Music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band aren't exactly a dime a dozen, but seeing their great success, many publishers are now looking to jump on the rhythm bandwagon. Battle of the Bands - the latest from publisher THQ and developer Planet Moon Studios - isn't quite in the same league as the two smash hits. Although not a bad game, it's more like a local cover band to Guitar Hero's premier, world-touring rock star - and like any run-of-the-mill cover band, Battle of the Bands is likely best relegated to frat parties and dusty dives.

Battle of the Bands doesn't actually play all that similarly to Guitar Hero and its ilk. There's no peripheral for starter; you use your Wiimote to play along to the music. The only real, rather skin-deep similarity to Guitar Hero is in the look of Battle of the Bands during gameplay - rhythm markers move along a conveyor-belt-style platform (that, oddly enough, looks very much like a guitar neck). However, the gameplay in Battle of the Bands is more akin to Dance Dance Revolution, were you to not be dancing and play it simply with one hand.

At the top of the game's set list is its Adventure mode, which is less of an adventure and more of a straight-up, arcade approach to rhythm games. Select a band from eleven different groups (but only five style variations - Latin, Rock, Country, Hip-Hop and Marching Band), choose a difficulty setting (Easy, Medium or Hard), and get rockin'. Once you've got all your ducks in a row, the game brings you to a sort of map hub, containing whatever songs are currently available for you to play along with. Like many other games of this sort, successfully completing the challenges unlocks new tunes for you to play through.

The gist of the gameplay in Battle of the Bands is this: if a marker appears on the left of your rhythm frame then you motion left with the Wiimote; if a marker appears on the right, motion right; in the middle, motion down. There are various other gesture motions, all of which are fairly straightforward and simple to execute. Though you're using the Wiimote and its motion-sensing capabilities to perform the gameplay moves, Battle of the Bands' concept isn't anything new. With that said, the game does bring one fairly unique element to the rhythm-game genre in that the gameplay truly is a battle of bands.

Throughout each tune, as you successfully hit your rhythm markers, you'll launch attacks against the opposing band, causing effects such as smoke covering up their rhythm frame so it's impossible to see their markers for a short time or speeding up the markers to move super fast. Of course, the opposition also flings attacks your way, but with the B-button you can block attacks by timing your button presses just as objects are about to hit your rhythm frame. It's an interesting and admittedly fun idea but it does often cause you to miss your marks and lose track of a song's rhythm. Hitting your marks, successfully blocking attacks, and successfully landing attacks, along with various other factors, accumulate points for your band; at the end of the tune, the band with the most points wins the face off. Your performance also affects the style of the song you're battling through; if your band is a country outfit and you're winning then the song will be heard as a country rendition, if your hip-hop opponent is in the lead then it'll play with a funky flair. A typical battle will see the tune bouncing back and forth between whatever styles the two bands are playing in, and while this is mildly entertaining, you'll likely never actually enjoy the music for the music's sake.

The core game is pretty simple - a little too simple, in fact. There's no Career mode, no character or band customization and no other variation in the gameplay. There is, however, a Versus mode, which allows you to either battle against a friend or an AI band. It's fun with a friend but, really, just more of the same. Gesturing constantly with the Wiimote is a tiring business and the rather bland presentation doesn't do much to keep your motor running.

On the graphics front, Battle of the Bands is mostly a Gamecube game in appearance. There's nothing really to complain about but there's certainly nothing to rave about either. The colors are nice, the characters are funny to watch in motion and the frame rate stays rock steady throughout; but there's little variety in the backgrounds, not a lot of detail in the textures and, overall, the game does nothing to push the Wii hardware.

Surprisingly, Battle of the Bands doesn't deliver much in the audio department either. I auditioned the game using a pair of studio-quality, M-Audio speakers and there was no discernable stereo separation. It seemed to be more a lack of instrument separation during mixing of the game's tunes rather than the tunes being mastered in mono, but the songs just seem somewhat flat. However, the performances of most renditions are enjoyable and there's a decent selection of thirty songs included. Whether or not you think the song selection is a good one will, of course, depend greatly on your taste in music, but tunes like Insane in the Brain and Momma Said Knock You Out work perfectly with the rest of the game's silly nature.

Battle of the Bands is a game that you'd expect to see tucked away in the corner of some bar; it's reasonable fun in short bursts but if you're looking for something in the vein of Guitar Hero then this ain't it. If you want something to break out at an adult party where there will be alcohol then Battle of the Bands will likely serve as a fun diversion for your friends while they hang out and socialize - but as a gamer's game, it just doesn't offer enough meat to justify the high price tag. Really this should have been a budget title (or a WiiWare offering) and so I can only recommend a purchase if you spot it in a bargain bin.

Reviewed by Tony Capri for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).