Battalion Wars 2, released as in Japan, is a 2007 real-time tactics game developed by Kuju London and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the sequel to Battalion Wars (2005), in which players take command of a battalion of troops to complete missions and defeat opposing forces in battle. The game amended some existing gameplay from the previous title, while introducing new elements, including multiplayer modes, naval units, and base structures. The game's single-player story focuses on a new conflict emerging following the previous war that is being used to mask the search for a powerful ancient superweapon, with players taking charge of troops across three campaigns in the present, and two set at different points in the past.
The game received generally favorable reviews, though with some criticism levied on various areas including the game's controls. The game's online multiplayer modes became unavailable for use, as a result of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shutting down on 20 May 2014.
Gameplay
Like its predecessor, the game is played from a third-person perspective, in which players take control of a variety of units that form a battalion, in order to complete missions and battles. Gameplay features a mixture of elements from both third-person shooters and real-time tactics games, with players taking control of a single unit fully, while giving orders to the rest of their battalion, whether to a single unit, a company of the same type, or the entire battalion. Battalion Wars 2 amended some elements of gameplay brought over from its predecessor - Light and Heavy recon units were replaced with the Recon unit, combining the speed of the former with the firepower of the latter; the HUD's radar now features a mini-map of the battlefield; and units can now be given orders by players through the map screen. One significant change was allowing players to take control of five of the six playable factions during the single-player mode, consisting of twenty missions plus a prologue, with each faction receiving their own campaign that is unlocked one after the other.
Along with making improvements to existing gameplay, Battalion Wars 2 added in new elements for players - Naval Units, and Base Facilities. Naval units are based upon those from the Advance Wars series, with the addition of the Dreadnought that is exclusive to the Battalion Wars series, all of which the player can control and give orders to, with the exception of Naval Transports - like Air Transports, they cannot be controlled or given orders. Base Facilities consist of Headquarters, Barracks, Factories, Air Bases, and Docks, and act as respawn points for units lost in battle - HQs respawn Rifle Grunts; Barracks respawn infantry units; Factories respawn ground vehicles; Air Bases respawn aircraft; and Docks respawn Naval Units - so long as they are under the player's control. Each facility features a capture point, based on the system from the previous game, which only infantry can take, and once captured, the building is rebuilt in the architectural style of the player's faction (i.e. if controlled by the Solar Empire, the facility sports a high-tech look).
One of the biggest improvements made by Battalion Wars 2 was the inclusion of multiplayer modes, a feature absent in the previous game. Multiplayer offered three online modes for two players to take part in, via Nintento's Wi-Fi Connection - Skirmish, Assault, and Co-operative. In Skirmish, players could start out with a pre-deployed force, and win by earning as many points as possible from destroying enemy units within a specified time limit, with Facilities available that could be used to respawn units as long as they remained in a player's control. In Assault mode, one player could command a siege battalion and win by destroying the opposing player's assets, with the latter winning by defending against this. In Co-operative mode, both players could tackle a battalion controlled by an AI opponent, in which each player was assigned a certain role(s) (i.e. anti-air), forcing each to rely on the other to counter units they couldn't deal with.