Battalion Wars 2

"Solid squad-based shooter, still sports a few rough edges"

A spin-off of the expansive Advanced Wars series, the original Battalion Wars released back on the Gamecube with mild approval from critics. Like it's parent series, it brought a cartoonic atmosphere to the usually grim and serious war genre and offered a frantic and intense action experience. A sequel was inevitable and naturally it features a long string of improvements over the original as well as some sleek new motion sensing controls.

Battalion Wars 2 is best described as a squad-based shooter. Each mission starts off with a set number of units that must be used to defend or attack facilities, while more can be earned mid-mission by freeing POWs or calling in air transport at specific areas - often bringing total forces to 20 units or more. These units can be controlled with a few simple commands, such as telling them to wait or follow you, or slightly more advanced like having them attack an enemy, capture an enemy base or actively defend their own. The great thing about the Battalion Wars series though is that the player doesn't issue orders from above like a standard RTS, instead any unit in the squad can be controlled and orders are issued from there. Want to use a tank to smash through the enemy lines ahead? Go for it. Just got a bomber plane you want to play around with? He's all yours. There is an impressive amount of units to be had fun with on land, sea and air, which is made even more impressive by the six armies in the game that all have their own variations on the units.

Players can't just hop in a tank and start killing everything though, there's an army to manage. As one would imagine, certain units are strong against others. Flame infantry will burn right through other infantry, bazooka infantry make your tanks' lives a living hell, and anti-air units obviously shouldn't be approached by planes. Your own units aren't that smart though and need to be guided to attack the weakest enemies while avoiding being killed themselves. Orders can be issued to the entire squad, all units of a specific type, or to an individual unit; using the d-pad to select who the orders will be given to. The system allows orders to be given for units to wait behind while a dangerous enemy is taken out, or to efficiently kill enemy units they are strong against. It is seriously lacking more advanced techniques, however, particularly a "retreat" command. If the wrong units get sucked into a battle there is very little that can be done without botching the entire fight.

Overall the system works quite well, it is just unfortunate BWii rarely challenges the player with using it. Many missions are just filled with over-simplified scenarios and battles with tiny enemy forces that are completely outnumbered. As if it wasn't obvious enough how you should act with three bazooka infantry charging at you, the general for your army always wants to tell you how to deal with the easy situation, and the opposing general will frequently announce every unit before he sends them in to fight. Come on now, this is just insulting to the players intelligence. To be fair, there are a good number of challenging missions and enemy fortifications that actually have some defensives set up that aren't laughable. The simple battles definitely outnumber the complex ones however.

Another less minor issue is variety. Even with all of the units in the game, it does start to get a bit stale towards the end. Missions almost always involve defending a facility against a few waves of foes and then setting out to capture/destroy a short string of other enemy facilities, usually with one or two helipads or POW camps in the middle. Or maybe it'll be reversed, defending a facility at the end of a mission. A couple missions with dynamic escort or assassination objectives would have helped break up the slight monotonous feel. It won't keep players from completing the game, however.

Whatever does keep you playing, it probably won't be the story. Typical video game affair, it gives players a reason to be blowing away half the worlds population and not much else. The writers get a few points for their cutesy references to real-world nations and political events, but otherwise the plot is just goofy, nonsensical and short-lived. Some attempts at humor succeed, others fall short of their goal. Similarly, some of the characters (all pretty much generals) are quite likeable and fun, while others you wished would just go die.

Love 'em or hate though, most of the characters have exceptionally good voice acting as far as video games go. Personally the heavy accents did a good job of grating on my nerves, but the lines were all delivered with enthusiasm and believability and the generals all spout of some good one-liners. In-game sound effects are standard, machine guns and explosive shells sound like a real war is going on around you, while the high-pitched remarks by the infantry remind the player of the lighthearted tone. The soundtrack is also of good quality. Nothing stands out as amazing but it is all-around a pleasure to listen to, providing plenty of tracks that fit the feeling of campaigning across the countryside.

Visually there is not much to complain about either. The infantry and vehicles are all nicely detailed, and the sheer number of them is quite impressive. The landscape and some of the explosions and other special effects are kind of on the low end of the spectrum but are still pleasantly pretty. The only real complaint over in-game visuals is a small lack of animation in the infantry, though that is just nitpicking. Some work could also be done with the CG scenes, which often come off as goofy with their animation.

Of course, this is on the Wii so there has to be some neat motion-sensing controls, right? Overall the controls were implemented well. The targetting reticle is used by pointing the Wiimote, which works out well despite being a bit jumpy. Commands and firing weapons are also handled with Wiimote, while movement and locking on are done with the nunchuk. Via tilting and joystick turning a couple of extra maneuvers can be done like combat rolls and jumping. They work well enough though sometimes won't work when you want them to and will when you don't. Flying planes is about the only major problem however, they have a rather steep learning curve and yet the Campaign mode just sort of throws players into the action with them right away. Even after learning how to fly them they still feel a bit too clunky.

The campaigns takes you to all manner of locales and through plenty of destruction, but it is over rather quickly. Don't expect it to last more than 8-10 hours for one run through. After the first run however, missions can be returned to to improve rankings. Get all high rankings in a single campaign for some bonus content to be unlocked. Unit dossiers are great and fun to read, while concept art is really kind of meh. After that there isn't much single player left, which brings us to multiplayer. Unfortunately there aren't any local multiplayer options, but players can go on Wi-Fi to battle with friends or random players. The options and possibilities aren't exactly expansive, but it is an enjoyable experience that expands the games lifetime quite a bit longer. Just don't expect it to hold your attention as long as other massive online communities do, it wasn't meant for that.

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S C O R E S
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Gameplay - 8/10
Very fun concept and controlling all of the different units is a blast. Game suffers from too much simplicity though, not really challenging players to think how to approach a battle. The command system could use some improvements too.

Story - 6/10
It does it's job of moving the action along, but not much else. Slight nod for some fun real-world references.

Visuals - 8/10
All of the units look nice, all-around just "good" looking.

Audio - 9/10
Voicework is great, sounds of battle sound just right, background music fits the mood very well.

Controls - 8/10
Using the nunchuk set-up works very well with the game. Some of the motion-sensing can get aggravating though.

Replayability - 8/10
A few bonuses to pick up and some of the missions are just really fun to replay several times over. Online play will hold players attention for some time longer, but it isn't particularly deep.

Final - 7.9/10
BWii somewhat lacks the polish many have come to expect from a 7th generation title, but that doesn't stop it from being a very fun game to play. A bit more thought put into balancing it out and improving the pace could easily propel it into being an all-time great title. A few more modes online or off would be appreciated as well, to keep the game alive longer. As it stands now though, gamers looking for a good squad-based shooter on the Wii don't have to look past Battalion Wars, and anybody looking for a good action game in general should look into it. It is also rental friendly, easily beatable on a slow weekend.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/07, Updated 11/19/07

Game Release: Battalion Wars 2 (US, 10/29/07)