Perhaps too frantic, in fact. Battalion Wars was met with a mixed critical reaction. Many reviewers (including myself) felt that, while the game took a novel approach to the RTS formula, it was just too difficult to control your entire squad in three dimensions while trying to command all of the activities of a single unit simultaneously. Other, smaller complaints also applied, such as the linearity of the missions and various control issues with the playable vehicles. Having said that, it seems like the series would be a perfect fit for the Wii, which ideally should simplify gameplay with its motion-based aiming, helping to free up more buttons for use elsewhere.
Wii War I
As the first game in the Wars series to hit the Wii, the developers at Kuju had their hands full when it came to trying to implement motion controls without turning gameplay into an obstacle. In many ways, they succeeded. Despite dual analog’s continued reign amongst control schemes for modern action and adventure titles, foregoing dual analog control in 3-D games may be among the Wii’s greatest triumphs to date. BWii thankfully puts the Wii-mote to use for turning and looking (while the analog stick, of course, moves your character). However, you really don’t aim with the analog stick—you simply lock on to a target to engage them. Aiming is most often automatic thanks to the lock-on system; and this is probably for the better, considering the number of things you’re already burdened with when it comes to trying to control an entire army.
Speaking of which, when you want to switch between units, you simply tab over to the icon of your choice (listed horizontally along the bottom of the screen) and then hold the A button. Alternatively, you can also lock onto a unit to switch to it, but that’s generally more trouble than it’s worth. By pressing A at any time, you can toggle between having your troops either follow you or remain where they are. And you can issue other orders, such as the order to attack or defend a target, by simply locking onto that target (friend or foe) and then pressing—yep, you got it—the A button.
So really, the controls are not all that complex. Only once you get into the more advanced maneuvers do things begin to feel a little more contrived. Jumping, for instance, is performed by flicking the nunchuk upward, while rotating it along its z-axis produces a rolling dodge. Unit-specific maneuvers are generally pretty easy to grasp, such as tilting the nunchuk upward and downward to control the rising and falling in altitude of a gunship helicopter. For the most part, while they do feel a bit loose at times, the controls are quite good.
War is Hell (and even worse with lackluster gameplay)
The game is divided into a few different campaigns (totaling twenty-one missions in all), with each campaign centering on a different nation as the protagonist. The delightfully stereotypical portrayal of each nation’s culture does well to communicate BWii’s playful approach to the subject of war; too bad about the pretentious voice acting, because if it weren’t for that, the characters involved might seem a little less over-the-top.
Nevertheless, it’s the gameplay that counts… and although the controls are pretty cooperative, the gameplay is sometimes rather unmanageable. The first few missions are a breeze, but the game’s difficulty quickly heats up—and not necessarily for the right reasons. You see, I’m no stranger to Real-Time Strategy games myself (born and raised on the Command & Conquer series, yes indeed… I pledge allegiance to Frank Klepacki), but Battalion Wars 2 is one hectic game. After much deliberation and many, many hours of play, I’ve come to the simple conclusion that there’s just too much to keep track of sometimes in this game. It was the same way with Battalion Wars for GameCube, and not much has changed here, as quite frankly, that’s the name of the game.
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