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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.
Battle of the Bands
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 40 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game >
Game Info
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Planet Moon Studios
Genre(s): Music
Players: 2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: April 21, 2008
Summary
Enter into the world of musical combat where your rhythmic skills and weaponized instruments are your tools for domination. Welcome to the Battle of the Bands. 5 music genres: Rock, Country, Marching Band, Hip Hop and Ranchero. 11 unique style bands. 30 licensed tracks (each in 5 genres totaling 150 songs). 70 special weapons and attacks/ In each game, a song will be played in one genre for about 10 to 15 seconds and then another, flipping back and forth. Points are earned by beat-matching, and successive matches will automatically launch weapons such as smoke bombs, land mines and flip outs. The more points earned, the more the music will be played in the player’s genre. Battle of the Bands: Prove your favorite music genre is better than the opponents’. Weaponized Instruments: Battle to the top of the charts with an array of artillery and attack styles. Intense Rhythm Action: Feel the rhythm by swinging the Wii-mote in sync with different music melodies. Innovative Music Switching: Explore chart-toppers mashing up in different genres. Versus mode: Heads-on battles perfect for social and party game setting. Adventure mode: Compete with bands of other genres one by one all the way to the Big Boss battle. Music player: Blast out all 150 songs. [THQ]
Also On The Web: Official Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
GamePro
It's a fun little title that will prove especially pleasing to those who can't wrap their heads around Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It doesn't have the addictive staying power of those two heavyweight franchises but it's an accessible rhythm game that's perfect for the casual gamer and younger rock-god wannabes alike.
Read Full Review >n-Revolution Magazine UK
It's not going to hog your life like "Guitar Hero," but it's addictive and has its own identity in the rhythm-action genre. [Issue#23, p.67]
DailyGame
Battle of the Bands may have some technical issues, but they seldom get in the way of having fun or interfere with the creativity of the musical premise itself.
Read Full Review >GamingTrend
Battle of the Bands is good. It could have been better in a few ways: better quality sound, custom instruments in-game and out, and a little bit more flow in the beat timing.
Read Full Review >Gamers' Temple
It's an interesting novelty of a game that is best enjoyed occasionally at parties rather than as a Guitar Hero alternative.
Read Full Review >Worth Playing
It may be a good title to tide over rhythm gaming fanatics until Rock Band comes out for the Wii or Guitar Hero IV hits later this year.
Read Full Review >GameTap
Battle of the Bands is pretty fun, and it’s definitely a cheaper option in the whole music game fad than the peripheral-laden titles out there, but there’s just not a lot of depth there.
Read Full Review >Total Video Games
An original take on the rhythm/action concept and generally well executed on the Wii. Battle of the Bands nonetheless suffers from long-term issues that prevent this from being a must have.
Read Full Review >Nintendo Power
Offering a clever new take on the rhythm genre, Battle of the Bands is probably best described as a musical tug-of-war. [May 2008, p.87]
AtomicGamer
I don't think that the plan to make this a full-priced Wii game was bad, as the musical selection is ambitious, but in the final product the implementation of such simplistic Wii controls just don't work and really drag the fun factor down.
Read Full Review >1UP
As a casual rhythm game, Battle of the Bands gets big points for charm and humor, and the intended audience is sure to appreciate the ability to actually play this without too much difficulty. Guitar heroes looking for their next challenging digital wankery, however, are advised to move along. This one's just for laughs.
Read Full Review >Gaming Age
Give it a rental if you're thinking about picking it up, and try to play together with someone else to see what you really think about this one.
Read Full Review >Game Chronicles
Battle of the Bands has a fantastic concept that is lost in some overly simplistic gameplay that just fails to grab the gamer and keep them interested for any length of time.
Read Full Review >Jolt Online Gaming UK
Battle of the Bands is disappointing in many respects despite the promise held by its central premise.
Read Full Review >Game Informer
I haven’t laughed this much while playing a game since I was making fun of "Donkey Kong Barrel Blast," but Battle of the Bands’ one great idea would have benefited from some more robust gameplay.
