Am I just paranoid, or is Green Day: Rock Band still a good game despite its singular band focus?
If you're not a fan of Green Day, then there's no reason to rush out and buy Green Day: Rock Band, which contains 47 songs from the band that span 16 years. However, if you've ever liked the band, specifically the albums Dookie, American Idiot, and/or 21st Century Breakdown, then this game is fantastic. The songs are interesting to play, and there is a good amount of variety in the song styles from the band's punk beginnings to their recent rock opera tracks.
The presentation doesn't quite match the beauty of The Beatles: Rock Band, but it's good in its own right. The entire game features a Green Day influence, as the loading screens and menus are filled with references to them. Each of the three venues represents a different part of Green Day's career, and the band is stylized to represent how they looked during each era. They wear the black shirt and red ties from American Idiot, and look like a couple of young punks while playing in the mid-90s venue. Each song in the game is individually animated, providing an awesome effect that makes the game's presentation even more unique.
Playing through the Career mode will unlock photos and videos, which serve as the game's unlockables. The photos disappointingly have no explanation. So while there is a treasure trove of Green Day photos, you have no idea where the picture was taken, what they're doing, etc. Conversely, in The Beatles: Rock Band, each photo had a bit of trivia and information about the band and the photo, which was extremely interesting. The videos are mostly live footage, which is cool if only to compare the footage with how the in-game characters are animated.
Unfortunately, you cannot export the set list to other Rock Band games in the Wii version like you can in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, so the only way to play these tracks is with the Green Day: Rock Band disc.
Green Day: Rock Band is a well-presented game, but unless you're a Rock Band junkie or a die-hard fan of the band there isn't much of a reason to pick it up. Still, it's tough to deny the game's merits even if you don't care for the subject matter.