“While you were busy worrying about your ‘bass stance,’ I was over here killing it on vocals,” Rodman taunted Anderman after her high-scoring performance. “It was my first time playing bass,” whined Anderman, who scored a dismal 59 percent. “Wait till I get my hands on that microphone.” Rodman scored 95 percent, but the victory was short lived. While the Geddy Lee impersonation was killer, Rodman literally killed the game while attempting to play drums on “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones.

Snickering, Drake assured us that this wasn’t the first time an awesomely inept performance resulted in the blue screen of death on Rock Band. Happily, butchering your favorite anthem isn’t the beginning and end of Rock Band. Multiple layers of game play round out the rock ‘n’ roll experience, including the ability to customize the look and personality of your avatar, from hair color and hometown to body type and attitude.

“Dude, if you can’t rock an ascot, you can’t rock,” said Drake as he outfitted his alter ego “Axell” with hot-pink accessories, a flowing blond mane, moon boots, and a bird-of-paradise tattoo. The audience is a character as well. Your imaginary rockers can hit the road, winning or losing fans, earning money, scoring a van, and flying to LA to sign a record deal depending on how well they play. We won’t be flying to LA anytime soon.

Our third number was a classic-rock song by a female-fronted band that will remain nameless for licensing purposes. (The game comes loaded with 58 songs; following next week’s launch, more songs will be available for weekly download, as licensing arrangements are completed.) Anderman handled the tricky melody with aplomb, while Rodman approached proficiency on bass. “Sarah definitely benefited from my pioneering bass work on the Rush song,” Anderman pointed out, flush from her high score of 87.