Read Full Review >GameSpot
Battle of the Band's bizarre mashups are fun to listen to but not as much fun to play.
Read Full Review >games(TM)
Overall, Battle Of The Bands proves a novel, if slightly cumbersome, addition to the rhythm-action genre. [June 2008, p.118]
Armchair Empire
If the Wii is what you bring out for parties, Battle of the Bands gets a rental recommendation. Otherwise there's not enough variety in the gameplay department to hold a solo player's interest.
Read Full Review >Gaming Target
Battle of the Bands is a one-hit Wii wonder because is cleverly takes 30 well-known songs and remixes them in five different styles and does little else.
Read Full Review >Games Master UK
Makes you feel more like a sleepy conductor than a rock god. [Aug 2008, p.58]
GamingExcellence
There are better rhythm games out there, and without any real meat to it, Battle of the Bands feels like it has lost this one.
Read Full Review >IGN
I applaud developer Planet Moon for trying something fresh and original in the music game genre. But I have to give them a wag of the finger for treating the player like a child. Really, we can handle more than a few swings of the Wiimote.
Read Full Review >GameZone
This is a decent game idea that fails on several fronts. The gameplay is reflexive but the window to hit the notes is small and the frame rate stutters compound the difficulty of nailing the action.
Read Full Review >NGamer UK
The tunes aren't great and the gameplay is lifeless. [July 2008, p.58]
PALGN
Battle of the Bands offers some casual fun, but if you're looking for an engaging rhythm game there's much better ones out there.
Read Full Review >My Gamer
The developers at Planet Moon deserve some props. They have created a somewhat original concept, but just failed on the execution side of the gameplay.
Read Full Review >Eurogamer
A wrist-flicking rhythm game already has something stacked against it in keeping players engaged, but a bare bones gesture set doesn't give the gameplay much spark.
Read Full Review >GameDaily
As such, Battle of the Bands is a decent party game and worth a rental.
Read Full Review >Play.tm
Battle of the Bands is lazy game-making based around a briefly amusing idea.
Read Full Review >AceGamez
Be it the basic, largely pointless Story Mode or the by the numbers Multiplayer Mode, Battle of the Bands never ceases to feel like a missed opportunity and a huge disappointment.
Read Full Review >Cubed3
It's definitely not on the level of the 'big boys' of music games, but with a better budget, more time and more effort, there's something lurking under there that has potential.
Read Full Review >GameSpy
The novelty of the different musical styles just doesn't make up for the highly repetitive gameplay.
Read Full Review >Destructoid
The musical combat and genre hopping madness of Battle of the Bands showed so much promise, it's just disappointing that the gameplay is too shallow to hold up in the long-term.
Read Full Review >Games Radar (in-house)
Charm can only go so far in interactive experiences, and in Battle of the Bands, it's not quite far enough.
Read Full Review >DarkStation
As much as Battle of the Bands could have been, it ends up being a game that takes good ideas from other games, adds the very odd weapons, and gives a lackluster performance.
Read Full Review >Official Nintendo Magazine UK
If you must play Battle of the Bands then rent it - you'll be finished with it after a day. [July 2008, p.79]
GameTrailers
THQ's Battle of the Bands doesn't look good, sound good, or feel good.
Read Full Review >Gaming Nexus
Battle of the Bands takes the best elements of some recent hits and tries to combine them into something new and fun. Unfortunately, it misses the mark.
Read Full Review >G4 TV
Battle of the Bands simply has no legs. Once you’ve learned the basics of the game, there’s nowhere else to go.
Read Full Review >Game Revolution
Maybe instead of trying to make it work with the Wii-mote, they should’ve gone with the guitar and drums. Maybe they could’ve touched up the corners on their animations, so they didn’t look so blocky.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ivo B gave it a4:
An interesting idea and a nice track list obviously aren't quite enough to make for a good rhythm game. Poor control ruins even the small ammount of fun you should be getting from this over simplistic game. Games like Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 have proven that even the simplest rhythm based games (or mini-games) can be a lot of fun. Unfortunately Battle of the Bands misses the opportunity to become poor man's (or kids') Rock Band.
