Battle of the Bands Review

 

With the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises completely dominating America’s rhythm game market, it’s tough for a newcomer to stake its own niche in this genre. It has got to be refreshing and different enough to really stand out. Planet Moon’s effort, Battle of the Bands, fills both requirements, but the execution is ultimately lacking. It’s a decent effort, but obvious gameplay flaws tarnish what could’ve been a great game.

 

As the title implies, you’ll be duking it out against rival bands to rise to the top. The single-player campaign starts with you choosing the band of your preference, and then you go from city to city with the intent of being the best band in the known world. It’s a very straightforward and linear progression model, and the only freedom you have is the ability to choose which city you want to tackle first. Once you start playing, you’re going to notice something different.

 

Battle of the Band’s gimmick is that it isn’t focused on the rock genre. All the 30+ songs are recorded in five different genres – rock, hip hop, mariachi, marching band, and country. As you might expect, you’re also going to duel against or play as bands that specialize in each specific genre. Basically, this means you’re fighting for musical dominance in each battle, and the songs that you play with will bounce from country to hip hop, mariachi to rock, and so on. It’s very unique and the remixes are definitely the best part of the game, because hearing “Blitzkrieg Bop” jump from rock to country is definitely a strange and enjoyable experience for the ears. 

 

 

Unfortunately, with the remixes being the best part of the game, the gameplay is arguably the worst part. The basic structure of a battle goes like this – start by hitting notes, and then throw attacks at one another when you hit a certain number of notes in a row to make your rival screw up while attempting to block their attacks by a simple press of the B-trigger. Every once in awhile, the game will go into a short duel mode where all the notes are attacks, and each band will take turns in shooting attacks while the receiving end attempts to block them, which, if successful, will negate any damage to their point count. Sounds simple and fun, right?  

 

Basically, instead of hitting notes with a button, the buttons are replaced by waggling or stabbing the remote forward in the direction the game asks you to. This creates problems. Firstly, the remote isn’t 100% dependable; it sometimes doesn’t detect your motions, adding a small sprinkle of frustration into every song you play on. Combined with the fact that you have to rack up a note streak to use attacks against your rivals, things can get down right infuriating. The attacks can be crucial in determining who wins a battle. They can turn the tides either way, so imagine the frustration of not being able to score a fireball because the Wii just couldn’t understand your gesture. Yes, it can get very frustrating. 

 

A less distressing issue is the lack of any sense that you’re using an instrument. Waggling the remote around just causes your wrist to hurt and the developers seemed keenly aware of this, because it suggests you take a break every two songs or so. There is a visceral thrill when the remote does respond to your movements properly, and it’s during these moments when the game is a genuinely fun and experience. However, said fun is short-lived once the wrist pains start coming in, or when the remote flubs and doesn’t listen to your movements. Battle of the Band’s gameplay is a hit-and-miss package, but it largely misses.

 

 

The same can be said for the visuals. Planet Moon’s attempt to work around the Wii’s graphical limitations is admirable, but it ultimately hits the mark of “it’s good enough for the Wii.” That means the visuals are competent, but there’s just a lot lacking. The artistic direction aims for exaggerated and disproportional character models, and in that respect, it succeeds, but a lot technical qualities, like the lack of polygons and washed out textures really hurt the visual presentation. 

 

As mentioned before, the absolutely best quality of Battle of the Bands is its audio. 5 remixes for over 30 songs is an impressive feat, and how all the remixes actually sound good is worthy of much acclaim. The characters don’t talk at all; they just have little text blurbs that contain insults or jokes that are so unfunny that you’ll be glad that they don’t talk. This issue might even go so far as offend some. If you’re very sensitive about race and stereotypes, Battle of the Bands might get under your skin and irritate. Your best bet is to close your eyes and skip the text altogether. 

 

The single-player mode won’t last a very long time. In fact, it’s possible to blast through it in half a day, if your wrist is up to it. The multi-player mode can be fun if the game works correctly, but it might end up being another frustrating experience, except now you can share the frustration with your friends. Battle of the Bands is a neat concept and as great as its competition is, Battle of the Bands fizzles and won’t do much to make a nice little spot for itself in the rhythm market.

 

 

+ Remixes are fun to listen to.

+ It’s fun when everything works as it should.

 

- Inconsistent in detecting your motions, which leads to frustration.

- Can cause a sore wrist.

- Not a lot here after the campaign.