Graphics: There’s no question that of all the rhythm games, Battle of the Bands is most comfortable “covering” Guitar Hero. The stylish designs, of the various bands and their arenas, mimic the exaggerated cartoons that rep the Guitar franchise. While some of the bands available for selection slide a little too far into caricature (the hip hop and rap groups suffer the most from this stereotyping), there are some creative designs that show artistic flair. The player can select bands made up of cowpokes, alien abductees or the living dead. Each group also possesses their own unique instruments that double as weapons, so as you play through each song, nicely animated renditions of the characters wage war on the screen above, alternating between guns and poses. Unfortunately, as with many music games, the player’s eyes are too glued to the scrolling bar to pay much mind to the battle above, meaning a lot of that graphical flare is lost on anyone outside of bystanders. The background arenas share the same artistic bent, and you’ll see some pretty creative venues, including the inside of a disco-themed alien mothership and the apparent bowels of Hell. This game’s sights are about on par with the genre, and you can certainly see that Battle of the Bands has cribbed a few notes from its competition.

Interface: The controls are very easy to learn, but that becomes the game’s greatest deficit. Music games have reached their current level of success largely due to the pack-in peripherals. Battle of the Bands provides all of the set dressing of a proper music game but then neglects the one facet that has improved the genre since the early days of Amplitude. Simply put, it needs instrumentation. By controlling all of the action through the Wiimote, I never once felt in control of the music nor did I feel like I was a true rock star. If anything, I felt the nagging strains of carpal tunnel creeping in as my poor wrist was called upon to front the whole show. There’s nothing broken with the controls as designed — they’re very responsive to your actions — but this game really needed to follow the leader and employ some instrumentation.

Gameplay: As a music illiterate, I was initially encouraged to see that I only needed the Wiimote. As cool as it is to get your hands on a Les Paul and strum the beat, I’ve found in other music games that anything beyond three-chord rock (i.e. easy setting) exceeds my abilities. That said, utilizing the Wiimote in a rhythm game tends to hamper the gameplay quite a bit. Essentially, you just flick your wrist right, left and up (occasionally employing some special moves) in time to the music displayed on the scroll. At no point do you actually feel as if you’re in control of a musical instrument. As long as you can determine which direction to point your controller, it’s all just a matter of timing your motions. So, while I might be all thumbs when it comes to Guitar Hero, I do see the appeal inherent in actually strumming a guitar or banging the bongos. The peripheral sells the fantasy, allowing the player to live as a Rock God. With Battle of the Bands‘ reliance on using the Wiimote, the learning curve might be solved but the fun factor is crippled. The game gets boring quickly. The other feature is the fact that you’re constantly competing against a rival band throughout the song. While it’s neat that your success in hitting the notes drives song selection, the battle between the two sides seems arbitrary. As long as you hit your marks, it’s not too difficult to work through the songs and come out the victor. At no point did I feel as if anything else was at stake, so the battle element just seems tacked on. Occasionally, you’ll be tasked with pressing the B button to deflect oncoming skill attacks, but that doesn’t really mix up the action as much as you’d like. I found that I continued to play through just to unlock the various versions of popular songs — all of which are available from the Music Player at the start, anyway. On that note, Battle of the Bands is good for a laugh but not necessarily good for a game.

Multiplayer: While I have issues with the repetitive nature of Bands‘ single-player campaign, there is some fun to be found in multiplayer. The musical combat format works well when played against a live opponent and the various status effects that you can deploy are more satisfying when you see the impact on a human adversary. While it might not match the dueling guitar heroics that other titles offer, jamming along with some of these wacky beats can lead to a lot of laughs. As such, this makes a pretty good party game, as the controls are fairly easy to learn (anyone can flick their wrist) and the music can become the life of the party.

Sound FX: Battle of the Bands employs sound design outside of just the track being played. Attacks feature distinctive sounds which alert you to what you’re sending your opponent’s way and what attacks you should prepare to defend against. The entire package is an aural delight, and while the songs all feature the “as made famous by” tag, they’re professionally recorded with the right fidelity.

Music: Music games live or die by their controls, their gameplay and most importantly their musical selection. To date, one of the Wii’s biggest flaws is its inability to download more songs to augment your playlist in games such as Guitar Hero III or American Idol: Karaoke Edition. Battle of the Bands can’t solve that dilemma but it does offer up a stellar set list of tunes made even better by the alternate variations of each track. Each variation is worth hearing at least once and some are so good — and so funny — you’ll want to share the experience with friends and family. The ability to cue up any version of any song through the Music Player is a nice feature which I can see being employed to provide soundtracks at house parties. The music carries this game to lofty heights.

Intelligence: The single-player game places you in direct competition with the AI controlled bands. While the AI doesn’t cheat per se, players will find themselves defending more attacks on the higher difficulty settings. That said, the combat doesn’t impede the gameplay too much, and you’ll have to worry less about the computer-controlled assault and focus more on the notes that are flying quickly by.

Difficulty: The real impact felt by a change in difficulty is the impact on your wrist. The higher levels will give you a beating — a fact that the game broadcasts by making frequent suggestions that you take a rest. Players will find a moderate challenge no matter which level they tackle but they might need to find a physical therapist if they stick with the higher difficulties for too long.

Overall: This was a very mixed title. On one hand, using the Wiimote finally enabled me to excel at a music game. On the other, I can clearly appreciate just how much more enjoyable music and rhythm games are when you have your hands on the right gear and can jam away all night. Without the instruments, Battle of the Bands follows the lead of so many other Wii games that rely upon motion sensitive controls to sell their gameplay. After swinging only your wrist in different directions for awhile, you might find yourself needing to get fitted for a brace. (Make it sequined and wear just one, and you might be on the road to pop stardom.) While the gameplay suffers as a result, the endlessly entertaining song list and mash-up motif make this a band worth listening to. At the very least, if the gameplay doesn’t grab you, the set list will. I think Planet Moon has a great hook with those alternate tunes. Were they to work some peripherals into the game design, they might have the start of their own special series. Perhaps that’s an idea for their inevitable reunion tour.