A smart consumer polls lots of sources before making a purchase. And as indisputably correct as my opinion may be, I don’t blame you if you want to see how other reviewers rated the game. In fact, I’ll make it easy for you; here are what some of the leading game-focused publications (and some of the mainstream press) are saying about the game:

1UP: B
“[T]he game avoids taking any necessary risks, focusing instead on presenting raucous concerts in the same carefully constructed way all of the Rock Band games have. But, honestly, both lapsed and longtime Green Day fans should enjoy this brief tour through the band’s hits.”

Ars Technica
“There are very few surprises here: fans of the music will think this is a must-have, while everyone else will shrug and wish they could download one or two favorite songs from the collection.”

Associated Press: 2 out of 4
“[D]espite Green Day’s ambitions and accomplishments, there’s not much variety in its set list. You have your fast, punky songs and your slow, melancholy ballads, but a sort of sameness settles in after a few hours.”

Eurogamer: 7 out of 10
“[N]ext to the breathtaking attention to detail of The Beatles project, as a celebration of a group’s creative output the package feels a little insubstantial.”

G4TV.com: 4 out of 5
“Green Day: Rock Band does a phenomenal job [of] helping you understand Green Day as musicians and as a group that’s stuck it out for a good long while. As someone who hasn’t really cared for new-age Green Day…I came to better appreciate their transformation.”

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I’ve been a Green Day fan, off and on, for about eighteen years now. (Yes, I’m old. Shut up.) My first girlfriend turned me on to them, courtesy of — if memory serves — a pen pal in Berkeley who followed the band since the beginning. I was just getting into more punk-like music at the time, and Kerplunk! was a revelation: Fast, powerful, and catchy as hell.

By the time they signed to a major label and released Dookie, I had already gotten over the idea of bands “selling out” by signing big-label contracts, so I was able to appreciate it for what it was: Sort of Kerplunk! part II, with better production and a slightly more poppy sound, and if it wasn’t quite as consistent as their full-length debut, it made up for it with some fantastically memorable tunes.

But those tunes got played to death on the radio and on MTV, and after awhile I got bored with it. So I didn’t pay attention when they followed up with a series of heavier, somewhat darker and snottier releases. It wasn’t until Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms (who, as some of you may know, was writing a column for OPM for awhile) enthused about American Idiot that I bothered to take notice again. I remember he said something to the effect of it being our generation’s Quadrophenia or White Album. I was positive that couldn’t possibly be true, but it certainly piqued my interest.

I don’t know that I’d make quite such bold statements about American Idiot, but it took me about half a listen before I realized Robin wasn’t far off. It’s a legendary rock album, one of the greats of the last decade to be sure, and to my mind it put to rest any question about whether Green Day had “sold out” or whether they were still (or were ever) “punk” or not. It just doesn’t matter. This is a spectacular album.

To my mind it would have been virtually impossible to follow it up with anything approaching the same quality, and I don’t think 21st Century Breakdown did. But it’s still a fine album, and that in itself is quite an achievement — that is, it’s an achievement that the next album wasn’t a complete disaster and a total letdown.

I’m telling you all of this to give you context for what I’m going to tell you about Green Day: Rock Band. I’m a fan — not the biggest fan, but still a fan — and I know that colors my impression of the game. I have had a hell of a lot of fun with this game over the past few days, and I imagine other fans will as well. But is it worth it for those who don’t have much experience with the band? I’ll tell you about my experience so you can decide that for yourself.

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A mysterious force swirling through a subatomic medium (by which I mean e-mail) has informed me that I ought to be receiving a copy of Green Day: Rock Band a few days in advance of Tuesday’s launch. Now, that same mysterious force has requested I not divulge any new info about the game until launch day, and though it’s a little perplexing given the fact that at least one review is already out, I’m happy enough to comply.

So, here’s what I thought we could do: Why don’t you let me know what, specifically, you’d like to know about the game, via the comment form below. I’ll collect up all the questions, do my best to answer them thoroughly, and set the responses to go live first thing Tuesday morning. That way you can have answers to your deepest burning questions waiting for you when you awaken Tuesday, and thus you’ll be able to decide whether you want to shower before heading to the store to pick yours up, or whether you simply can’t permit such a time-consuming (and, let’s face it, occasionally unnecessary) delay.

