Green Day: Rock Band

Written by John Scalzo  on May 31, 2010

Hands-On Preview: I don't want to be an American Idiot...

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Players of previous Rock Band or Guitar Hero titles will be instantly familiar with Green Day: Rock Band. You've got vocals (and in this case, three-part harmonies). You've got your guitar, bass and drum parts played by plastic instruments. You've got your scrolling note chart. And you've got some great music. In the case of this demo, you've got "Welcome to Paradise" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Like The Beatles: Rock Band, the Green Day gig recreates great moments from the pop punk trio's career. "Welcome to Paradise" is played at The Warehouse, a fictional dive that includes raucous fans and a grungy atmosphere. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the band plays "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England. This more recent set features the American Idiot stage show along with the black-and-white stylings of the "Boulevard" music video. Sadly, "Boulevard" appears to be the radio edit version. I don't know if that will be changed for the retail version of the game, but the demo featured a noticeable skip during the line "Read between the lines of what's/F---ed up and everything's alright."



Band members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool are captured in the same slightly cartoonish/slightly realistic style that Harmonix used to recreate the mop-topped Beatles. The developer has even managed to capture Green Day's young and hungry look from their Dookie days along with the "grown-up punk" style of brightly colored button-up shirts and ties they currently sport.

Green Day: Rock Band will be available in two different packages when it ships next month. The game-only version will include 47 songs from throughout the band's major label career (sorry Kerplunk fans). This track list will include the albums Dookie and American Idiot in their entirety along with the majority of 21st Century Breakdown. The remaining six songs from the band's most recent album were originally released as DLC on the Rock Band Store last year. They'll be included on the game's special edition, which has been titled Green Day: Rock Band Plus. Harmonix has no plans to release a full band bundle for the game.