Customer Reviews

Battalion Wars 2

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I suppose this game ("BWii") technically falls into the category of real-time strategy, a genre seemingly poorly suited to consoles, but Kuju has designed the interface around a third person shooter mold. You exist on the battlefield, not hovering above it, in any of your choice of the individual soldiers or vehicles assigned to you on a mission and can switch between them at any time. You can run around, jump, dodge, and shoot as that individual unit but to be honest this is incidental.

Your first priority in Bwii is commanding all your units as a cohesive force via selecting between the unit icons at the bottom of the screen with the WiiMote d-pad. To that end you use the individual you are "possessing," so to speak, to target the enemies you want the d-pad selected unit to attack. So, for example, I am commanding through the eyes of my mobile anti-air (AA) unit but see enemy bazooka troops coming. If I have assault troops I can select their icon at the bottom of the screen and then target the enemies with my AA unit and push A. The assault troops will then attack the enemy bazooka troops. I could even jump into one of the assault troops and go after the bazookas myself.

The point of this convoluted system is to make sure you pick the right types of units to attack the enemies. In fact, that seems to be the sum total of strategy in BWii especially given that the several factions are distinguished only by the look, not the capability, of their units. But something had to give in light of the frenetic nature of command from a third person point of view rather than from the traditional RTS bird's eye view. But poor interface design doesn't justify shallow game play. BWii ends up feeling stiff and one dimensional.

That said, the overall look strikes a good balance between cute and realistic (and you can view the great concept art as you open up the various factions throughout the campaign) but the graphic experience in BWii will not leave you breathless. That's okay; this is a Wii game after all. But Wii games are supposed to make up for in fun what they lack in beauty. This one falls short on both counts. It can certainly be fun, especially if you liked the first one or even "Tanks" on WiiPlay, but just be patient and wait for the price drop. Fifty bucks is too much for this one.

This game is great. There is a lot of fun and it is very easy to get into. For both the veterans (from the first installment Battalion Wars) and new players, the controls will be a bit complex at first but smoothly flow the more you play.

Single Player Campaign is great. The story blends in well with the gameplay. There are a multitude of missions for all but one nation and each becomes harder than the other. You will find yourself to replay many of the missions in order to get the best grade. Multiplayer is fine and dandy. There is no voice chat but surprisingly is not essential for the kinds of missions you could play with other people.

If you are looking for a great war game for the Wii with loads of available units to play and have good fun then this is the game for you.

This is probably the most interactive RTS game that is on the market. The concept of being able to fight alongside the soldiers you are commanding is very fun. Though it's a little harder fighting and controlling your men at the same time it's one of the very few your able to do that, setting it apart from other games. Very fun and addictive gameplay although i don't reccomend this to people without internet connected to their nintendo wii because after completing campaign you will find yourself with nothing to do. If you do have online you'll have 35+ more hours of gameplay. Get some friends with BWII and youll have unlimited amounts of fun. Overerall a great game to get. I reccomend this to any RTSer for a new twist to any RTS games. And even if your not a RTS fan you can still pick up and play this game as easy as an RTSer can.

I just recently purchased this game. I wish I had bought it sooner as this is one impressive game. It's better than I had expected.

The first thing I noticed was the visuals. From the water to the explosions, particle effects and even little details like the grass is absolutely amazing. There are also a bunch of FMV scenes which are incredible and fun to watch as well. Took me by surprise because I didn't expect the level of detail presented in this game. Voice acting is also very well done. In the hands of a good developer such as Kuju Entertainment, the Wii can really shine.

I had a hard time understanding the controls, but after about an hour I got it figured out. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's a rewarding experience.

The online component is pretty fun. You can choose to Play Anyone (random match) or Play a Friend. You can do Co-op, Assault or Skirmish modes. I recommend you play through the single player until you really understand the controls and units first.

Bad:
Not being able to play online with people your already registered in your Wii address book. If you want to play BWII with a friend online, you have to register their unique Battalion Wars 2 game/friend code. Since Nintendo is still stuck on the friend code bandwagon, at least they could make the system less annoying and tie it in with the Wii address book.

After a "play anyone" match, it would of been nice to be able to add that person to your friend list (like Medal of Honor 2 allows you to do).

But, it's futile to complain about the Nintendo friend code system. Too bad Electronic Arts doesn't license out the use of their EA Nation system which bypasses the Nintendo friend codes.

Bottom-line, this is a solid title, fun single player campaign and online multiplayer.

The moment I bought this game, last Sunday, I was hooked. There is no question about it...this is the best Wii game I own. The graphics are excellent...both in game and during cutscences. It has little details that really make it that much better. The units themselves are little works of art. Each Civilization, for lack of a better word, has their own unique army, both in terms of classes and apperance.
My only complaint with this game is the lack of Local Co-Op...I was really looking forward to split screen madness. Apart from that, this game is awesome!

this game is a quiet killer app. Bwii combines a strategy like feel and awesome action that is too much too ask for. This time around, you get over 20 plus levels not to mention a splendid online service. No lag at all and over 18 plus levels in all. Get this game and you will not regret it.

