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RealGamer :: Nintendo Wii :: Reviews :: Battalion Wars 2 Review

Battalion Wars 2 Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 20th February 2008

Battalion Wars 2 Score:

7.6 Good

Strategy games often fail to make an impact on consoles so it’s no surprise that Kuju added a little bit of shooter based action to Battalion Wars when they released it on the GameCube back in 2005, and after being a fairly successful mix, the series returns with Battalion Wars 2 making an appearance on the Wii.

The game starts with the Anglo Isles attacking the Solar Empire, because they are lead to believe they have developed a super weapon to use against them. As the Solar Empire repels the attack with the assistance of it allies, Admiral A-Qira then decides to take the battle to the Anglo Isles, after forming an alliance with the Tundran Territories. The world is once again thrown into a state of war, as the games story develops it soon becomes clear things aren’t what they seem, and a shadowy figure has returned.

For those unfamiliar with Battalion Wars, the game puts you in the role of a commander and you issue orders to your units making tactical decisions along the way, while this may seem like a standard strategy game there is a twist. In Battalion Wars 2 you have to directly control one of your units, you are free to choose any unit and you can switch to another one at any time. It’s a good system that works well, however playing as a unit can be a little to engrossing, to the point were you forget to give the other units orders and before you realise it, half your squad has been wiped out.

Disappointingly Battalion Wars 2 only features one single player campaign, but having said that, you are offered a good deal of variation, with the campaign being set across three different timelines and putting you in control of each of the six nations featured in the game. This system lets you sample everything the game has to offer and adds a lot of depth especially when you consider the range of units available.

Units fall into one of three categories, land, sea and air. Land units are the most extensively used and also come in the most varieties including a range of infantry, tanks and artillery. Sea based units include submarines, battleships and frigates. Each unit has its strengths and weaknesses and their effectiveness in battle is dependant on which enemy units they are facing. For instance Battleships are highly effective against dug in enemies and artillery units based on land, yet they are vulnerable to air attacks so will require a Frigate escort that can rapidly dispose of an enemy’s air units with its powerful anti-air turret.

While in most strategy games you can simply cluster all your units together and power your way to your objectives, this isn’t really possible in Battalion Wars 2 and will usually end up failing the mission. This encourages you to properly utilise the units at your disposal and make real tactical decisions. Overall the game offers a pretty good challenge! The earlier missions are quite easy to progress through yet the game gets significantly harder as the campaign progresses. Unit AI is pretty good on both sides, your units don’t need to be hand feed every instruction and will take it upon themselves to attack nearby enemies or heal their injuries by picking up medical kits.

The game makes good use of both the Wiimote and nunchuck; movement is controlled by the nunchck’s analogue stick, while you can change the direction you are facing and aim your weapons by moving the Wiimote. Shaking the nunchuck will allow infantry units to jump or submarines to dive beneath the waves. Infantry units can also perform rolls to avoid enemy fire by a simple tilt of the nunchuck. These controls are employed by all units in the game except those that take to the skies.

When controlling air units the speed of your forward motion is controlled by the nunchucks analogue stick, whilst changes in direction are controlled by tilting the wiimote to the left or right. Altitude is controlled by either pointing up or down, which means shuffling around in your chair while playing is a definite no! The games controls are pretty easy to get to grips with, however the air based units can be a little tricky to master and will require a bit more practice.

In most missions reinforcements are available to replenish your lost units! However, there are a number of different ways you can obtain them, freeing prisoners of war from enemy camps is the most common way of obtaining fresh troops. You can also summon troops if you manage to take control of helipads that feature in some of the games maps. Finally, units and vehicles can be replaced if you take control of enemy strongholds such as barracks and factories. Capturing enemy facilities is a fairly simple affair, just clear away any resistance and raise your flag over it. Once your flag has successfully been raised, the enemy’s buildings will collapse and be replaced by ones in the style of your nation.

Missions featured in the game are pretty straightforward you follow a series of waypoints completing objectives as you go and unlocking new ones until you have completed your overall goal. There are often secondary objectives around the game environment and the game features an extensive map that gives details of all units and locations during a mission helping you plan your strategy. It’s a good system that works well but does tend to over simplify the game. One thing that I found frustrating was if you fail a mission, then you have restart right from the beginning, even if you had already completed a series of objectives.

Adding to the games replay value Battalion Wars 2 features three multiplayer modes via Nintendo’s Wi-Fi connection. The game features a co-op mode in which players work together to complete missions. The co-op mode is complemented by two, player vs. player modes, these are assault and skirmish.

In assault mode one player must defend a HQ while another attacks a series of objectives leading to an attack on the defending players HQ. If the defending player manages to hold on to their HQ until the time runs out then they win, however if they lose possession of the HQ then the attacker wins. During these matches each player periodically receives new troops at their supply zone.

Skirmish mode is pure combat, players score points for destroying their rivals units, the bigger the unit the more points you score. The player with the most points when the time runs out wins. In skirmish mode you can also capture facilities to give you an upper hand in taking out more units and thus scoring more points. All the games multiplayer modes work well, but for me the skirmish mode is the better and most enjoyable to play.

Although the game is about war, Kuju have given the game a light hearted feel by using a cartoon style, similar to that seen in the original game. In fact if you played Battalion Wars you may even recognise some of the units featured in this new version. Vehicles and infantry are all chunky looking and almost look like action figures. It’s a nice style that works really well. Although the nations featured in the game are fictional, it’s pretty obvious which countries they are based on, with tongue in cheek representations of some racial stereotypes. Overall the game looks good and features some very nice effects, especially those used for rain and water.

Sound in the game is good, the voice acting is humorous and will make you smile, accents and dialogue both poke fun at racial stereotypes, just like the games graphics. Music in the game is very fitting with the war theme and sound effects are in keeping with the games cartoon graphics style and add to the overall fun feeling.

The Battalion Wars series makes a good transition to the Wii and while the single campaign may limit the games replay value the game does feature a good online mode. The gameplay is complemented by graphics and sound that only add to the fun offered by the game, overall Battalion Wars 2 is recommended for all future generals out there!