Review: Green Day Rock Band

Posted by Gary in Reviews | 1 comment

Jul 07, 10

The latest addition to the Rockband series is punk rock band Green Day. I always found a huge amount of energy in Green Days songs and so thought it would fit perfectly into the average gamer/wannabe rock stars arsenal.

There were a few issues I could see. If Harmonix decided that certain Green Day songs were not suitable for the game, they would simply be left out. Now as Green Day fans can tell you, American Idiot is an album that has to be listened to in its entirety. So what did Harmonix decide? You got it, full albums (well some of them anyway)!

Here is the song list from the Official Rock Band Forum:

The Warehouse: A fictional venue that captures the feel of early Green Day shows and performances.

Dookie (1994)

“Burnout”
“Having a Blast”
“Chump”
“Longview”
“Welcome to Paradise”
“Pulling Teeth”
“Basket Case”
“She”
“Sassafrass Roots”
“When I Come Around”
“Coming Clean”
“Emenius Sleepus”
“In the End”
“F.O.D.”

Milton Keynes: The UK concert made famous by Green Day’s 2005 movie for “Bullet in a Bible”.

American Idiot (2004)

“American Idiot”
“Jesus of Suburbia”
“Holiday”
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
“Are We the Waiting?
“St. Jimmy”
“Give Me Novacaine”
“She’s a Rebel”
“Extraordinary Girl”
“Letterbomb”
“Wake Me Up When September Ends”
“Homecoming”
“Whatsername”

Warning (2000)

“Minority”
“Warning”

Nimrod (1997)

“Hitchin’ a Ride”
“Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”
“Nice Guys Finish Last”

Insomniac (1995)

“Brain Stew” / “Jaded”
“Geek Stink Breath”

The Fox Theater, Oakland: The place where Green Day performed an intimate show for the band’s most recent album.

21st Century Breakdown (2009)

“Song of the Century”
“21st Century Breakdown”
“Before the Lobotomy”
“Last Night on Earth”
“Peacemaker”
“Murder City”
“¿Viva La Gloria? (Little Girl)”
“Restless Heart Syndrome”
“Horseshoes and Handgrenades”
“The Static Age”
“American Eulogy”
“See the Light”

The following tracks are already available in the Rock Band Music Library of downloadable content giving players the chance to complete the full 21st Century Breakdown album, view unique performances and venue visuals, and unlock exclusive collectible content!

Downloadable Content

“21 Guns”
“Know Your Enemy”
“East Jesus Nowhere”
“Last of the American Girls”
“¡Viva La Gloria!”
“Christian’s Inferno”

Now lets not get over excited, this has led to a problem. Its really only noticeable to the vocalist of your pseudo punk rock band. Swearing is prohibited and so you find gaps in the songs. I found myself singing along to St Jimmy and then losing complete track of where I was because the vocals just cut out! I’m not much of a singer so I dunno if it was the same in any other Rock Band, but I found it very off putting.

As for the game itself, LOVE IT. I never realised how much I actually like Green Day until I found myself dancing around like a deranged cat in my room. It really sucks you into the game when you get to play the full album. I find myself getting bored of some of the random sets you play in the other Guitar Hero and Rockband games. Green Day leave them all in their dust!

I wont go into a huge amount of detail with the game play as I am sure you all know enough already. But I will admit I found that the vocals were a good bit easier than expected. Guitar and drums vary in difficulty as normal.

Physically the game looks great. You get a good representation of the lads and the drums are acted out with relative accuracy. Good enough to bring you into the moment!

The career is similar to the one in the other band specific game, The Beatles Rockband except you have your choice of songs. It adds a good deal more interest to the game I found. Now me, having the attention span of a small rodent, needs something like this to enhance my interest in the game.

And so, I will award Green Day Rockband a much deserved 4/5. Not just because it is a Rockband/Guitar Hero style game (which you will know from my previous reviews) that I am a huge fan of, but because it has less choice of songs but executed perfectly!

So go on and get it!!