Been dreaming of the full-on (albeit virtual) rock star experience since your first timid, caterwauling foray into Guitar Freaks, DrumMania or Karaoke Revolution? Want to pull it all together, and then some? If so, Rock Band is probably the game you've been waiting for… when it works.

As a game, Rock Band is just what it sounds like: the whole drum kit & caboodle. Players can take the role of singer, drummer, guitarist or even bass guitarist; even those who would rock the world solo before sharing the rock-star journey with others can tackle a "world tour" by themselves... however, the single-player element definitely takes a second-banana position to the multiplayer element. The real point of the game is to function as a real four-person band, faux-ing your collective way through 50-plus licensed tunes.

Rock Band more-or-less seamlessly fuses the elements you've likely already seen in music/rhythm games past: For either guitar or bass, you're in familiar Guitar Hero territory (although grizzled Guitar Hero vets will find Rock Band less difficult overall) -- and for what it's worth, the physical guitars here are more sturdy and functionally fleshed-out (complete with better fret and effects controls (wired for 360 owners, wireless for PS3 owners -- 360 owners, by contrast, enjoy the benefit of a USB hub to which each player can connect his/her instrument).

Only one guitar is included per kit, of course, but if you've already got the 360 version of Guitar Hero, you're already set to use it as your second guitar controller. Lead guitarists alternate between main melodic lines and those bonus-snagging solos; bass guitarists obviously don't bask as much in the solo spotlight, but can (literally) rock the "bass multipliers."

Meanwhile, the lead vocalist follows the heart-monitoresque lines onscreen, doing his/her best to track the vocals on the song of choice, and the designated drummer is obliged to keep the beat with the four drum-pads and a kick-pedal (with a little freestyling to work out the inevitable extra, um, "enthusiasm"). It's arguably the toughest position in Rock Band's virtual hierarchy -- and in terms of venting, perhaps the most rewarding.

Speaking of rewarding, it must be said: Rock Band takes "videogaming" to hitherto-unscaled heights of nerdy glory -- when you and three friends are really kicking on-virtual-stage ass through a banger like Nine Inch Nails' "The Hand that Feeds," an antediluvian speed-metal anthem like Deep Purple's "Highway Star," or a fret-and-lung-buster like Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills," there really must be a live audience, if at all possible. See what you can scare up.

Aside from the flux in difficulty from other, previously-released rock/rhythm games, the only real knock against Rock Band -- and it's an unfortunate one -- is the rare-but-there issue of reported peripheral failures: broken mics, jammed whammy bars, blown-out USB hubs. Reports of such issues are still in the minority, and there is that two-month replacement warranty, and Harmonix has gone out of its way to let everybody know free repairs or replacements are at the ready… but none of those assurances addresses the point; nobody wants to face unreliable gear right out of the box. It's a coin-toss on this one: Do you feel lucky, Rock Star?

But that being said: When it works... oh, baby.

Rock Band takes up room, to be sure, and you'll definitely want other players in on it, so you'll need friends/paid accompanists, and there may be those game-peripheral issues, and it's undeniably expensive, no matter what your platform of choice, BUT, The first time your "band" of fellow-players comes even close to competently rawking through a song, it's a music/party-videogame experience like no other.