Judging by the title it seems THQ and Planet Moon's Wii effort makes little attempt to hide a shameless attempt to jump on the Guitar Hero/Rock Band-wagon. Nevertheless, appearances can be deceiving and it's worth not judging a game by its box cover alone.

Armed with chain-gun guitars and an array of special moves Battle of the Bands is closer to the boss encounters of Guitar Hero 3, a videogame for Wii gamers craving for something a little bit more competitive and intense then the typical E for everyone release.

Educated in the Guitar Hero school of rock the premise behind Battle of the Bands is immediately familiar. It's all about hitting the notes at the right time with a shake of the Wii Remote left, right, down, or a forward thrust and an occasional frantic waggle whenever a zigzag appears on the boards. So far very similar. The difference comes from the fact you're armed with three different special moves to win the bout against the other band in a spectacular show of combat and musical prowess.

Attacking the other band with a special move gains control of the microphone and with it more points, the band with the most points at the end of the song wins. Special moves require a certain number of successfully hit beats before being performed, forcing you to start from scratch for every missed note. Fortunately, with the emphasis on action the special moves ensure instant gratification and a significantly different feel to first impressions. Covering a wide range of offensive and defensive techniques, including shrinking an opponent's notes, lobbing over a smoke grenade to obscure their view and speeding up their board, to mention but a few, special moves add a hectic pace and a pinch of strategy to the proceedings. Battle of the Bands isn't necessarily a rhythm/action game where you're trying to perfect each note, it's a game where you're keeping a close eye on what's coming up on your opponent's board to defend against and launching your own attacks, all while playing along to the beat of the song - it's closer to Street Fighter then Guitar Hero.

Beyond the emphasis on battling with axes in melodic warfare, Battle of the Bands other twist stems from the lack of any master recordings. Unlike Guitar Hero and Rock Band, however, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead each of the 30 songs have been recorded in Rock, Marching Band, Hip-Hop, Country, and Latin styles, allowing the song to switch instantly as the tide of the battle changes. It's a funky feature and thoroughly unique, more significantly, the country rendition of Cyprus Hill's 'Insane in the Brain' has to go down as one of the most amazing things ever to be heard.

Presumably, because of the need to record each song for each style, Battle of the Bands features one of the most diverse soundtracks we've seen in a rhythm/action title. Bands like The Ramones clash with KC and the Sunshine Band, Cyprus Hill and Electric Six with The Soggy Bottom Boys thrown in for good measure. Occasionally it all gets a little too eclectic and leaves you concentrating ferociously on defeating an opponent without ever really knowing which song you're battling over. Soundtracks are always going to be a personal choice, yet Battle of the Bands still manages to provide fun regardless of the song.

Battle of the Bands isn't without its faults however. Problems arise from the lack of precision with Wii gestures. Generally it's sufficiently responsive, but when there's a quick succession of identical beats it can be frustratingly hard to hit them because shaking the Wii Remote is nowhere near as explicit as pressing a button. It's the lack of any tactile feedback however that really bugs us, it just doesn't compare to mashing buttons on a fake plastic guitar.

We'd also suggest that on the normal difficulty at least the game begins far too slowly, and doesn't really begin to offer a challenge until you're at least half way through the game. Perhaps this is a response to the wide and varied Wii audience, but anybody who's played Guitar Hero before might benefit from opting for Hard from the start.

Beyond the 30 songs featured in the Adventure mode a Versus mode for two players rounds off a pretty measly selection of game modes, and this is our major issue with Battle of the Bands. The appeal of the Adventure mode dwindles before the 30 stages are over and the multiplayer cannot really compete with the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Once the initial novelty dies down there's little to sustain any interest, it seems Battle of the Band's novel concept quickly becomes a little too gimmicky for any sustained interest.