The Hundred Minutes War
| Platform | Presentation | Controls | Variety | Audio | Depth | Value & Fun | OVERALL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wii | 8.50 | 7.00 | 7.50 | 8.50 | 8.00 | 6.50 | 7.41 |
| General Information |
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Multiplayer Importance: Very low. Previously played game in the series: Battalion Wars (partial play-through). Television set-up: 19" Sylvania CRT, SDTV 480i, composite cables. |
| Gameplay Description |
| Battalion Wars 2 (BWii) is a squad-based third person action-strategy game *whew*. You control a character in a battalion and can shoot at enemies, meanwhile you can order your team to attack different targets, as well as switch to other characters. |
| Dedication Meter | 10.00 |
| The game is segmented into 10 minute missions, so aside from getting familiar with the game, you don't need to really dedicate yourself to the game. The amount of things to do with the controls and the number of units can be a bit daunting. | |
| Presentation | 8.50 |
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From a visual standpoint, most of the game looks like the GameCube iteration. Some effects are improved, but most noticeably, the framerate is very smooth and never drops. The cartoonish style doesn't call for much detail, and the colours are rich. There are no instances where it comes up that anything is clearly low quality. The story is presented in pre-rendered cutscenes that look quite good and are very well done. The story is simplistic, matching the art-style, and the characters entirely one-dimensional, although on occasion comical.
In-game, the HUD lists your unit types at the bottom of the screen as well as the type of unit you're controlling. Additionally, each type will have an icon over it for its activity (Follow/Attack/Wait) as well as show the number of each type of unit you have. In the corner, there is a mini-map in the corner that directs you towards your different objectives. On top of the mini-map, you can call on a map of the entire level that tells you where the enemy troops are at all times, which is a huge help. While it could be argued that this is a crutch it works with the concept of planning your attack rather than just running towards an objective blindly. Units on the field have similar information in that there's is an icon for the unit's activity, as well as a healthbar and text telling you what type of unit it is. While the different units are pretty distinctive, it can still be difficult to tell exactly what it is in the distance, so that text is very important. It can also be a bit difficult to see what you're you targeting, which could have been an issue otherwise. The HUD is overally excellent. Because the game is played by directly controlling one unit in third person, it gets difficult to see the different types of units at the same time (ground/air/naval) which is the biggest issue. If you're not prepared for an incoming air attack, it's very unlikely you'll see them before they're above you, shooting. All in all, the game presents itself well, and nothing about the game is really lack of clarity. |
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| Controls | 7.00 |
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The Wii controls are a definite improvement over its predecessor. While it allows for free-aim, it still gives you the option of locking on, which is needed to command your troops to do something. Moving tanks, while a little clunky, it is only so by being appropriately tank-like. The gunships are fun and generally easy enough to control. Little issues are scattered about in the game. While the issue of targeting air units has mostly been addressed, they can still fly right above your unit and be untargetable. An issue unaddressed is that there's collision detection between your troops, which means if you have a bunch of infintry, they get in the way of vehicles. Targeting a specific enemy amongst several is common also; the game detects the area and not the reticle specifically, so even aiming directly onto a unit will not necessarily target it. Similar to the targeting issue, it will target your own troops and you have no way of not doing so, which just creates another obstacle. There are some vehicles in which the control doesn't work, namely the fighters, which you turn by tilting the Wiimote. Simply, aiming and turning at the same time doesn't work. It's understandable that the plane can't hover in place, but in combination with the controls, it's an absolute pain. The worst problem is the camera in tighter areas or with many troops, which can get really aggrevating. It get get stuck against walls or troops and swoop in very low, obstructing your view, even if you've zoomed out to the furthest of the three zooms (a helpful feature). What would have been a huge help is an option to send units to a specific area to wait. There's really no way to elaborate on that, it just would have made the game better. The issues aren't big, just many. |
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| Variety | 7.50 |
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Battalion Wars 2 does a lot to keep things mixed up. It spreads out the introduction of the different units slowly, making missions with these additions feel fresh. There are many different objectives throughout the game, such as out a target, saving troops, getting to an area within a time limit, escorting a unit, etc. There are six different infintry units, six ground vehicles, four air units, and four naval units in the game, which each being very distinctive. The naval units are new to the series, and are typically used separately from ground missions (when you have naval units, all you have are naval units so you're not control ground units also). However, there is an instance where you do both. You never see all the units in a single mission. Given the variety of units and mission structure, it never feels as if you're doing the same mission twice. But the reason why you never feel like playing the mission over is that there aren't enough of them. Perhaps attributed to by the slow roll-out of units is that the firs third of the game, even first half of the game, feels like a tutorial that gets you used to a particular unit and laxes the difficulty because of it. Once the new unit introductions stop, it's like hitting a wall of difficulty. Each mission is about 10 minutes in length, with earlier missions being a bit shorter, and the latest a big longer, to a range of about 7-15 minutes. There are 20 of these missions. For a bit over 3 hours of game length, which some cutscenes spliced between. You're not going to beat the later missions without failing a couple times, but the game does not feel like it did as much as it could have. |
