Honest Gamers writes: "Battle of the Bands is blessed with the sort of concept that sounds pretty stupid when first you hear it. It goes like this: a bunch of bands are competing to be the best, only instead of the usual musical instruments, they've brought along some killer guitars and drum sets augmented by automatic weapons. Now it's a duel to the death as the bands fight for dominance in a variety of environments ranging from a blimp to the depths of hell to a farm way back in the sticks. See what I mean? It sounds stupid.
When you start playing, though, you'll find that it's really not. At least, the concept is tolerable and it allows Battle of the Bands to stand nicely apart from the other entries in what looks like it will soon become an overcrowded sub-genre.
Play begins when you choose one of eleven bands. These range from country acts (like the one I opted to use for my first trip through the game) to some funk-fueled aliens to more traditional rock bands, marching bands and even a Latino group. The selection you make here is important, as it affects the remainder of the game."
Green Pixels: Plunking down $50 for a brand-new game can be a gamble -- it's a lot of money to pay for something that you could end up hating. However, most games don't stay full-price for long, which is why we scoured the inventories of four major retailers (Amazon, GameStop, Target, Walmart) to find a slew of great titles that are now priced at just $20. For the cost of one freshly released game, you can buy two older titles and still have $10 left to spend on snacks. (And we all know the importance of snacks.)
Welcome to the fourth edition of The Twelve Games of Christmas; Electronic Theatre's feature series highlighting the greatest performers of 2008, one month at a time! Today, we take a look at April 2008, the games that you liked, loved or missed altogether – and can probably pick-up for a much more reasonable price in those January sales!
TotalGaming:
"While there are plenty of opponents to beat and thirty songs to unlock, there's little here to keep any but the most undemanding gamers amused for long. Apart from the grim aesthetics, the game's unengaging interface also detracts from the enjoyment; anyone who's played Donkey Konga with a joypad instead of the drums will know that it's just not the same without a peripheral to interact with. By the same token, waving a wiimote in time to some on-screen prompts isn't as much fun as playing, say, Rock Band with a plastic guitar.
It's certainly possible that, given a living room full of friends and a ready supply of beer, Battle of the Bands' versus mode could provide a few hours' entertainment, but the title remains a weak addition to a console already overcrowded with party games."
