Battalion Wars 2

Infobox VG
title=Battalion Wars 2


developer=Kuju Entertainment
publisher=Nintendo
designer=
engine=
series ="Nintendo Wars"
released=flagicon|USA October 29 2007
flagicon|EU February 15 2008 [ [http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/games/wii/battalion_wars_ii_2847.html Nintendo - Games - Battalion Wars II ] ] [ [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=177020 Nintendo News: Nintendo gives out massive '08 schedule - ComputerAndVideoGames.com ] ]
flagicon|AUS March 20 2008 [ [http://gonintendo.com/?p=34455 GoNintendo » Blog Archive » Nintendo of Australia - 2007 sales info- What are you waiting for? ] ]
flagicon|JPN May 15 2008 [ [http://uk.gamespot.com/wii/strategy/battalionwars2/similar.html?mode=versions&om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=headerimage;more Battalion Wars 2 for Wii - Battalion Wars 2 Wii Game - Battalion Wars 2 Wii Video Game ] ]
genre=Third-person shooter, Strategy (Real-time tactics)
modes=Single Player, Onlinecite web|url=http://www.aussie-nintendo.com/?v=news&p=4559|title=Battalion Wars ii announced for Nintendo's Wii|accessdate=2006-08-23|author=Captain|date=2006-08-23|publisher=Aussie-Nintendo]
ratings=ESRB: T (Teen)
OFLC: M
PEGI: 12+ cite web|url=http://www.pegi.info/en/index/global_id/23/?searchString=battalion+wars+2&agecategories=&genre=&organisations=&platforms=&countries=&submit=Search|title=Battalion Wars 2|accessdate=2008-02-19|date=2008-02-19|publisher=PEGI]
USK: 16 [http://usk.de/64_Pruefdatenbank.htm?s=search&title=battalion+wars+2&s.x=0&s.y=0&s=search]
CERO: B (12+)
platforms=Wii
media=Wii Optical Disc
requirements=
input=

"Battalion Wars 2" is a video game for the Wii console.Bryan, "Battalion Wars 2": War Is Cute," "Game Informer" 177 (January 2008): 95.] It is a sequel to the Nintendo GameCube title "Battalion Wars". The game was officially announced August 23 2006 at the Leipzig Games Convention with the official name, as well as the stylized abbreviation "BWii". It was developed by Kuju Entertainment,cite web|last=Castro|first=Juan|date=2005-05-15|url= http://cube.ign.com/articles/654/654724p2.html|title=E3 2005: Kuju Entertainment Interview|publisher=IGN Cube|accessdate=2006-07-08] which also developed the GameCube predecessor, and was published by Nintendo. "Battalion Wars 2" was released on October 29 2007 in North America and on February 15 2008 in Europe.

Features

"Battalion Wars 2" gameplay combines land, sea, and air combat. Unlike the first game, which did not feature naval combat, the sequel has several new sea-faring units: Battleship, Frigate, Submarine, Dreadnought and Naval Transport. Also, the Light and Heavy Recon units from the last game have been replaced by merely the Recon unit which has the Heavy Recon's defense and extra gun and the Light Recon's speed. Including the prologue, there are 20 playable missions, and six factions in the game, including the Western Frontier, Tundran Territories, Solar Empire, Xylvania, and Iron Legion from the last game, and a new nation called the Anglo Isles. The game also allows troops to capture facilities for higher respawn rates, and benefits (such as HeadQuarters, Barracks, Factories, Air Bases, and Docks) that can be used to generate more units.

