least a refreshing change from the parade of Heavy Metal that has assisted in driving Guitar Hero into the ground. Ghostbusters, Make Me Smile and Kung Fu Fighting are all fun songs to play, but there isn't a lot more for the average Rock Band enthusiast. Whilst the game is clearly targeting the younger audience, it feels like it is cheating a bit with several songs pinched from your favourite Pixar/Dreamworks films (Accidently in Love from Shrek, Life is a Highway from Cars, Kung Fu Fighting from Kung Fu Panda).

In terms of artists, it is definitely awesome to see Lego versions of Queen and David Bowie even if the song choices aren’t the best (We Will Rock You/We are the Champions and Let’s Dance, respectively). Speaking of which, We Will Rock You takes the cake as the MOST BORING song ever feature in a rhythm game, and I’m sure there was better Bowie available than Let’s Dance. Well anyway, Lego Bowie and Lego Mercury were definitely highlights, although I’m surprised an “Under Pressure” duet didn’t rate a mention!!

When all is said and done, Lego Rock Band, although cutesy cool and a worthy edition to the music game collection, is really not much more than a reskin of Rock Band. Perhaps I was expecting a little too much from the Lego franchise, given my love for the Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman games. Perhaps I didn’t spend enough time customising my lair or something, I don’t know. All in all, once the novelty of the minifigs playing guitars had worn off, I found myself playing “just another rhythm game” but with worse songs and more repetition......oh and by myself, as it would appear that Rock Band is no longer an acceptable "party game".

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are done. Time for a new gimmick folks!

Pros

Lego Bowie and Queen = WIN

Cons

Everything else = FAIL