Apart from a loving tribute to a landmark act, Harmonix's singularly-focused rhythm game The Beatles: Rock Band is just as significant a work for being what is essentially gaming's first, best interactive documentary.
Tracing the band's rise and rise from their inauspicious Cavern Club beginnings to the Apple Corps rooftop finale, TB:RB offers a look inside the life of the band both overt (see: the traces and ephemeral snippets in the form of unlockable photos and fan club merch) and covert (see, here: the difficulty-arc-dip from their early, more technical work — a band with something to prove — to the remarkably simple bliss-outs as they move into their, er, higher, altered states).
But possibly its most remarkable achievement is the art and motion graphics that went in to the game, from Passion Pictures' eye-searingly gorgeous intro and outro videos, aided by Alberto Mielgo's concepts (at top), and the 'Kid Stays in the Picture'-esque interstitials by Kansas City, MO's MK12.
Below the fold, then: the best of all the above in a high-res gallery, giving you everything but the game.
The intro and outro videos directed by Pete Candeland (the Passion Pictures producer best known for his work animating The Gorillaz) remain the highlight of the entire TB:RB experience, as becomes instantly clear with a quick view of the following.
Illustrator Alberto Mielgo was instrumental at concepting the animated-look at the life of The Beatles, as seen with his setpieces below.
And MK12, the studio who you might otherwise recall for their Agenda Suicide video for dark-wave band The Faint, put together these chapter-bridging interstitials that lead you from venue to venue, and era to era.
See Harmonix's official The Beatles: Rock Band website for more information on the game.
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