With a band-themed music game – Green Day Rock Band being no exception – it's too easy to say “if you like the band Green Day, you'll like the game. If you hate Green Day, this probably won't change your mind.” But this game presents more than just a simple Rock Band expansion with new songs. Just like The Beatles Rock Band, the featured group injects their personality into everything from the menus and in-game performances to the unlockable live concert footage. Though, also like The Beatles Rock Band, Green Day fails to try anything truly innovative. Still, developer Harmonix proves that they not only know how to craft a fine music game, they know how to pick just the right subject matter, as well. I'm not a music critic, so this is a review of the game, not the band. But as someone who hasn't listened to a Green Day album in its entirety since Dookie, I was surprised by the wide focus of the band. Dookie is just as infectious as it's always been, but I wrongly assumed that the group had kept making those same pop-punk tracks in subsequent years. However, songs like “Peacemaker,” which mixes surf rock and gypsy guitar rhythms, or the Latin rock-inspired “¿Viva La Gloria?” stray from the band's typical sound, yet remain catchy enough that I was still humming them the next day. While nowhere near as influential as The Beatles, Green Day certainly proves that they have the range to support a full videogame around their music, without the setlist becoming stale.
