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It has been three years since the first Advance Wars spin off, Battalion Wars game was released and vast improvements have been made since the last one. However, how will the new Battalion Wars fare with new Wii Controls.

Well the main changes, apart from the controls, come in the form of more units to command, more ground vehicles to crush your opposition into the ground and new additional naval commandments. Having said that if you’re still wondering what Battalion Wars is actually about you basically controlling a battalion of troops that are divided into vast amounts of units including land, air and now naval. There are various types of troop, including infantry, tanks, bombers, choppers and submarines and more. In most situations, you are able to directly control every unit’s movements and behavior. Think of it as a strategy game but from a third person perspective as you take control of a commander.

Advancing it to the Wii from the Gamecube has certainly given the game a completely new level of strategic thinking, which you will need throughout the game in order to complete it. Carrying on from the last story with Western Front, this game starts different by introducing the long war battle between The Solar Empire and Xylvania. As the story unravels, you will make pacts with different armies and even travel back in time to take part in flashback missions. Furthermore, you will get to play out various different sides of the story. This in turn allows you to be in command of a vast array of units throughout the game.

Controlling in the game is easy at the start of the game but as the game progresses more in depth movement is needed and it can get a bit fiddly at times, especially in a frantic dogfight or when masses of troops are running towards each other. Movement is controlled by the stick on the nunchuk while the shooting is all on the Wii-mote by implementing the standard Wii-shooter controls were you point it at the screen. With a click of the A button you can either have your troops Follow or Wait. By sending you and your battalion to certain area’s of the map, by pointing the Wii-remote, it will send your troops to that destination. Another good aspect is further into the game you are able to select each battalion one by one for specific roles, which can give you an advantage if you know what you are doing. On the other hand if you lack planning skills you can always bring up the in game map at any time and this can be used to set way-points for your troops allowing you to plot out the best option of attack/defense.

Graphics and sound are impressing in both areas. The visuals are wonderful amongst the many battle situations and vast surroundings. The sound isn’t great but it isn’t terrible and for the Wii this can only be seen as a good point nevertheless, the voice acting is a bit off but its nice to see them give it a good go.

Lastly is the all new feature is online play. There are three options to choose including Co-op, Assault and Skirmish. The game features its own server which means you’ll be enjoying near lag free battles and small lobby-waiting-times. The only problem is the dreaded friend code system but its good just playing random people and getting up your online ranking up. Co-op mode is what you would expect. In the Assault mode you either attack or defend in the time limit, the winner is capture the oppositions HQ by either raising the flag or having the most points at the end of the game time. Imagine something similar to the Assault mode in Unreal Tournament. Skirmish mode is also fun as you get large amounts of troops at your disposal.

With any first party game you would expect a good turn out and in this case Nintendo haven’t failed to deliver. Despite a few niggles here and there it’s one of the best strategic type game’s on the Wii although it has to be said it really only wins that title by default. Still Battalion Wars 2 does a fairly good job and despite the cartoon-ish visuals there is a game to be enjoyed by old and young.