Rock Band [PS3]

The good news is that thanks to a steady stream of downloadable material, you'll eventually be able to unlock the jukebox by adding whatever songs you wish. With a decent pricing scheme that includes song packs, full albums and -- thank heavens --individual tracks, it's sure to lengthen your infatuation with Rock Band while turning MTV's already fat wallet into a bottomless piggy bank.

Considering how much gameplay they pack into this product, they deserve the payback. Each instrument other than bass enjoys its own Solo Tour mode, effectively tripling the output of Guitar Hero. After creating a character, players can hop into a fairly conventional tour through the game's song lineup. The order changes depending on the instrument -- Rush's "Tom Sawyer" is a lot harder on drums than guitar, for instance --but otherwise every tour works the same way. Cash earned through playing is spent on an enormous amount of awesome rock gear, from clothes and instruments to hairstyles and tattoos, which you can even design yourself using an editor. Unfortunately, the character management system is a bit wonky, forcing you to create separate avatars for each instrument (with different names, too) rather than tracking the progress of one uber musician regardless of the gear.

Ultimately, you'll use the solo mode as practice for the inevitable month-long party that will ensue the moment you let any of your friends over to play. They won't leave. That's because Rock Band multiplayer is quite simply one of the greatest party games ever created.

You can hop into Quickplay if you just want to bang through a few songs, but the real treasure here is Band World Tour. Grab three friends, give your group a sweet name, and off you go playing gigs in fake venues around the world. It's far more involved than Solo Tour, incorporating finances, fans, managers and tour vehicles into the mix. Nailing songs at higher difficulty settings nets you greater rewards, so there's an incentive to help your bandmates get better at their instruments.

The magic happens when all four of you are rocking at the same time and simultaneously slam into 'Overdrive' (the game's power-up score multiplier mode), your singer belting out a hypnotic wail as the drummer lays four on the floor. For a brief, glittering moment, you might think that you're actually playing music in a real band in front of real people, and chances are you'll have the real sweat to prove it. If one of gaming's foremost functions is to help us fulfill our most unlikely fantasies, multiplayer Rock Band is one of the medium's brightest stars.

And, at the moment, its most expensive. Currently the only way to play is by picking up the basic bundle -- guitar, mic, drums, sticks and game -- which will set you back roughly $170, and you'll have to add the cost of an additional guitar (Rock Band supports most third-party guitars) if you want the full experience (and you do). It's also a wiring nightmare, so don't forget to ask permission from whoever runs the living room before you turn it into a spider web.

But provided you take up a few extra paper routes and get the OK from your housemates, there's almost no good reason not to give Rock Band a permanent gig in your pad. It's light years past any other music game, yet is accessible enough to make anyone feel like a living room superstar. KISS was dead wrong: God didn't give rock 'n' roll to you. Harmonix did.