Battalion Wars 2

"Decent follow up to a mediocre game"

I really didn't care for the original Battalion Wars. It was rather mediocre and being a console version of Advance Wars and getting a last minute name change didn't help the bad taste the game left in my mouth. To be honest though I never thought the game would receive a sequel but alas it has.

A magical rod of sorts is the tool that can help sway the next war. Friends and enemies are back as a new war starts and a hunt for a mystical item begins. I must admit I was a bit thrown by the plot. I wasn't expecting a fantasy story of sorts. But that isn't the problem. I just find the characters and their bland stereotypes to be annoying.

Not only that but the voice work is rather bad and the accents really had insult to the entire sound package. Music was alright but I could squeals with joy if I found the soundtrack. Sound effects are your basic war sounds. Nothing overly exciting.

The game still maintains its cartoon look. Maybe to keep it's rating lower? Everything is clean and full f color. It's a bit odd to such colors in a war game but it works rather well. Even the cut scenes look good for a Wii game.

Wiimote controls are fairly good for this title and I think by having so few buttons it allowed them to actually make cohesive controls this time around. You aim by moving the Wiimote and while slightly over sensitive it works decently. You fire with B. A selects stuff. Move around with the analog stick and to summon troops you hit another button and select a group by using the d-pad. It works well.

Game play is still pretty much the same. Run from point to point and do the objectives. They aren't very interesting. Protect this, kill these, raise this flag or kill everything.

It's your basic war goals and while it's fun, it got kind of old quickly. It might be because the AI isn't very aggressive or it could be because the game offers a rather good auto aim feature that takes away almost all guess work and most guys die quickly.

The weapon selection and teammates are slightly bland and unoriginal but it gets the job done. The locations also lack anything interesting. The linear layouts never add anything interesting to the mix either.

The game really isn't long. It does offer some multiplayer options but as always I have no clue what they are and if they are any good.

In a world of mediocre Wii games it's nice to see one that's pretty decent. It's not great but when compared to what the Wii has to offer this is one of its strongest titles right now. A solid rental for sure.

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay Value - 6/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/07

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