I’ll admit it. I’m a self professed Rock Band junkie. I wake up early every Friday morning and check the Rock Band forums just to see what new DLC is being announced, and then I wake up early on Tuesday morning to download the songs that I want. I have over 200 songs in my Rock Band library and can play nearly all of the songs on every instrument on expert (except for a couple of ridiculously hard songs on drums.)

So with that said, obviously I was very excited to play The Beatles: Rock Band, despite the fact that I’m ashamedly not that knowledgeable when it comes to their songs. Let’s start with what Harmonix has done with the game that is completely new for the series.

Thankfully, unlike Lego Rock Band, The Beatles: Rock Band actually implements a couple of really cool features that were absent in Rock Band and its sequel. The first and most prominent feature is the ability to add three harmonizing vocals, which of course is a must for any game featuring The Beatles. The actual implementation of it is pretty much as you would expect. During sections with harmonies, you will see three different vocal meters that each belong to one of the mics. The good news about harmonies is that the only one that affects the overall vocals is the lead singer. So less confident singers don’t have to worry about bringing the whole band down and failing everyone out when all the want to do is back up the lead singer. In fact, harmonies can only be beneficial to the band as you will actually get a bonus for completing a perfect three or two part harmony.

Another neat tiny addition that Harmonix added to the game is the ability to turn on No Fail Mode with just a press of the button when you’re adding in your players. No longer do you have to exit all the way out to the main menu, then go to the extras, then switch it on, then go all the way back to the mode you were playing and add everyone back in, etc.

Putting gameplay changes aside, one must mention how beautiful the game looks. Everything is much more vibrant and colorful, the character models for Paul, John, George, and Ringo all look fantastic, and the animations are the best the genre has ever seen. The new venues are similarly spectacular featuring actual famous set pieces that The Beatles performed at. The venues that were used when I Am the Walrus and Here Comes the Sun are so interesting to watch that you might find yourself wanting to look away from your note chart just to check them out.

Harmonix has also announced that Abbey Road will be the first of several downloadable albums that can be purchased upon the game’s released, extending the gameplay beyond the 45 songs that come packaged on the disc. In addition, the song All You Need is Love will be an Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable song with all of the proceeds going to the Doctors Without Borders organization.

Overall The Beatles: Rock Band is turning out to be much more than just a Beatles track pack, which was what I initially feared. I haven’t even mentioned the sleek and sexy new instruments that were created just for this game, all of which are modeled after instruments that the Beatles actually used. Join me in brushing up on Beatles songs as we wait for The Beatles: Rock Band to be released on 9/9/09.