"Battalion Wars 2" also features three separate online multiplayer modes, including skirmish, assault and cooperative. In skirmish, both sides start out with a pre-deployed force with a facilities to replace units that are lost. The main objective of the game is to earn as many points by destroying enemy units. In assault mode, one player is given a siege battalion to destroy the opposing player's assets. [ [http://wii.ign.com/articles/831/831847p2.html IGN: Battalion Wars 2 Review ] ] The third mode is co-op in which two players join forces to tackle a much larger computer. They are given certain units, forcing them to heavily rely on the other.cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3153075 |title=Battalion Wars 2 Wii Preview|accessdate= 2006-08-23|last=Leone|first=Matt|date=2006-08-23|work=1UP|publisher=Ziff Davis Media] cite web|url=http://wii.ign.com/articles/727/727651p1.html|title=Battalion Wars 2 Hands-on|accessdate=2006-08-24|last=Kablau|first=Mario|date=2006-08-23|work=IGN Wii] The lack of multiplayer was among the more commonly cited shortcomings of the first game, but this was addressed in the development of the second, [ [http://cube.ign.com/articles/650/650932p1.html IGN: Battalion Wars Review ] ] [ [http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/action/advancewarsunderfire/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs&tag=tabs;reviews Battalion Wars for GameCube Review - GameCube Battalion Wars Review ] ] [ [http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62092 Battalion Wars Review // GC /// Eurogamer ] ] although the game still lacks a splitscreen multiplayer mode.

Plot summary

Prologue

200 years ago, the Iron Legion ruled by the fearsome Lord Ferrok were on the brink of total conquest. Ferrok believing victory was at hand, gathered his armies at his stronghold, the Iron Tower, to prepare for a final onslaught. But at the last moment, the Solar Empire invaded Old Xlyvania and begun an last-ditch attempt to destroy the Legion. After a series of battles, Empress Qa-len, monarch of the Solar Empire dropped a strike battalion equipped with a mysterious staff deep into Legion terrority. The strike battalion were to take the staff to the top of the Iron Tower to activate a satellite weapon which would destroy the Legion. Unfortunately for them, Ferrok's bomber found and eliminated them. However, a lone solar grunt found the staff just as it was about to fall into enemy hands before proceeding towards the tower. The grunt's rifle was supercharged by the staff which also created a shield round the grunt. The grunt now known as the Staff Bearer defeated many Legion Infantry, heavy tanks and gunships before destroying Ferrok's precious Battlestation. The explosion from the Battlestation destroyed the protective wall around the tower making the path clear for the Staff Bearer now accompanied by three solar grunts. After defeating the grunts guarding the tower, the four solar warriors infiltrated the tower and activated the satellite weapon. After a huge blast from the sun which destroyed the Iron Tower and the Legion, Qa-Len found the staff in the tower rubble and proceeded to an icy wasteland where she hid it in hope that it may never be used for the power of evil!

olar Empire Campaign

200 years later, Commander Pierce and Colonel Windsor of the Anglo Isles launch a surprise attack on the Solar Empire, believing they have created a super weapon. Empress Lei-Qo states that history has come full circle, as she'd foreseen when she is told of the news. After a series of battles, the Anglos are repelled and Admiral A-Qira of the Solar Empire promises retribution against the Anglo Isles. Meanwhile, in the Tundran Territories, Marshal Nova sees the ghost of his father, Tsar Gorgi, who accuses him of dishonouring his memory with talks of peace. Nova later receives a call from A-Qira, who requests they join forces in the war with the Anglo Isles. To appease his father, Nova agrees.

Western Frontier Campaign

At the Western Frontier war room, General Herman tells Brigadier Betty about a similar conflict they had with the Tundran Territories thirty years ago, when Tsar Gorgi launched an invasion on the Western Frontier, believing they harbor a super weapon. The Western Frontier halted the Tundran advance at Fort 51, and later defeated the Tundran Territories and forced Tsar Gorgi to sign a peace treaty. During that war, Herman's army discovered Xylvanians using mining equipment, but they were unable to figure out what they were looking for. Herman then tells Betty about his theory of the conflict; someone is manipulating both sets of nations for their own gain.

