Ballad of the Bricks- Lego Rock Band Review

Arguably, Lego Rock Band was released at a fairly inopportune time. The title follows a plethora of music games released within the past fourteen months, each successive diversion flirting with the limits of market saturation. Additionally, the Lego Rock Band faces stiff competition from the simultaneous release of Activision’s Band Hero– a similar title which also seeks to ensnare a younger demographic, as well as a deluge of holiday titles.

Despite the strong possibility of invoking a case of music game fatigue, I approached the latest Lego release with careful enthusiasm. Past titles that incorporated the colorful bricks- from Lego Batman to Lego Battles, have been consistently amusing, and offered a vigorous amount of depth through their exhaustive amount of collectables. Although Lego Rock Band sticks closely to the music game formula, its moments of deviation tend to elevate the game; it just a shame there aren’t more of them.

The title’s story mode sees players forming a band, taking gigs, and subsequently opening new venues in their pursuit of melodic domination. While this gameplay closely emulates Rock Band’s career mode, there is one refreshing addition- success for each performance disburse a liberal amount of Lego studs, the games currency. These can be used to purchase a myriad of different character parts, managers, vehicles, and even adornments for the bands headquarters. With new items becoming available for purchase after each gig, the game’s incentive system skillfully maintains a player’s interest. It may sound silly, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy after the purchase of a firehose decoration for my band’s office.

As with many Lego titles, a few adjustments were made to ensure the game is accessible to all age ranges. The game’s Super Easy difficulty allows novice players to perform without having to worry about failing a song; any note that is reasonably timed will score points. Additionally, drummers having a hard time maintaining a song’s rhythm can toggle the requirement for drum pedals off, allowing player to keep tempo on the pads. Unfortunately, the game’s shortened song option is weakly implemented, with some tunes ending abruptly, rather that smoothly concluding or fading out.

Beyond the game’s standard stage performances, players may participate in a handful of amusing Rock Power Challenges. From using decibels to destroy an abandoned building to vanquishing an ominous octopus, these stages are one of the highlights of the game. Each band member is given a specified amount of time to ‘solo’, contributing to the group’s collective effort. Here, the typical visuals of a stage performance are intercut with brief snippets showing the band’s efforts, elevating the level of energy for each stage. It’s too bad the developers didn’t push Lego Rock Band even further. I would have loved to see some mini-games that used each instrument in novel ways; a Whack-A-Mole variant with the drum pads or a diminutive racing game that used the strum bar to change lanes could have complemented the Lego brand exceptionally.

Although Lego Rock Band‘s price is $10 cheaper than the typical music game, there are a few caveats with the reduced purchase price. After playing through Rock Band 2’s 84 songs, the 45 tunes offered on this disk feel a bit paltry. Considering an effort was made to appeal to younger audiences, the incorporation of tracks like T-Rex’s “Ride a White Swan” and Spinal Tap’s Short and Sweet is puzzling; even parents might bypass these songs. Those accustomed to the online features of the Rock Band series will be disappointed to find the title is a local-only experience, in an effort to keep the game family-friendly. 

Households looking for an innocuous way to introduce the music game to younger players will find plenty to enjoy in Lego Rock Band. With the disk’s numerous modifications which allow participants of all skill-levels to jam along, the title is easily recommended to families. Veteran players looking to expand their song collection should be aware of the game’s $10 export fee and lack of online multiplayer before hopping aboard the brick-pieced tour bus.

About Robert Allen

Since being a toddler, Robert Allen has been immersed in video games, anime, and tokusatsu. Currently, his days are spent teaching at two southern California colleges. But his evenings and weekends are filled with STGs, RPGs, and action titles and well at writing for Tech-Gaming since 2007.

51 comments

  1. Is that a lego Freddy Mercury? LOL!

  2. Loved the review, but maybe I’m a bit biased 😉

  3. thanks for the review. Now please cover the Lego Indiana Jones 2 game. I hear you can make your own levels!

  4. I might have to rent it. Do you have a song list for it?

  5. This was on the kids Christmas list. I’m glad to know it wont disappoint them.

  6. I have to comment on the Whack a Mole idea? Who the hell wants to play mini-games like that?

    Smaller action games are good, but no WaM!

  7. I was waiting for a “Good way to brick your 360 joke” but it never came.

  8. Totally agree with the music games getting stale. I was really looking forward to GH5 and got bored with it real quick.

    No interest in DJ Hero, although I hear its good.

  9. Are they making an indie game thats a platfomer controlled with a guitar. A small game like that in Lego would be awesome.

  10. I might have to get this as I collect all things LEGO.

    BTW, it’s usually spelled all CAPS.

