Official Wii60 Review: Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands
Platform: Wii - Developer: Planet Moon Studios
Genre: Rhythm Game - Two Players
Reviewed by rf
Introduction
With the advent of Dance Dance Revolution, game play changed forever. Gamers suddenly were required to learn rhythm and timing and use these newly acquired skills to defeat their gaming foes. Games like Elite Beat Agents further pushed these skills; tapping in rhythm on the DS allowed one, as a secret agent, to fix everyday problems AND save the world from aliens. Guitar Hero and Rock Band kicked the rhythm-game genre up a notch; gamers followed scrolling notes across a screen to be a better rocker, gain fans and money, and win. Battle of the Bands for the Wii is the next step in this musical rhythm game genre. Using the wiimote, players hit notes scrolling across the screen to further their band’s performance. These accurately hit notes, however, don’t just add to the players score, they form attacks which the player uses to crush its competitor’s band–be it the computer or another player. At the end of the song, only one band survives.
The game play is well designed. Players choose a “band” as their character; there are 11 bands to choose from that range from rock band to marching band to country band. Each of these bands has well fleshed out characters with goofy antics and moves. You can play the game in one of two modes–adventure mode or challenge mode. Adventure mode is more of a plot-based narrative where the player moves through the songs in a pre-determined order. Weapons are unlocked as the player progresses through the songs. In challenge mode, players choose their own song and weapons. The songs are representative of a wide variety of musical tastes from Death Metal to funk. The best part of the game is to hear the songs performed in each genre of music. I was giggling even on the screen menus where you get to hear, “Insane in the Membrane,” performed by a country band, rock band, hip-hop band, and my favorite–the mariachi band.
Using the wiimote to hit the notes gives this game a level of physicality that is somewhere between Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. The silly characters and songs make it a lot of fun to play with friends or even against the computer. The best part of being victorious is watching your competition be completely destroyed. All-in-all, I give Battle of the Bands an 80 out of 100 for good, clean, silly, fun that has all members of the family moving and rocking out.
Check out the Battle of the Bands mini-game here: www.rocketxl.com/bob
Pros
+ Great song selection
+ Fun two player combat system
+ Lots of unlockable weapons
Cons
- A bit of a learning curve
- Sometimes wonky wiimote accuracy
