Lego Rockband Hands On

I love LEGO. I love Rockband. So ideally LEGO Rockband should be one mind exploding experience. But I still can't quite understand WHY these two awesome things have come together. Good news is though, it doesn't matter. LEGO Rockband is a heap of fun.

I got a chance to try it at GamesCom as Aaron from Harmonix explained how they gave Traveller's Tales (the creators of the other LEGO titles) full access to their Rockband engine. The end result really is the perfect combination of the two worlds. For starters all of the in-game presentation carries that tattoo-like art style of Rockband but instead the elements are recognisable as LEGO pieces. Shark-heads, little LEGO mini-figs with tattoos and plastic swords form decorative emblems through-out the menu screens. In fact I didn't realise just how cool this game could potentially be until I saw it load up in front of me.

Firstly we created our four piece band. The game includes pre-set bands but players can also customise them with an editor that is almost identical to the one we saw in Rockband. It allows you to change out the legs, torso or head and give them accessories – all with the LEGO flair of course. Our band line-up soon consisted of a skeleton vocalist, a deep-sea diver complete with retro fish-bowl-type helmet bassist, a jester on drums and just to keep it real – a normal mini-fig dressed up like a rock chick on guitar.

The loading screens will be familiar to Rockband players too, with hints and trivia popping up between tracks. Except fans can now expect LEGO facts to appear now too – including how many bricks would it take to reach around the planet?

Once in the game, it played out just like normal Rockband with the instruments lined up along the bottom and vocals along the top. Except the indicators floating down the fret-boards were now coloured LEGO bricks and your band was made up of LEGO men rocking the joint. It was hilarious and all of the cute humour and little quirks that Traveller's Tales have learnt in their journey are included. Apart from just pleasing the crowd though, the game now includes little story campaigns too. In this case, we were playing in an abandoned warehouse that needed demolishing. So what better to bring down the place than some hardcore rock? Towards the end of your gig, if you did well – the entire building will start crumbling down around you, LEGO brick by LEGO brick as your band build up to the finale.

And of course, what would a LEGO game be without some building? In this you will be able to put your creative juices to work by building your own tour bus or band van to really put your band on the road. As you can imagine, LEGO Rockband is intended for an younger audience and the game will also include a new difficulty of “Super Easy” for beginners and the little wee ones. But it's not JUST for the kids... it's also for big giant freaks like me (I'm 28 years old and still buy and play with LEGO) and the game will still include the advanced difficulties going up to Expert. Also the track listing isn't dumbed down for kids either and although it hasn't been finalised yet, Harmonix have announced that “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty will be included.

Stay tuned as NZGamer.com will announce more details as we get 'em!

NZGamer.com would like thank Activision, Capcom, Microsoft NZ, SCENZ, SEGA, THQ and Ubisoft for making this trip possible.