Rock Band 4 review: classic musical thrills with room to develop

Its on-disc soundtrack may be more filler than killer, but backwards compatibility, solid instruments and wig-out solos make it awesome

In the last decade, the phrase "social games" has come to represent a very specific gaming category. Initially, on Facebook with the likes of Zynga's FarmVille, and then on mobile led by the ubiquitous Candy Crush Saga, it tends to mean casual games that are highly connected to social media sites.

Yet video games have always been social. From Pong to Sensible Soccer to Mario Kart to World of Warcraft there have been titles that could be played alone, but were much more fun with friends. And perhaps the most joyful among them, were the ones that involved looning about with plastic instruments.