From the moment the game was announced and it was revealed that you would be able to export the songs and play them in Rock Bands 1 through 3; everyone was totally excited. I could see that excitement whenever I passed by the Rock Band setup at Pax East as they were demoing Green Day: Rock Band. People couldn’t stop talking about how awesome the game was and the shocking part was that this was about two months prior to the game’s release. However, the true question would be whether or not Green Day: Rock Band would be able to live up to it’s predecessor, The Beatles: Rock Band.
Well, what if I don’t know who Green Day is? Why should I get this game?
If you like punk music then chances are that you might have heard Green Day in one form or another. Their album, “Dookie”, was a huge success that was aided by repeated air time on MTV. In fact, this past year the band released their eighth studio album and even brought their previous album, “American Idiot”, to Broadway. With all of their success, it might have been only fitting for the band to get the Rock Band treatment.
So what does the game have to offer?
If you’ve already played through The Beatles: Rock Band then you’ve pretty much played through Green Day: Rock Band. You play through different venues and challenges to unlock exclusive band related content. The Beatles are replaced with the trio from Green Day (lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool). The screaming girls are replaced with people who are actually singing along with the band on stage. The only thing missing is the crowd surfing.
Additionally, it’s much easier to keep your eyes on the notes in Green Day: Rock Band, than it was in The Beatles: Rock Band. That was a major problem in some of the more interesting dreamscapes in The Beatles: Rock Band.
But the game’s got such a solid setlist of 47 Green-tastic songs that I looked past all of the similarities. I didn’t care that there were only three venues. All I wanted to do what lock myself up in my room and blast the TV and sing Green Day. Most likely you’ll find a fav or two on the disc. Plus, you are able to unlock challenges where you can play three full-length albums: “Dookie”, “American Idiot” and “21st Century Breakdown” (after buying all the additional DLC from the Rock Band Music Store).
But seriously, there is a good solid game here. If you’ve ever wondered what it felt like to be at an actual Green Day concert, then this is the game for you. You won’t have to suffer through the mosh pits of sweaty stinky people, like I used to (and honestly, still do!). And you might know 80% of the songs included on the disc. And it’s just so damn fun to play!
What about the cussing? Don’t Green Day songs include a lot of inappropriate language?
There lies the major problem here, and it’s just not with this title. While I was beginning to get immune to the censorship of game content, Green Day: Rock Band highlighted how bad the censorship is while playing a music game. I found myself still singing the curse words but had a weird sensation while doing it. Like it felt wrong. Since the words weren’t on the screen, then I shouldn’t be saying it. It was awful.
Should songs that contain inappropriate language even been included if it’s censored?
Are they even worth playing if the songs is just air after awhile?
Should I feel bad for cursing if the song calls for it?
Should I retrain myself to re-learn the song that I have been singing along to all my life?
I can’t find a reasonable solution to this problem but it’s something that needs to be looked at when a majority of a band’s songs need to be censored because of inappropriate language. It’s a topic for a bigger conversation that can’t be solved in this review, unfortunately.
So, what’s the bottom line here?
The bottom line is that I’m 100% sure that most people who get this game, are probably only going to play for a few hours and then export the songs and go back to Rock Band 2. Come on, I know how the gaming community is. You want Green Day songs for Rock Band 2 and now you have them.
Green Day fans will love all the exclusive unlockable content but everyone else will definitely grab the songs.
Pros
Green Day tracks, Easier background for note charts, Harder difficulty than Beatles, Exclusive unlockables
Cons
Censoring for inappropriate language, only three venues, no story videos like Beatles
