LEGO Rock Band

This title consolidates the Rock Band and LEGO series to create a game that shows there’s still some originality left in those franchises.

Twenty-five licensed songs from real artists are here to be tapped through, though mercifully without a Guitar Hero-style grip. The A and X buttons and up and left on the D-pad play the notes, while the shoulder buttons skip you between four instruments as they play simultaneously. The trick is to hop between bass, guitar, drums and vocals to keep them all ticking over. On harder settings this makes the game a great mix of music and time management as you juggle the parts of the band.

Four people can play wirelessly, and in keeping with LEGO’s kiddy-friendly vibe there’s a Super Easy mode (even the Expert mode isn’t too tough). All the songs are playable from the off in Quickplay mode too. There are loads of unlockable extras to buy with amassed studs – costumes, instruments, furniture and staff – and they’re all drenched in trademark LEGO humor so you’ll want the lot.

There’s nothing radically new here but it’s all been done very well. Not bad for Rock Band’s DS debut, eh?

Nov 18, 2009