Commercials have started airing recently for Battle of the Bands, THQ’s response to the massively successful Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. The game is based around the familiar concept of rhythmic button mashing, with the twist of having the songs interpreted through various styles of music, including heavy metal, mariachi, country, rap, marching band. Players each choose a unique team, so the hook is hearing one of the game’s twenty-two songs interpreted by each of the bands. While the premise is sound, a Variety review of the game indicates that the game needs some work before it can hope to contend with the big boys. Variety’s reviewer finds Battle of the Bands is doomed by imprecise motion controls (often a problem with third party Wii games), near-offensive caricatures of the musicians, and clunky “battle” dialogue between the competing groups. While THQ gets points for trying, this first effort looks like a ‘rent before buying’ proposition. [Variety]