Kotaku
The business of rhythm and music games is sort of like the real music industry. Classy little cult hits like PaRappa The Rapper, Vib Ribbon and Ouendan were once the sole territory of the especially hip. You could boast about your Taiko No Tatsujin skills to your rhythm-less pals, or quirk a brow at your uncool peers as you casually hit "play" on your obscure DDR songs during a house party.
Then Guitar Hero and Rock Band happened. Music games are officially big business now, and everyone and their mother (literally) wants in. Next thing you know, you're boycotting the Grammys and defiantly tattooing the word "sellout" on your forehead. Battle of the Bands for Wii is THQ's entry into the rock music arms race—but is it a worthy innovator on the scene, or just a trendwhore leaping onto the bandwagon?
Loved
Awesome Musical Mashups: Battle of the Bands is a "musical combat" game, meaning two bands from different genres square off to try and hit the right notes in the same song. Because of the range of musical genres to pick from—rock, country, hip hop, marching band and Latin—players have the opportunity to hear each of the game's 30 tracks covered in any one of these five musical styles. The quality of the covers is really thorough—right down to Spanish-language lyrics in the Latin versions, a lovely touch. Going up against a friend or the CPU, the song you're playing will periodically switch back and forth from your version to your opponent's, which feels frenetic, silly and fun.
Decent Song List: This is always a matter of opinion, of course - after all, many rhythm game connoisseurs prefer cool original songs that play well to any popular song. In this case, songs like "Insane in the Brain," "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Mama Said Knock You Out," for example, were all clearly chosen to work well with each of the different cover band styles, and it's fun to hear new takes on solid popular music.
Hated
The Controls: Are you tired of waggle for its own sake yet? The game's control scheme, which asks you to jerk the Wii remote left, right or down (depending on the direction indicated) in time with the music, doesn't serve the genre and becomes boring after just a few tunes. Moreover, the Wii remote sensitivity doesn't feel quite right here - for a keep-the-beat game, being just a little bit off is a total dealbreaker.
The "Battle" Thing: You don't just keep the beat in Battle of the Bands. Chaining accurate notes fires a special weapon at the enemy, who's also firing at you. You can push the Wii's B button to block, and you and your opponent only gain points if you hit one another. This method of scoring, however, feels tacked on, and distracts from the music.
The Aesthetics: Oh my goodness, it's hard on the eyes. If a froth-mouthed fanboy wants ammunition for his "glorified GameCube" argument against the Wii, he would be well-served to screencap this game. It's almost inexcusably low-fi.
The Characters: Guitar Hero III's goofy character designs took some knocks in the court of public opinion for their Muppet-ish proportions and stylized looks. Battle of the Bands' characters are even more exaggeratedly cartoonish - but that's less of a problem than the fact that some points of view might find them borderline offensive. The country bands are white trash hicks, the hip hop groups are thuggish and cash-obsessed, and the dialogue that opposing bands exchange before they fight contains humor that plenty of people will just find tasteless.
The Clone Factor: Imagine this: two scrolling fretboards with dots on them oppose one another on the screen. No, it's not the market leader, it's Battle of the Bands! True, that's what a guitar looks like, and a band game is bound to have guitars. But the game board is perhaps the most blatant example of the game's knocked-off, "me too" vibe.
There are a few reasons to love rhythm and music games - the joy boost you get from feeling as if you're actually playing, like with Guitar Hero or Rock Band; endearing periphery, a là Gitaroo Man, or utterly satisfying beat-keeping, as in Elite Beat Agents. Battle of the Bands lacks any of these points in its favor, unfortunately.
It's a shame, because the music is quite well-done and the core concept is encouragingly creative. The simple gameplay might be more enjoyable to younger kids or casual gamers who might be less inclined to mind the imperfections—but the crude dialogue would likely be a turnoff for casual fun-seekers, and it's not really suitable for young ones.
Battle of the Bands was developed by Planet Moon, published by THQ and was released on April 21. Retails for $49.99. Available on Wii. Played single player story mode to completion, and a few levels of local two-player battle.
Comments
Unfortunately, a decent tracklist does not a good music game make, and the concept is not enough to differentiate it from Rock Band.
I actually rented this and it is a phenominal 2 player game.
a friend of mine who really doesn't care for rythm games in general really enjoyed this with me, and we have been playing it all week.
The single player mode is pretty boring overall, I agree, but it is fun hearing which band has "control" of the song, especially when you choose a very weird genre intentionally.
The game gets kind of lame when both players choose the same genre.
I have to say this is purchasable if it were $20, maybe $30 at most, but is absolutely worth a rental!
So just wait for a Rockband on the wii to give to my nephew for xmas.
This game seems like a horrible imitation to make a quick buck not on it's own quality, but by parents who figure it's a cheaper alternative to the big guys.
The review doesn't seem to disagree with this notion.
Mess.
"Insane in the Brain"...
Do you mean to say I can actually re-enact that classic Simpsons episode "Homerpalooza" ?
"Did somebody order the London Symphony Orchestra? Possibly while high? Cyprus Hill I'm looking at you..."
(Or something like that)
@machinespirit: of course a good tracklist makes a music game. i mean, you wouldn't want a music game with tight controls coupled with solid gameplay, but with a terrible soundtrack would you? i wouldn't.
