Title: Battalion Wars II
Developer: Kuju Entertainment
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1 (2 on Nintendo wi-fi)
Battalion Wars II is the sequel to the original Battalion Wars that was released on the Gamecube back in 2005. Battalion Wars II is also another addition to the long running Nintendo Wars series which has been in existence since the late 1980's. While most of the games in Nintendo Wars are turn based strategy (Famicon Wars, Game Boy Wars, Advanced Wars) Battalion Wars II and its predecessor are real time strategy games. It features cartoon like soldiers and weapons battling between six different factions through many different scenarios and terrains.
Controlling your units is done in a third person view which can be zoomed out in varying degrees to better see the battlefield. The Wii controls work pretty well, aiming the retical is done by the pointing the Wii remote at the screen. Tilting the Nun-Chuck while running sideways will make our character do an action roll (Barrel Roll!) which will throw off the enemies aim for a brief moment. Shacking the Nun-Chuck up and down will cause your unit to jump. While controling a submarine shaking the Wii remote will cause it to dive/rise in the water. The only time in the game when motion controls become important is when piloting aircraft. Pointing the remote down will cause the plane to decent while pointing up will cause it to rise. I like the balance between motion controls and button controls in this game. Some titles seem to just add motion controls when they can as an afterthought, which can ruin the control of the game and feel less intuitive. Battalion Wars II has just enough motion control to make it seem right.
The Single player will have you following through six campaigns, as different factions. Though every faction has different looking units they all control and act the same. The missions are all objective based such as capture the airbase or rescue the POWs. At the start of each mission you are given a force to accomplish these missions (reinforcements are usually given in most mission one way or another). You can command your units to defend based, attack units/buildings, stay, follow and capture bases. Now all of that sounds like fun, but the computers AI for your army is not quite where it should be. Your units will defend when you tell then to defend, follow when ordered etc, but they do not match up to the enemies AI in battle. If not supported by the player your units most always will lose in the battle to the enemy counterparts. I suppose this is to balance out the difficulty but it takes some strategy out of the game due to the constant babysitting of your units. So to combat this I always just have my entire force follow me around, which gets the job done. At the end of every mission you are given a rank based on your performance. S class, A class, B class etc, If you finish a campaign with all S or A classes you unlock bonus content such as concept art.
The Multi-player is what makes the game re-playable. There are three battle modes for online play, all lag free!. Co-op which is exactly what it sounds like. You and another player play through an entirely different campaign designed for co-op. The new missions in Co-op are fun to play but the lack of voice chat with the Wii online makes communication with your teammate almost impossible. The game features a system where you can alert your ally to a unit or target by pressing the 1 button, but that never is adequate for proper communication and strategy. Assault is basically a normal mission that would be found in single player where one player is the attacking force and one player is the defending force. Once again it is fun to play but soon gets boring since every other mode is like this. The last mode is Skirmish which i think is the most entertaining mode. You are placed on a map where there is usually capture-able facilities which will give you reinforcements throughout the battle. You get points for killing enemy units/capturing facilities etc, and at the end of the time limit the player with the most points wins the match. The multi-player is good by Wii standards but local multi-player, voice communication and the ability to play more then one other person would have greatly increased the quality of the game.
Gameplay: 3/5
For the most part intuitive, but the game is far to simplified to be a true strategy game. Despite that it is very fun to play.
Graphics: 4/5
The graphics are fully rendered 3d and run smooth. For Wii standards the visuals hold up nicely.
Sound: 4/5
All the units and weapons have their own unique sound effect and the Voice overs are nice though they sometimes get annoying due to the over the top voices.
Innovation: 3/5
Not much was introduced after Battalion Wars I, other then the online play and motion controls is basically the same game.
Longevity: 4/5
There is really no reason to play the single player campaign after you complete it unless your the type of person that needs the highest ranking on every mission. The wi-fi play does add a lot of re play but after awhile even that becomes boring.
Conclusion: A game with an undeniable charm that has all the makings of a great game but little things here and their hamper its entertainment value slightly.
Final Score:
4/5
Disclaimer:
The Score is not an average and I don't proofread my reviews. Not because I'm lazy but because I'm want my reviews to have a unique charm to them . . . Ok its because I'm lazy.
