Battle of the Bands Wii Preview
THQ's Wii Band Competition Video Game Features Diverse Song List
Tired of Guitar Hero? The upcoming Wii game Battle of the Bands introduces new ideas to the music and rhythm genre and takes advantage of the Wii's remote.
Most video game fans are probably familiar with Activision's top-selling Guitar Hero series; the series, which requires gamers to hit the correct buttons on their guitar controller as notes flash across the screen, has sold millions of copies across the various video games systems. Thus, it's no surprise that other companies are jumping on the band wagon with their own "me-too" guitar games. The latest entry in this music and rhyhym genre happens to be Battle of the Bands for the Wii, due for a release in the United States on April 21st, 2008.
Battle of the Genres
As the title of the game infers, Battle of the Bands puts players in the middle of a band competition, playing against either the computer or a friend. There are just 30 songs in all in Battle of the Bands; however, each song can be heard in 5 different genres -- rock, hip-hop, country western, Latin, and marching band -- meaning there are essentially 150 tracks in the game in all.
Basically, at the start, each player will pick his or her favorite genre. The genre that will end up being played is the genre picked by the person who is doing the best at hitting the notes. However, if the other player starts doing better, the other genre of the song will begin to play. Thus, ideally, each "match" will be a back-and-forth battle where the genre of the song being played is constantly switched.
Song Selection
The game's publisher, THQ, has not put out an official song list, but the following songs are confirmed to be in the game:
- The Gorillaz' "Feel Good Inc."
- Tag Team's "Whoomp! There it Is"
- Tenacious D's "Master Exploder"
- The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop"
- The Commodores' "Brick House"
- KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)
- The Texas Tornados' "Adios Mexico"
- Black Eyed Peas' "Dum Diddy"
- Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain"
- Kool & the Gang's "Jungle Boogie"
- LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out"
- The Fix's "One Things Leads to Another"
- Soundgarden's "Spoonman"
- Def Leppard's "Photograph"
- The Soggy Bottom Boys' "Man of Constant Sorrow"
Unique Twists for the Wii
Rather than packagaging in a look alike of the Guitar Hero controller, THQ has decided to use the Wii remote as the guitar controller. So, as notes flash across the screen, instead of hitting a certain color button on a guitar, players will have to move their controller to the left, right, down, and forward.
And to make things interesting, gamers can make their opponent mess up in the game by shooting over special power-ups and weapons that are gained by playing well (similar to Guitar Hero's own Battle Mode). There are over 70 weapons in all, including land mines, smoke bombs and "flip outs."
Outlook
The biggest problem going for Battle of the Bands is that, for all the game's twists (such as the back-and-forth music battles and the new controls), the game still looks remarkably like Guitar Hero. And a basic rule of thumb is that "me-too" products are seldom as good as the originals. The songs, at first glance, are not nearly as familiar or popular as the ones included in Guitar Hero. And though the controls are an original twist, are they as good as the ones in Guitar Hero?
Thus, though Battle of the Bands could turn out to be surprisingly fun, gamers should take a "wait-and-see" approach at this point: check the reviews after the game releases, and rent before buying. Gamers should also consider upcoming games such as Rock Band for Wii, Samba de Amigo for Wii, or Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for multiple platforms.
