Review: ‘Rock Band 4’ mounts a raucous reunion tour

Rock is dead, they say.

At least it’s felt that way to fans of Harmonix Music Systems’ “Rock Band,” the game series that made jamming with fake instruments an essential part of video-game culture in the early 2000s. Those plastic guitars have likely been gathering dust since “Rock Band 3” came out five years ago.

Harmonix has decided it’s time to get the old band back together. And, unlike most reunion tours, “Rock Band 4” (for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One) arrives with all of its predecessors’ youthful energy intact. It’s the best party game around, turning the living room into a raucous nightclub.

The winning formula remains intact: Colored notes stream down the screen, and players press matching buttons on the guitar-shaped controller. Likewise, drummers have colored drum pads to strike, and singers need to match on-screen notes.

It’s all simple enough that just about anyone with even the slightest sense of rhythm can join in. And this version’s major addition — freestyle solos — gives players the freedom to cut loose.

Newcomers to the stage will want to invest in the $250 “Band-in-a-Box” bundle, which includes a guitar, drum kit and microphone. Solo acts can purchase the game and a guitar for $130. Grizzled veterans of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions can polish up their old gear and just buy the software, which costs $60 for the PS4 and $80 for the Xbox One. (The latter is more expensive because it comes with a required adapter for the old instruments.)

“Rock Band” old-timers like me have probably spent hundreds of dollars on downloadable songs. The good news is that Harmonix has upgraded a huge chunk of its library — some 1,500 tunes — and players can download previously purchased tracks for free. All kinds of great music is here, including dozens of classics from the likes of David Bowie, The Who and The Clash.

It’s fortunate that so many downloadable hits are available, because the 60-plus songs on the “Rock Band 4” disc itself represent the weakest lineup Harmonix has ever fielded. In a nod to what passes for “alternative” rock, players get vapid inspirational anthems from Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons and Grouplove. A few ’90s acts many people hoped they would never hear again, such as Spin Doctors and Live, rear their ugly heads.

However, there’s still room for reliable “Rock Band” stalwarts such as Foo Fighters, Jack White and Queens of the Stone Age. Some arena rock staples, such as Rick Derringer’s “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” and Van Halen’s “Panama,” make their “Rock Band” debuts. And players get a few invigorating blasts of weirdness from art-rock goddess St. Vincent and Rhode Island noisemakers Lightning Bolt.

There’s even a nifty slice of power pop from The Warning, a trio of three Mexican sisters, none older than 17. Long live rock.