It's been about a month and a half since I sang praises for The Beatles: Rock Band and based upon the outstanding sales it has seen in that timeframe, it is safe to say that a lot of other people are enjoying the game as well. I'm going to go ahead and assume my review was responsible for the game's success, but I'll throw The Beatles a bone and say that some of those purchases were due to their musical genius. You are now able to delve deeper into that genius with the release of the first downloadable album, Abbey Road. Does this iconic LP carry the weight of its $17 price tag or will you end up wishing you never gave them your money?

First and foremost, I'm a big fan of the Abbey Road album. Along with Revolver, it was one of the first re-mastered Beatles CDs I purchased. The first half of the album is chock full of memorable singles like "Come Together", "Something", "Octopus's Garden", and "Here Comes the Sun", while the second half is a medley of shorter numbers that show off the broad range of The Beatles. As it turns out, though, almost all of the well-known singles are already in The Beatles: Rock Band to begin with, so completing the Abbey Road album is for the most part adding that B-Side medley. However, you do get three singles that round out the album with the growling "Oh! Darling", chillingly upbeat "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and mostly forgettable "Because".

These new songs incorporate into the game via any of the modes except Story Mode. All the tracks contain new Dreamscapes and while they still show off the game's wonderful art style, they just aren't quite as magical as the visuals in the original game. There are some individual touches such as the "Bang! Bang!" lyrics from "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" appearing on screen and the changing weather in "You Never Give Me Your Money" fits the shifting tones in the song beautifully. Unfortunately, I felt like a lot of the other Dreamscapes were slight variations of things we had already seen in the original game with a few new filters.

The nice thing about how they've handled the B-Side is that you have the option to play the songs in small pre-determined sets or you can play through the entire sixteen minute medley as one complete track. While I first played through the medley in chunks, the continuous method (while brutally hand-cramping) is truly the best way to experience those songs.

In the end, whether or not completing your Abbey Road album is going to be worth your money really comes down to how much you enjoy the original LP's arrangement. As I mentioned, I'm a big fan of the album so had decided this was a day one purchase long ago. However, I will say that $17 for 24 more minutes of The Beatles: Rock Band is teetering on exorbitance even for me.

Very Good
Outstanding | Very Good | Fair | Poor | Awful

Recommended Buy Price: $13.00
Current MSRP: $17.00

The Beatles: Rock Band - Abbey Road "Complete Album Pack" was provided for review by Harmonix and MTV Games. The content was played to completion on co-op playing the guitar and bass parts in about forty minutes. The "Complete Album Pack" is also available for the PlayStation 3.