I’ll entertain questions through Monday night, so feel free to pop back in if you think of something later. Sound good? Good. Go!

Having now gone through both songs on the Green Day demo multiple times on multiple instruments, I thought I’d share some thoughts on the demo for those of you who may not have had a chance to grab it yet.

Song Selection: “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Welcome to Paradise” seem an odd choice for a demo, to me. Sure, “Paradise” is a fine little song, but Dookie is filled with better (and in more popular) songs. And sure, “Boulevard” is one of the band’s biggest recent hits, but it’s almost painfully easy, even on Expert. It almost seems to reinforce the impression that a game based on a pop-punk band can’t possibly be challenging or interesting — an impression that’s easily dispelled by “Welcome to Paradise,” but still.

And speaking of “Paradise”… Continue reading →

Well, that was refreshing; for once, a major story didn’t break while I was out of the office. Let’s hear it for the pre-E3 lull!

Anyway, I did come across this neat little behind-the-scenes Green Day: Rock Band video — thanks to RockBandAide for venturing into the black depths of Walmart’s “Gamecenter” to dig it up. It shows more in-game performance footage, and features interviews from project lead Chris Foster, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos, and the members of Green Day themselves. Enjoy!

[Gamecenter, via RockBandAide]

UPDATE: Here’s another, from Cleveland’s own Alternative Press, also via RockBandAide. This one deals a bit more with the philosophy of the game; be sure to stick around to the end to hear Rigopulos’ theories on cross-pollination.

We’re barely three weeks from the launch of Green Day: Rock Band, which means we’re likely to start seeing a flood of new content and coverage building up to release.

And kicking things off is an exclusive from GameTrailers: The entire opening cinematic of the game. It’s short, sweet, and arty, and does interesting things with song segues and imagery from Green Day’s two big concept albums. GT has been kind enough to enable embedding, so you can see the whole thing below, but be sure to click through to read the profoundly entertaining comments.

And by “entertaining” I mean “moronic.”

 
[Watch, via RockBandAide]

Interesting. Remember how project lead Chris Foster said that DLC for Green Day: Rock Band was going to be “just about finishing 21st Century Breakdown” and that “Kerplunk! would not show up in this game in terms of DLC”?

And then, remember how Green Day drummer Tré Cool seemed to imply that they were, in fact, working on getting pre-Dookie material into the game as DLC?

Well, G4tv.com was able to get a little more clarification on the whole DLC question, as part of an interview with both Foster and the band. From the article:

It’s been reported elsewhere that there will be no downloadable content for Green Day: Rock Band. Actually, Foster didn’t put the kibosh on DLC in the future. In fact, he went further saying, “We’re not ruling out a Green Day: Rock Band II or more Green Day on Rock Band. There’s just so much in the archives to work with, including their side projects like Pinhead Gunpowder and The Frustrators.”

(And let’s not forget Foxboro Hot Tubs!)

Now, of course Harmonix wouldn’t “rule out” anything in the future; that would be silly. And leaving the door open for more Green Day in the main music store makes perfect sense, too. But wouldn’t owners of Green Day: Rock Band feel a little jilted if more Green Day showed up in the main store, but wasn’t available in the game? I know I’d be a little salty.

But at the same time, do you really see Harmonix doing a full sequel? Even if this game sells like hotcakes, I’d be astonished if they took that route.

So where does that leave us? My new theory: a straight-up disc-based track pack. Something that can be imported into the main game, but also includes all the Green Day-specific characters, venues, and animations so that Green Day: Rock Band owners get something special. Load it up with 20 or 25 older songs, sell it for $20 with free import into the main Rock Band, and wait for the UPS trucks to deliver money to your door.

But don’t look for such a beast anytime soon; my guess is that Harmonix would wait to see how the game sells before making any kind of decisions about further investment in Green Day. Christmas? Maybe, at the outside, if they really wanted to push it — but next spring would be much more likely.

Check out the whole article for some fun chat with the band.

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