  11. * All American Rejects, “Swing, Swing”
    * The Kooks, “Naïve”
    * The Automatic, “Monster”
    * KoRn, “Word Up!”
    * Blink-182, “Aliens Exist”
    * KT Tunstall, “Suddenly I See”
    * Blur, “Song 2”
    * Lostprophets, “Rooftops”
    * Bon Jovi, “You Give Love a Bad Name”
    * P!NK, “So What”
    * Boys like Girls, “Thunder”
    * The Police,”Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
    * Bryan Adams, “Summer of 69”
    * The Primitives, “Crash”
    * Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”
    * Queen, “We Are The Champions”
    * The Coral, “Dreaming of You”
    * Queen, “We Will Rock You”
    * Counting Crows, “Accidentally in Love”
    * Rascal Flatts, “Life is a Highway”
    * David Bowie, “Let’s Dance”
    * Ray Parker Jr., “Ghostbusters”
    * Elton John, “Crocodile Rock”
    * Razorlight, “Stumble and Fall”
    * Europe, “The Final Countdown”
    * Spin Doctors, “Two Princes”
    * Everlife, “Real Wild Child”
    * Spinal Tap, “Short & Sweet”
    * Foo Fighters, “Breakout”
    * Steve Harly, “Make Me Smile”
    * Good Charlotte, “Girls & Boys”
    * Sum 41, “In Too Deep”
    * The Hives, “Tick Tick Boom!”
    * Supergrass, “Grace”
    * Iggy Pop, “The Passenger”
    * Tom Petty, “Free Fallin”
    * Incubus, “Dig”
    * T-Rex, “Ride a White Swan”
    * Jackson 5, “I Want You Back”
    * Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk”
    * Jimi Hendrix, “Fire”
    * We the Kings, “Check Yes Juliet”
    * Kaiser Chiefs, “Ruby”
    * The Zutons, “Valerie”
    * Katrina & The Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”

  12. How many different items are in the game?

  13. Looks like a good one for the kids to play. I’m glad there’s no Barney songs on it 😉

  14. Someone said Iggy Pop is in the PC version? Are his pants slung super low in the game?

  15. Wow, that’s really mixed.

  16. Summer of 69 doesn’t seem like a good title for the little ones 😉

  17. Dont all Lego games go for $20 eventually? I’ll wait on this one.

  18. We Will Rock You is good for drums, but the into is horrible for guitar. The game makes you play guitar to the drumline.

  19. Son of Chuck Norris

    This is one game I can skip for now.

  20. 45 Songs is kind of a letdown these days.

  21. Does Band Hero have the GH5 music creation package?

  22. At this rate, music games will be dead in 2 years.

    I’m getting rally burned out on them, except for Beatles RB..

  23. $50 is good, but $40 would have been better. Maybe they’ll be a BF deal.

  24. The songlist only has about three must plays for me.

  25. Is there special DLC for it, or any Rock Band content?

  26. If people really like the song list, what stopping them from rented the game and paying $10 to export the songs.

  27. Short and Sweet is a song about a short girl that great for oral sex

    “short and sweet, my baby’s all mine
    head to feet, she’s barely 4’9″

    she don’t come up to here and she stays down there

    she don’t come up to here if you know what I mean”

    Classy little ditty.

  28. Good review. Too bad there’s not a collectors edition that let you build guitars and basses out of legos.

  29. There’s a code in the manual that you have to use. I guess if you get it, and are the first one to use it it will work, but why not support the developer?

  30. I got this on release date and agree with the score, it’s a good but not great game. It probably needs a bit more Lego-ish stuff in it, too.

  31. Sex, drugs, rock n roll has become Wii Sports, Red Bull and Rock Band. I thinks that a step in the wrong direction.

  32. Good review, guys.

  33. HAHA, how did that one sneak in?

  34. I’ll add it to my Lego collection eventually.

  35. Good review. Sounds like fun.

  36. $10 export fee…

  37. Fair assessment. It was a fun play through but this watered down game really screams “It could have been better!”. The DLC filter is annoyingly arbitrary, and the create-a-rocker system is flawed. The story mode is the real highlight, with lots of unlockable gigs and a reason to play them.

  38. Nice review. Lego Rock Band is the only music instrument game that makes sense to me. Lego’s are toys, guitar controllers are toys…

    Too bad the set list is so much smaller on this version.

  39. Great review.

  40. Although this feels like a cheap expansion, there’s at least a couple of good songs in there.

  41. I really don’t see the point in a lego themed rock band, nothing really has changed except lego themed buttons.

  42. I think I’m going to pass on this one.

  43. Too many music games coming out.

  44. It has the Ghostbusters theme. That’s at least worth a rent.

  45. Really looking forward to Lego Rock Band when its finally out in the UK on 27th! 😀

  46. Still not sure about this one. Though, I imagine it’s more fun with younger relatives.

  47. Wish I could find a deal on this game. Don’t want to pay $40+ but I want the songs in Rock Band 2 for a Christmas party. I really didn’t want to go to Old Navy at 3:00 a.m. for this game…

  48. Got this game at Old Navy on Black Friday, enjoying it but I wish it had online modes.

  49. When I first heard about this game I thought… wow they must be joking… a Lego Rock Band game. It however gave me a little hope with the set list that it had. Hopefully it’ll be able to live up to at least those expectations.