-
Developer: Kuju Entertainment
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Shooter
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 19 Sep 05
User Rating
9.6 (8 votes) -
- Kuju's strategy title steps up to fill the void left by Zelda, thrilling GameCube owners with a truly superb RTS - the way it's meant to be played.
More Screens (4 total)
Overview
It was only a few sad weeks ago that Nintendo Gamecube owners got the terrible news that the big release of Zelda: Twilight Princess has been pushed up to next spring. Everyone knew that Zelda was going to be the core of Nintendo's holiday lineup, and with that being out of the game plan this holiday season what possibly could help Nintendo really stay in the loop and make for a must have Christmas list game? Well today we got the great chance to check out Nintendo's latest game, Battalion Wars. So should you go run to Santa and put it on your Christmas list? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
Now like I said Nintendo has been really aching for something (really anything) to come out for the Gamecube to really give them a lift and try to mount some sort of fight to gain parts of this market this Christmas season. And although Zelda was going to be the main attraction this game has really been getting a lot of talk as it was originally under the ever popular "Advance Wars" title. Nintendo decided to go elsewhere with their game by creating its own title and trying to gain its own name for itself. So is this the same great fun as we would have found under the Advance Wars label?
At first glance Battalion Wars doesn't look like an action game which most people are going to want to take seriously. When you look at the character models and just the overall look of Battalion Wars seems like something that you would find in a children's arcade game, not something that would actually probably be more entertaining for the older kids. But let me just start by getting this idea out of all your heads, because this is actually a game much more focused on the older age group rather then what it appears from a distance to be a younger oriented game.
So what exactly is Battalion Wars? Well to be honest that is not an easy question to answer, because this game is kind of like a few different genres combined into one game. It has elements of a third person shooter and the real time strategy genre all into one game. What separates Battalion Wars from other games on the market is the fact that the game never makes you stay as one character but instead while battles are taking place which is quite often you can freely switch from unit to unit going from a tank to an infantryman and vice versa. The real time strategy comes with you commanding your troops to attack, which is very easily done. And for the first time, I can say that the Gamecube controller actually was used perfectly in this game.
One of the things that I really wanted to discuss in Battalion Wars is the computer AI, which is quite possibly the most important part of Battalion Wars, because without it this game wouldn't even be worth discussing. I was extremely impressed with the simple but effective computer AI that I found in Battalion Wars. You have to use quite a bit of brain power throughout the game to realize what needs to be done and to send the right troops to take on the enemies. Taking a superior unit head-on is tantamount to suicide, so you need to use of common sense in trying to gain the upper hand. And what is nice about Battalion Wars is the control scheme, which allows for easy management of troops.
Battalion Wars is plain and simply a strategy action game that really plays well up and down the whole story mode. The whole experience is really interesting, as you just have to concentrate on getting your units setup and then attack. The ability to go through the different members of your crew is real fun experience, as was the whole story mode. With that being said Battalion Wars basically ends with the story mode and this game would have done a hundred times better had the Gamecube had online support as this game would have been amazing online. With that being said, the game that you do have is only a little over ten hours long but the gameplay for the ten hours is fast, complex, and most of all extremely entertaining.
Graphics
Like I mentioned earlier, Battalion Wars has that initial reaction like this looks like some little kids game. This is mainly due to the visual style the developers chose to use in Battalion Wars, which really has a younger feel to it. With that being said I actually enjoyed this whole cartoon look because I felt it made this game really just a lot more entertaining that way. Battlaion Wars doesn't take itself too seriously, and that just makes the game a lot more relaxing, and in my opinion a lot more enjoyable to play.
The visuals are not perfect as the character models in my opinion need a bit more detail to really get the most out of the them. I must say though that the animation and the overall view of Battalion Wars was really one of the best looking things the Gamecube has seen all year. Although not absolutely perfect, for the most part the visuals are great.
Fun Factor
Battalion Wars combines both fun and easy to pick up gameplay with some very entertaining and at times difficult strategy, something that very few games have managed to accomplish. Battalion Wars finds a happy middleground between action and strategy, and it works beautifully. You can easily see that this game would have the potential to be one of the best Gamecube games had it had more depth, either with a much longer single player experience or the addition of multiplayer experience.
Overall
Battalion Wars is a great game and there are no two ways about it. But this is a great game that needed more depth to really get the great score that I wanted to give it. I enjoyed Battalion Wars from start to finish, but unfortunately that experience was overshadowed by a lack of multiplayer or other modes. You really are left with nothing to do after about ten hours of gameplay and to me that is inexcusable. I would encourage every Gamecube owners to rent this game as it is a lot of fun, but unfortunately a purchase would just warrant a little too much disappointment, as there is really no extra replay value outside the main mode.
- Gameplay
8.0 - Graphics
9.0 - Fun Factor
8.0 - Overall
8.0