It's nice to see some press about this game, good or bad, as the game landed with a whimper. I have the game on my Goozex queue, if only to hear their work on the music.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: THQ = videogame poison.
played it for about an hour, got bored, and never touched it again.
i'll admit, it's funny how every song was recorded in different styles, but that couldn't save it.
@ChibiKyKiske: He meant a game cannot suck and just hope it'll get good reviews because the music is good.
The gameplay has to be good, too.
Another difference between cult-hit rhythm games (PaRappa The Rapper, Vib Ribbon, Ouendan, Electroplankton) and recent rhythm games is that the former games aren't only great music games but also feature innovative, groundbreaking design. Guitar Hero, as great a game as it may be, looks awful. And apparently Guitar Hero's graphics have become the new visual standard for music games.
"The Aesthetics: Oh my goodness, it's hard on the eyes. If a froth-mouthed fanboy wants ammunition for his "glorified GameCube" argument against the Wii, he would be well-served to screencap this game. It's almost inexcusably low-fi."
Ha ha, oh man.
After trying out those older guitar games on arcades (way back when most of them were still around), I already bored myself out of this genre. "Clones" likes these are helping, although ultimately, it's the price that's gonna bother most people about it.
@Truvill:
should be "are NOT helping"
I was hoping this game would be good. Oh well.
*flushes toilet*
@machinespirit: Not enough to differentiate it from rock band? In what way is this even SIMILAR to rock band?
@Sunjammer: In terms of gameplay of course. If all you need to compare it to rock band is that there's music in it, you're in a heap of trouble.
@ TRT-X:
Oh man, that made my day because i've recently been enjoying simpsons all over again.
Relic games are the only decent ones THQ ever published.
@Desfunk: This game reminds me that I wouldn't be against a few country or rap songs in Rock Band.
Or at least...I'd buy "Hey Ya!" for Rock Band.
@liquidnumb: Don't forget S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow Of Chernobyl. Amazing game published by THQ.
What's this game's rating? The review makes it sound kind of raunchy, and up until this point, everything I had seen about this game had me thinking it was targeted at kids.
So what we have here is a game that kids should be allowed to play, and that older folks won't want to play? On the Wii?
Great Success THQ!
At least the game caters to other music genres' fans.
You have to be idiot to think that Rock is the only worthy music genre.
@daCuk: You're right. We do have to be idiot.
Poor Planet Moon, what happened to you? In the past, a la Giants and MDK, they've taken their excellently bizarre concepts and matched it up with just-as-excellent gameplay. Hopefully Shiny, the company they left, hold up better when they put out Silent Hill and Earthworm Jim (has it been confirmed they're getting dev duties back for that?).
Mi madre dice que yo tengo que le da un punetazo a ti?
That'd actually be pretty funny to hear.
@ChibiKyKiske: Karasu already said it - music games need a strong tracklist and good gameplay. Just having one of those doesn't cut it.
@Sunjammer: Reading the review and looking at the screenshot should tell you the core gameplay and interface are very similar to Rock Band.
The only substantial difference being in the "battle" mechanics, which seem like a half-baked attempt not to be a pure Rock Band clone. When I said it's not enough to set the game apart, that's what I was referring to. It's a Rock Band versus mode with an uninteresting mechanic behind it.
Haha, I'm one of those people that has been playing the music/rhythm games for a long time. Those interested might want to hunt down copies of "Bust a Move/Groove" or "Bust a Move 2" for the Playstation. They were fighting/music games more in the style of DDR with the controller instead of actually playing the music though. They are pretty fun to play through. Here are a few links to youtube videos of both:
+ Watch video
+ Watch video
Any music-centric games have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I've got the Taiko No Tatsujin Drum on the shelf along with the Beatmania IIDX controller, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc. It has come up in conversation back in the past on Kotaku but I imported a DDR 3rd Mix from Korea way back in the day. A year or so later I imported a Beatmania IIDX machine from Hong Kong and put them into an arcade in small town Texas. It was culture shock for the cowboys at the time (DDR was still on the 1st Mix in the USA) but the weight conscience game players were dumping money into 3rd Mix at a record pace. I imported them mainly because I wanted to play them. I miss those days.
@machinespirit: If you're going to call this game a clone, then you should call it a Guitar Hero clone because it has a lot more in common with Guitar Hero than Rock Band. yes, Rock Band is a lot like GH but far more complex, just as Battle of the Bands takes GH for inspiration and spins off in its own odd direction.
@machinespirit: So um, this game doesn't use any instrument controllers, and its core mechanic (the one that's actually in the title) is about 'fighting' between two different genres of music.
Leaving aside maybe the visuals (let's face it they are shit anyway, who cares if they also look like similar to something else), I don't see any more similarity between this and Rock Band than between Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution.
In other words the problem is not that this game is a shitty clone, the problem is that within its genre it's a great, innovative idea - with a shitty game built around it. If it had been a bit more of a clone, like say by using guitar controllers, the game would probably be significantly improved.
Guitar Hero was a pure clone of the Konami original anyway, right? Didn't seem to do them any harm...
I no longer want this, but I'd love the soundtrack! Some of my favourite songs are on it and you can never get enough undead mariachi covers!
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