LEGO in a new light

A favorite pastime of families all over the world is playing with LEGOs. Junior engineers and architects have spent countless hours constructing buildings, vehicles and more to populate their own personal LEGO universes. In recent years, the brand has pushed itself onto the TV screen with a popular series of games featuring characters from films and comic books. It was only a matter of time before it branched out to other genres of games, although I must say the music genre was probably at the bottom of everyone's lists.

LEGO Rock Band presents a distinct tonal shift in focus for Rock Band series developer Harmonix. The previous three Rock Band titles were all focused on presenting a more realistic approach to the genre, as opposed to Guitar Hero's arcade-like approach. With LEGO Rock Band, Harmonix invites players to venture into the LEGO universe and all the wackiness that such a journey entails.

A band with a story

If you have played any of the previous Rock Band games then you should feel right at home. Most of the core trappings of the Rock Band series are present in LEGO Rock Band. Story Mode replaces the World Tour Mode from the main Rock band games, even if it works exactly the same as World Tour with the notable exception that it must be played locally. That's right, LEGO Rock Band has no online modes whatsoever.

In Story mode players will be tasked with creating their virtual band and taking their LEGO band on a tour of the LEGO universe. Those familiar with LEGO blocks will no doubt recognize some of the various settings, ranging from a train station to a pirate ship and a couple of surprises thrown in for good measure. The story is told through the use of humorous cut scenes, reminiscent of other LEGO video game titles. Together, the storyline and cut-scenes offer a welcome change of pace from the main gameplay.

In fact LEGO Rock Band is filled with an assortment of distractions to keep you from actually progressing through your career as a musician. A fully customizable den acts as the central hub for players while they are not touring and playing gigs. Inside the Rock Den, players can customize the den itself, buy instruments, hire roadies or hire entourage members who have positive status effects on your overall financial and fan situations.

Family content

While entertaining, these distractions are not LEGO Rock Band's main draw. Like its older siblings, LEGO Rock Band's core gameplay and the accompanying music is what you are here to experience. Except for a few minor tweaks, the gameplay is primarily the same while and it is the music itself that will draw some raised eyebrows. There is little doubt that the game is marketed at families and while parents will probably love playing Bryan Adam's "Summer of 69" they probably won't enjoy playing Vampire Weekend's "A-Punk" and vice versa. That is not to say that the music is not good but the game seems to want to please every possible member of the family. As a result, LEGO Rock Band's music lacks the cohesiveness of the previous titles and feels dated with its rather limited set list.

This little snare can be easily overcome if you own Rock Band or Rock Band 2. The game can pull family friendly content from your already existing Rock Band library as well as any downloadable content and expand the base track listing of 40+ songs by a noticeable margin.

Trying to understanding what Harmonix has deemed family friendly songs can sometimes be a bit of a head scratcher. I personally am not one to censor my children's musical choices but even I was a little taken aback when hearing Pearl Jam's "Porch" start with its familiar three words commonly attached to the online speak of WTF. Of course the final word is bleeped out but I am perplexed that song received a Family Friendly rating while over half of Pearl Jam's latest album "Backspacer" failed to make the cut and that album's content is significantly more tame than "Porch". Parents with an extensive library of Rock Band tracks and a more conservative ear than my own may want to avoid the Surprise Set Lists.

LEGO Rocks

From a technical standpoint LEGO Rock Band passes on all fronts. Like any good music title it sounds exceptional and while it is not going to win any awards for best looking game, the environments and characters all look very good and are arguably better looking than any of the LEGO action titles that are currently on the market. All things considered, LEGO Rock Band is a good game that throws in a couple of small new and interesting things even if the package as a whole is a bit of a mixed bag. It is a great starter set for Rock Band newcomers but offers little to veterans of the series other than a set of new songs to play with. Knowing which camp you belong to will determine how much satisfaction you will get out of game.