Battalion Wars 2 (or BWII), has received above average reviews from the professional gaming media, and all in all i think they've got it right this time (miracle, I know). The game is hard to describe, because it's not your typical war game (if the graphics already haven't told you that), it's not really a deep RTS, and it's not turn-based. The basic play of the game is to reach a certain area (with or without a specific unit), destroy a specific enemy unit, or destroy a certain...thing. Each mission is pretty much described above, with slight variations of course. The story is actually really lame; the same goes for the VO (although I don't think it's as bad as everyone says it is). Where the game actually hook you is the overall gameplay.

You control a battalion of soldiers at any given moment, hence the namesake. What makes this game unique is that unlike your conventional RTS game, you take direct command over a specific unit, all the time. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good-you actually feel as if you're doing a part of action, and its fun to do so. The bad-it limits control over your other units, and that lack of control could very easily be the difference between victory and defeat.

As you command your unit, you can lock onto a specific unit (be that enemy or otherwise), as do a variety of things. You yourself can directly attack it, send others from your battalion to attack it, or capture it (again, either directly or with other units). The overall mash-up of game ideas and gameplay styles means you're not going to get bored easily. It does, however, make everything feel a lit loose and unpolished. BWII is a Jack of all trades, but a master of none.

One of the most important aspects of the game is online play. You can play either with/without a buddy, and the matches play out incredibly smooth (very little lag time). There are 3 modes. Assault (conventional 'kill everything' mode), Co-Op (play through missions with a friend), or Skirmish. The game has a neat little way of keeping track of your online progress, something that isn't common in online Wii games, let alone early ones. After several matches, you can earn a score (out of stars), and everyone you play will see it. I don't know if the game matches random players through rank, but I doubt it. I've been matches with players far better than I, but it could be due to the lack of available players. Another cool online feature is the unlocking aspect. After playing a certain number of matches for a certain mode, you can unlock additional maps/missions.

However, all of the neat online features don't stand out if the game isn't enjoyable, and this is a hard game to enjoy. BWII requires you to multi-task beyond belief, and when it works its great fun. Sometimes, however, the game will draw you in, and it becomes insanely difficult to command your entire battalion.

The camera is another faulty aspect of the game. You move it be moving the IR reticule, but it tends to get out of control whenever you lock on to fast moving targets. Sometimes it will simply refuse to obey your commands. For the most part the camera works fine, but the occasional misstep will cost you dearly, especially since it is practical useless for targeting airborne enemies in close range.

BWII is hard to recommend. It's an interesting strategy game, but it won't satisfy fans looking for a more fulfilling experience. It is a fun little romp though, and when it works, it works great. Unfortunately it's not most of the time.

I purchased this game based on some of the user reviews I read in various places that stated how much fun it was. They were right. This game is a blast. It is certainly not a perfect game, but if you are looking for a fast, furious, fun game to play you should add this one to your collection. It is perfect for mindlessly blowing a couple of hours on a rainy Saturday. My 6yr old son LOVES this game. It is the only game we own that he likes as much as the various Star Wars games we own(for Xbox 360). I just wish it had a co-op mode so I could along side my son instead of having to take turns trying to get thru the missions (he usually completes them faster than I do...). Great game. Highly recommended.

My 11-year-old son LOVES this game. He is an "army"/"military"/tactical game "freak!" He loves these kinds of games, and this one lives up to his expectations. Unfortunately, it is only made for 1 player. There is no 2-player mode, so he won't be able to play with friends.

Battalion Wars 2 is a Third person shooter meshed together with heavy real time strategy. With the game's easy to use interface, you'll play as lots of different units, switching to different ones as the situation calls for it.

Gameplay wise, this game is fairly simple. The controls are easy to pick on and work well for quick tactics, and the mission objectives are simple to follow while still staying varied. One of the core mechanics is recruiting/saving troops to command. Its always within your best interest to have a moderate amount of units on hand, because that gives you more people to work with, and more people to play as. The system is a little hard to portray in words, but I'll try my best. Basically, you can play as any unit in the game that you have under your command. You can choose to play the foot soldier, fighting on the front lines, or if you find yourself no match for the opposition, switch control to a vehicle such as a light tank. You can do this on the fly, at any time. All the other units besides the one you're playing as will be controlled by the AI.

The game's AI isn't anything particularly special, but it doesn't really need to be. It's not like its dumb or anything, though. Fire on a submarine and, unlike a tank, its not just going to try and rush you. Its going to submerge, and probably make a beeline for your battleship. Your comrades are always quick to help you out, and do a good job sensing when there's a special job to be done, such as capturing a flag.

