It’s pretty ironic, actually. When we last played Battalion Wars at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May of this year, we weren’t extremely impressed with the title. Kuju Entertainment – the developer behind the action-adventure game – had created something that we didn’t feel stood out all that much and didn’t really deliver all that great of an experience. The controls and most mechanics were a little clunky and felt unpolished. We just weren’t impressed.

However, things change, and sometimes for the better. That seems to be the case with Battalion Wars. We got our final review copy of the game a couple days ago and have since sunk our teeth into the cartoon-esque war-themed adventure. Overall, we’re not exactly knocked off our feet, but we have to admit we’re enjoying ourselves – much more than we thought we would. Which is a good thing, because the truth is, up until a few weeks ago, our excitement for Battalion Wars was nearly non-existent. Maybe that’s why we’re liking the final game so much. We’re not sure, but the truth is Kuju Entertainment has done a fairly solid job with its latest title.

Battalion Wars, for those who haven’t been following it closely, started out as Advance Wars for GameCube. However, the folks at Kuju later ditched the brand name, as the direction they were taking the title in was completely unlike the Game Boy Advance series. Instead of top-down turn-based strategy-based gameplay, their title featured real-time action in a full 3D world. A lot of the strategy was sucked from the formula, so the remaining product was much different than Intelligent System’s Advance Wars games. Eventually, Kuju decided to make their game an entirely new branch of the Advance Wars franchise, calling it Battalion Wars. That's what we have sitting in front of us today.

The developer has scripted a more than decent storyline with its title. The Western Frontier and Tundran Territories are in the midst of a terrifying global war. While their dispute originally grew out of a small border quarrel, it’s since grown to disturbing proportions. However, both countries eventually engaged in an old-fashioned stalemate. The former leader of Xylvania – a country that was once an ally of both The Western Frontier and Tundran Territories -- Kaiser Vlad, however, wants revenge for his lost army. He creates a super powerful, gas-breathing army called the Chemical Shock Troops. When he unleashes this devastation upon both The Western Frontier and Tundran Armies, Vlad weakens both sides considerably, leaving them powerless against this new kind of enemy. The inability to stand against this kind of foe causes both The Western Frontier and Tundran Armies to join forces to defeat the Chemical Shock Troops.

Gamers play as the Western Frontiers throughout Battalion Wars. Its gameplay style is best compared to the old Army Men games, though this is not an Army Men game in any other way. Everything is actually quite polished and well-designed.

There are two camera angles to control gamer’s troops from – behind-the-back and angled overhead top-down view. The former is where players will spend most their time, as it allows the most wide-open view of the area. However, the latter comes in quite handy for when players must find where their troops are or just can’t see enough with the behind-the-back camera angle.

At the start of every mission, there’s a briefing screen that tells players a background story about the mission at hand. Additionally, at the launch of every mission there is usually some dialogue. These lines push forward the storyline of Battalion Wars and at the very least add some personality to both the missions and storyline itself.



Battalion Wars

Mission objectives can be as linear as getting from point A to point B or as wide-open as covering a huge mass of land and capturing points specified by the map. These objectives are never overly difficult, but they’re not exactly walks in the park, either. What’s nice about Battalion Wars, though, is that players can take several approaches to every mission. For example, they don’t have to use every kind of unit they’re equipped with. If they choose, they can haul butt through each mission as the same unit, or they can play as strategically and craftily as they want to.