Anglo Isles Campaign

The Solar Empire and Tundran Territories invade the Anglo Isles. Colonel Windsor and Commander Pierce must take on the might of two nations. Although initially doing well, A-Qira encounters numerous setbacks: his invasion force is cut off during the first main battle of the war, Nova withdraws his troops from the conflict after he loses numerous battleships to the Anglo Isles bombers, and the Solar Empire's prototype dreadnought is sunk. During the last battle of the war, Lei-Qo attempts to reason with A-Qira, but Commander Pierce, recognizing the Admiral's temperament, tells her that A-Qira will fight to the death. A-Qira, frustrated by his defeat in this battle, drinks from his canteen, only to discover that it has poison in it, killing him. Kaiser Vlad, who poisoned A-Qira, is revealed to be the one who orchestrated the war just as in the last game.

Iron Legion Campaign

Kaiser Vlad invades the preoccupied Tundran Territories and brings back Kommader Ubel from a Tundran P.O.W. camp. Another flashback campaign reveals how the Iron Legion was on the verge of victory over the Solar Empire until the use of Qa-Len's staff defeated them. Vlad tells Ubel that he has spent decades searching for the location of the staff (explaining the mining equipment Herman saw during the Frontier campaign), and that he has finally found it: somewhere in the north of the Tundran Territories.

Tundran Territories Campaign

In the final campaign, the player takes control of the Tundran Territories' forces in an attempt to repel Vlad's expedition for the staff. After protecting Gorgi's mausoleum from Ubel's forces and destroying Vlad's dreadnought navy, Nova's forces move north. There, they find Ice Station X, a large seismic platform that Ubel is using to locate the staff. The station is destroyed, but not before it finds out where the staff is. In the game's last mission, Vlad sets up a large mechanized mining walker called the Mining Spider to dig for the staff. A combined force of Tundran Territories, Western Frontier, Solar Empire and Anglo Isles units battles its way to and destroys the Mining Spider. However, Kaiser Vlad is able to find and activate the staff, forcing the Alliance of Nations to pull out. Though having used the staff, Vlad attempts to escape in an air transport, but it is shot down by Commander Pierce. As a result of a botched escape underground, Vlad buries himself with Kommander Ubel in a cave. While Ubel tries to dig them out, Kaiser Vlad holds a match and still persists that Xylvania's destiny of world domination burns brightly. However, the match ironically goes out.

Epilogue

Betty finds herself dangerously close to the Mining Spider when Vlad activates the staff. Luckily, Pierce lands his fighter plane nearby, and she jumps into it, and the pair of them narrowly escape the resulting explosion. The Alliance then searches for the Kaiser, but just find nothing. Marshall Nova was again "denied of his vengeance" and shouts out, "WHERE ARE THEY!?". Later, at an Alliance victory parade, all the leaders salute their respective troops, who salute back. Betty and Pierce show signs of being attracted to one another, and are silently nagged by Herman and Windsor, respectively, for not paying attention to the parade. Nova then sees his father's ghost next to him, who is smiling at him.

Reception

IGN rated the game an 8.0 out of 10, citing an impressive story mode, addition of naval units, mostly intuitive controls, and fun online modes. Sticking points included that Kuju failed to capitalize on or misused Wii's control enhancements, the inability to play through the single-player campaign in online cooperative mode, and the lack of voice chat.
GameSpot gave it a 7.5 out of 10 for drastically improved pacing in campaign, a decent attempt at online play, and excellent production values. Its downsides were the strategy is still "lite", is overly simple, and the artificial intelligence and story are rather modest. [ [http://www.gamespot.com/wii/strategy/battalionwars2/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;review Battalion Wars 2 for Wii Review] October 29 2007.] Official Nintendo Magazine (UK) gave the game 90%, criticizing the lack of a "retreat" command and the occasionally fiddly controls, but commending the graphics and strong online mode [ [http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=3278 Wii Review: Battalion Wars 2 - Official Nintendo Magazine] ] . "Game Informer" gave the game a 7.25.

References

External links

* [http://www.gamespot.com/wii/strategy/battalionwars2/ "Battalion Wars 2"] at Gamespot
* [http://gaming.wikia.com/index.php?title=Battalion_Wars_2 "Battalion Wars 2"] at Gaming.Wikia