As in any strategy game, units have strengths and weaknesses to each other. For example, grunts are the bread and butter of your force. They're plentiful, but are merely equipped with a light assault rifle. So, while its essential to have them (as only foot soldiers can capture things), they're generally roadkill against vehicles. There are variations to the foot soldiers, such as mechs, which are armed with bazookas (if you don't have some of your own, these guys are a good alternative to destroying vehicles). Its this aspect of gameplay that is hard to master, as when faced with a force of varied units, you'll need to be able to know what units to send against what. To this end, a simple to use targeting feature has been employed, which allows you to order certain units (even individual ones) to attack certain enemies. For example, in one mission, you'll be engaging enemies on a coast. You're doing pretty good, sweeping through the countryside, with little opposition. Suddenly, you're faced with a gate that is guarded by two RPG towers. None of your ground troops can get in close enough to attack them without getting annihilated. Luckily, you've just been sent two battleships, that have long range cannons. With a quick flick of your Wii remote, and a button press or two, you target one of the towers and order your battleships to attack it. The immediately get into position and use their artillery to bombard them from out of their range. Problem solved. Now you've got units to cover you from the ocean nearby with.

Speaking of vehicles, let's talk about a few of them. Vehicles are extremely important to your arsenal, and many players will feel vulnerable without a light tank to back them up. Incidentally, I'll start with the light tank, the most common of the vehicles. Light tanks are average sized tanks that are truly formidable indeed. They are equipped with an explosive cannon for dealing with other vehicles (and tough structures), and also an automatic machine gun for wiping out any grunts that get too close. Its big brother is the heavy tank, which is truly a beast, sacrificing speed for power. Heavy tanks fire two shells at a time from their double barreled cannon, and can absorb far more damage than light tanks.

There are also air and even naval units, but before, I want to mention the Recon, which in my opinion is the funnest unit in the game. Basically, the recon is a speedy little buggie with a gatling gun mounted on the top. I can't tell you how fun it is to run around a skirmish in a Recon, shooting stuff up with its little gatling. Even tanks can defeated by it, since they're cannons are a little slow to hit the experienced driver (though you'd have to be partially insane to try it.).
On to air vehicles, of which there are few. The most amusing in my opinion is the bomber. Bombers are the funnest example of the point and click targeting interface for ordering your troops around. If you're lucky enough to have an allied bomber circling in the skies above (which you can take control of at any time), if a particular enemy (such as a heavy tank) is becoming a thorn in your side, you can order your buddy above to bomb him. The bomber will leave its holding pattern and within a few seconds, you'll here the extremely satisfying trademark whistling sound as bombs rain from the sky and the tank is quickly blown to bits. Yes, that was an air strike you just ordered.

Air units are interesting because as vulnerable as they are (it can be hard to make out little Anti-Air dudes on the ground targeting you with their little missile bazookas, so you've generally got to keep yourself and your other units in check), they are incredibly powerful. The bomber is most ground units' biggest nightmare, as they have no way of fighting against them. The only other fixed wing aircraft is the fighter, which is almost as fun to control as the recon (there's satisfaction in bombing people yourself, but I find the bomber to be rather tough to control precisely). Fighters are nimble little jets that streak through the sky. It takes practice to fly them with any amount of grace and skill, but they are formidable units, being capable of escaping the missile lock of anti-air units and other fighters by doing barrel rolls. In fixed-wing air craft such as the bomber and fighter, the controls change significantly. You use the Wii remote's motion sensing to pilot the unit, only using the analog stick to speed up and slow down. Basically, the remote becomes the unit. You twist it to bank, and tilt it up and down to gain altitude and dive.

In my opinion, naval units are generally more frustrating then they are fun, but they do give a good change of pace. All of the units are very sluggish, and of course bound to the water, but they're also very powerful. The battleship has long range artillery cannons, which makes short work of most other ground and naval units, and submarines dominate the other two units because of their ability to submerge, making it difficult to hit them (Impossible for all but other submarines and frigates, actually).

I think the graphics in Battalion Wars are also worth mentioning: They're pretty good. Fantastic, even. The game makes use of blur effects and good lighting to enhance the already fairly well done environment. I wouldn't have expected much less from a Nintendo game.

The last thin is the replay value. Battalion Wars 2 is no doubt a fun game to play though. The campaign is reasonably long, but even casual players will probably be able to beat it within a couple days. After that, you can go back through the missions and try get better medals to unlock extra content like art and unit dossiers. I was disappointed to find that there is no local multiplayer. Offline, the game is singleplayer only. However, it has been partially salvaged with the addition of an online multiplayer mode. Though it was a good attempt, and may keep those who play online a lot amused for a fairly long while, but I don't play online much on any game, so the feature didn't impress so much.

Pros:
-The Recon
-A varied catalog of units to command
-A reasonably long campaign with likable enough characters
-Excellent graphics
-Easy to pick up and play. (Get bored of it, the pick it up every week or so to play a skirmish or two online.)
-The controls work very well generally (Aiming with the Wiimote IR sensor and moving with the nunchuk analog stick)
-Reliable AI
Cons:
-Story is nothing special
-Online is fairly weak, and probably won't occupy you for longer than an hour.
-Naval units are sluggish and sometimes repetitive compared to the other units.
-Low replay value overall