A couple weeks before Comic-Con, I won a Twitter contest from the official Rock Band account to be able to play Lego Rock Band at Comic-Con. I even got a special VIP badge and a cool t-shirt (which is, sadly, fading a bit already). So I figured the least I could do is write up my impressions of the game from my brief hands-on time.
So, like I said, my time with the game was very limited. There were lots of people, and I needed to run to a panel to meet up with friends right after I'd played, so I only got to play one song. We did "Breakout" by the Foo Fighters, which was fun (though I'd wanted to play Final Countdown, but the other people didn't, so whatever).
For better or for worse, the game feels JUST like Rock Band. I personally like it; it's literally Rock Band with Lego stuff everywhere. The notes are little Lego bricks, and the characters are mini-figs. Speaking of which, the characters have clever Lego-ish names, which I thought was pretty cool.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of the neater character designs they're supposed to have (such as Vikings), but I'm sure they'll be pretty sweet.
One noticeable difference (beyond the Lego-skinning, of course) was that guitar solos don't display the percentage notifier (at least, it wasn't there in this build). Now, I don't think this is a bad thing - I'm iffy on the one in Rock Band - but it was a noticeable absence at least.
The only real complaint I had was that due to the studs on the notes, it the fretboard was a little more crowded looking, which did make it a little harder to play. Not much harder, but it was a little distracting. Still, if that's my only complaint, I'm not too worried - it's something I'm sure I'd get over if I played more than one song.
Also got to watch some people play a couple other songs (Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" was a favorite), and the note charts look pretty good. Just the kind of thing I'd expect from Harmonix.
So yeah, I liked it. I've already committed to buying The Beatles: Rock Band when it comes out though, and a few other games are on my radar, so I may wait a while to pick this one up. But that's more because Rock Band 2 is still as awesome as ever, not because there's anything wrong with Lego Rock Band.
Special thanks go out to Harmonix and the Official Rock Band Twitter for hooking me up with the chance to play.
(Also, I am fully aware that Comic-Con was two weeks ago. In the internet world, it's old news. But I went from hanging out with our guests to studying for finals to camping with my family, and this is the first chance I've had to really sit down and write it up.)
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So last night, I turned 21. I didn't have anything big planned, but fortunately my friends did. Aaron and Natalie took me out to BrewCo, and when I walked in, about 20 of my friends were there. Pretty awesome. 
It was just awesome that so many people could come, including people I really didn't think I'd see there. I'm not one for a ton of fanfare, and I think this played out perfectly. Thanks to Aaron for putting it all together, and to everybody who could make it. I had a blast.
