Published by: Nintendo
Developed by: Kuju Entertainment
Genre: Third-Person Action , Real Time Strategy
Number of Players: 1-2
Rating: RP
Release Date: TBA 2007
Battalion Wars 2 Gallery

Battalion Wars is back and better than ever on the Nintendo Wii!

Affectionately dubbed “BWii”, this cartoony looking RTS is back and ready for duty. Its GameCube older brother was a hit, making this a highly anticipated sequel.

First and foremost: Don’t let the kiddy graphics fool you. This game is heavy on the fighting. People die, buildings get demolished, and planes crash. Though it may be easy to pick up and play at first, you need strategy to win. This isn’t just a run and gun sort of shooter, you’ll need a strategy to make it through the fight.

As with most sequels, there are additions to the game. Battalion Wars on GameCube didn’t include any form of multiplayer mode; however, “BWii” looks to use the Wii’s online capabilities. Three game types have been announced, Assault (Instant Combat), Skirmish (Tactical Depth), and Co-op. Assault is the simple attack/defend scenario, with a time limit. Skirmish has both players attacking with no time limit with bases for a better, well thought out attack. Co-op will pit you and your friends against a common enemy, no information has been shared on whether this is against another person, or a computer controlled army. There will also be different styles of missions, like capture the flag.

Five new naval units have also been announced: the Battleship, Frigate, Submarine, Dreadnought, and Transport. Also, new (For greater tactical depth) players will be able to capture facility buildings to re-spawn units (HQ, Barracks, Factories, Airfield, Docks, ECT).

Gameplay will combine land, sea, and air combat, as well as six playable nations. The original nations will also be returning (Western Frontier, Tundran Empire, Xylvania, Solar Empire, and the Iron Legion). Gameplay will also include a new “Map Screen Commanding” feature, which will allow you to micromanage your units with ease, solving a major problem that the original game had.

Battalion Wars II will be fully Wii-mote compatible, which can be a good or a bad thing for the game. The RTS style is all about fast actions and control of your units. Will the Wii-mote’s wide range of movements affect the gameplay? The demo version from the 2006 Games Convention, which was behind closed doors, used the Nunchuk analog stick to control directional character movement, while jumps are performed by flicking the Nunchuk up. The Wii Remote pointer functionality is used to guide an on-screen cursor for aiming and turning. The cursor can move over units to tell if they’re friendly (blue) or an enemy (red). Troops are directed by aiming and hitting A, while the trigger on the remote is used to lock onto a target. When there is no selected target and you use the trigger, it locks the camera angle and allows your character to strafe. The home button will switch between camera views.

Will Battalion Wars II live up to its GameCube brother? We’ll have to wait till ’07 to see.