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Lego Rock Band Hands-On

We grab some plastic guitars one more time in this Lego-themed music game.

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If Aerosmith, AC/DC, and Metalica can rock out, then surely the minifigs deserve their own music-themed game. We had a chance to check out Lego Rock Band today and are still puzzled by how those fingerless hands can play the guitar so darn well.

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The gameplay in Lego Rock Band should be familiar to anyone who has played the other games in the franchise or any of the competing music games for that matter. Notes scroll down the screen, and you play along with either your plastic guitar, bass, or drum set. You can also belt out vocals if you fancy yourself the frontman. The only tweak to this formula is some Lego-themed aesthetics. The colored gems you’re accustomed to playing have been replaced with Lego pieces, and the normal humans you would expect to see rocking out onstage have been exchanged for minifigs.

Aside from the standard Quickplay mode in which all the members freely play along to the music, there is a new Challenge mode. Here, you rock with a purpose. In the level we played, "Breakout" by the Foo Fighters set the mood for a building implosion. As we successfully jammed, we started to bring the house down. Literally. The characters would react to the destruction, dodging out of the way of falling beams so as not to crush their precious hands. When a specific instrument didn’t have any notes to play (such as the instrumental segue where David Grohl doesn’t have any lines), the segment drops out visually as well, giving you more room to view the destructive action. This mode doesn’t change the gameplay at all, but it’s a neat diversion.

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The songlist is geared more toward families and younger audiences. There are songs from The Foo Fighters and Good Charlotte, as well as the always-loved Final Countdown. Don’t expect any hardcore thrash metal in this game. But you can expect it to come out later this year.

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