Best of the Decade: Rock Band

Rock Band

Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii

Release Date: November 20, 2007 (360 and PS3)

Publisher: MTV Games, Electronic Arts

Developer: Harmonix

I still remember how stupid I felt walking through the mall back to my car with the gigantic box of plastic instruments tucked under my arm. For a brief moment, as the mall patrons stared at me with confused looks in their eyes, the thought occurred to me that perhaps spending a large wad of cash on peripherals with which to pretend I was playing music by following along to colored button prompts wasn’t exactly the coolest thing I could be doing with my money.

Once I got them all home and started playing around with them, I never looked back. 

Technically the only instrument the genre hadn’t seen was the drums, but putting all of the instruments together in one game was Rock Band’s real stroke of genius. Everything came together for one of the most brilliant multiplayer gaming concepts ever produced.

The Rock Band series is the culmination of Harmonix’s long quest to perfect the music game. They remain one of my favorite ways to relax and release stress. Even five years or so since the original Guitar Hero, it’s still just as fun to pick up a plastic guitar, fire up my imagination, and pretend I’m a rock star for a little while by jamming out to awesome music. There’s something primal and satisfying about the experience music games provide.

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Best of 2009 - The Beatles: Rock Band

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

One simple fact is all it takes to explain why The Beatles: Rock Band is such an amazing game.

No it doesn’t radically alter the music gaming landscape. No it doesn’t introduce buckets full of innovation to the stagnating genre.

What it did do was teach me to appreciate The Beatles when I had never been able to do so before.

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