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| Audio | 8.50 |
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The voice acting is cartoony-over-the-top. If you consider in that regard, they are very well done, although if one were overly critical, it could be said that the voices are forced. At any rate, they fit the theme and are welcomed. The audio in the game is actually rather important. When you're given an objective, it appears at the top of the screen in text and you're told by voice what to do. Usually you're safe when this happens, but there are times when you don't want to stop and read. The sound from each vehicle is distinctive and helps identify which units are firing. The music is very good also. The scores manage to be fitting of a war, without being too emotional given the content of the game, as well as original. It even gets catchy! |
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| Depth | 8.00 |
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The battles are swayed heavily by strength/weakness combinations. Flame units will easily take out other infintry, which are weak against Tanks, which are weak against air units. The differences are so pronounced that it creates both benefits and problems with regard to depth. A benefit is that in battles with many units, keeping your units in check and attacking the right type of enemy becomes very important and rewarding. Additionally, conserving the health of a variety of units becomes a concern also. Problems arise, however, in that controlling a large number of units can be unruly and to lose a certain type of unit can make the rest of your objectives completely impossible. For example, if you have to capture a base in which there are air units, or even just a gunship, it is hopeless to try if you do not have anti-air units -- it's as simple as that. There are different little tricks throughout that you can pick up to improve the survival of your troops, and it's quite enjoyable to do so. Ultimately, though, it's often more about enjoying the balanced design of the missions rather than tactical depth. |
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| Value & Fun | 6.50 |
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Battalion Wars 2 is too short. There's no way around it, there's just not enough game here. Those who played the first Battalion Wars will likely blow through the first half of the game without any problem, although it should still be a relatively enjoyable time for the two hours it takes them. Naval units get a decent workout at the end, but air units go under-used aside from gunships, as do heavy tanks, battlestations and recon vehicles. There are also no missions in which you're actually in a straight battle against an enemy with factories and air bases as opposed to a single battalion that infiltrates and takes over. Perhaps it was that the missions would have taken more in the range of a half-hour as opposed to ten minutes, which would have been terrible if they had kept the biggest design issue in the game. That issue is that if you fail a mission, you start it over from the beginning. Evey mission is a build up to the most difficult objective, which is the most likely place to fail. Given this, having to start over is infuriating. This could be in an effort to extend the length of the game, but does so at the cost of annoying the player. Half-way, if not user-defined, checkpoints would have been a big plus. If you didn't have enough units to practically finish the mission, then you could start over manually. The best argument for the lifespan of the game is that there are grades given at the end of each mission based on your percentage for Power (units destroyed), Speed (time finished) and Tactics (number of units kept). Getting all As unlocks some bonus material such as artwork, as does all S-ranks. It's a bit annoying in practice, though, as Power is contradictory to Speed and Tactics, given the more you fight, the longer it will take to finish and the more likely you'll lose units. Also, Speed isn't really how to enjoy the game. Still, it's always good to have statistics. |
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| Value & Fun (with online) | 6.50 |
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The online is terrible. I'm not going to spout off about friend codes or headsets, but rather that the games modes are not designed around what makes Battalion Wars fun. Your online options are Co-op, Assault and Skirmish. Co-op is the best addition, which lets you play through missions with a friend or someone at random. Unfortunately, you can't play through the single-player campaign, but instead co-op specific missions. This is understandable by the notion that it may not be that much fun to control a single-unit in a Battalion, and adding a second into the single-player wouldn't have worked. However, the co-op missions aren't creative enough. The objectives are simplistic and don't play to the strengths of the game. Instead of something with the idea of one player controlling ground units, the other air, the game gives Battalions with one type of unit difference, such as one has some anti-air units, while the other doesn't. While you require each other, it doesn't feel like much of a team effort. There are four co-op missions. Assault has one player defend objectives, the other attacks. This is good in concept, but doesnt' work for the maps, which online are small and linear. This leads to just running towards the enemy, one wins and that's about all that can happen. The other problem is that instead of making it a fair notion, the attacker has better units while the defender tries to hold off as long as possible. Both have respawning units, so it's just a mess. Skirmish is a battle in which both sides try to eliminate as many of the other's units as possible within the time limit. The one with the most points at the end wins. Here's how it works: Run towards each other, one side wins, other side respawns and wins, that side in turn respawns and wins, end game. It's just running towards each other in the middle in a chaotic mess. |
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| Overall | 7.41 |
| Battalion Wars 2 is fun while it lasts. There's definite challenge in the later missions, and the objectives are varied. Given the length, it doesn't feel like enough as you don't get enough time with the different units or with the variety of missions. | |
| Overall (with online) | 7.41 |
| The online modes go contradictory to what makes the game enjoyable in the first place, and in that, there's not really any reason to consider online an asset here. | |
Posted by Ellyoda Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:00:00
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