Battle of the Bands (Wii) Reviews

[RobRich]

If you've ever spent time forwarding goofy things you found on the Internet to your friends, you probably remember the bluegrass version of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" that was a staple of the file-sharing community in the late '90s. Hearing The Gourds warble about the life of a West Coast gangsta was immensely entertaining--and the song wasn't half bad, either. Planet Moon Studio, which may have been influenced by that song, took the concept of different styles of bands performing the same song and turned it into the game Battle of the Bands. Unfortunately, the great ideas stopped with the music because the gameplay isn't particularly good. As a result, you'll probably enjoy hearing the game's crazy versions of popular songs more than you will enjoy playing the game itself.

Source: GameSpot

[RobRich]

That's pretty much it. The music continues uninterrupted if you miss a note, and the controls will tire out your arm much faster than holding something like a guitar controller. And I'm not sure who decided that waggling a remote around is remotely analogous to playing music at all, but considering that you get a track that moves like most music games (although it down rather than up), the music should be more in tune with the action. It is interesting to have the two genres swap back and forth in mid-song based on who's doing well, but they don't really blend well; the game just finds a spot in between bars to 100% switch over. In some songs, at some points, and with some genres it actually sounds really amusing and good, but at others it's very disruptive. Not that it affects gameplay, as you could probably do just as well with the game muted as you could with the sound going.

Source: AtomicGamer