Battalion Wars
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| Battalion Wars | |
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| Developer(s) | Kuju Entertainment Infusion Games |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |  USA September 20, 2005[1] JPN October 27, 2005 [1] |
| Genre(s) | Third-person action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen CERO: 12+ PEGI: 12+ OFLC (AU): M |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo GameCube |
| Media | 1 × GameCube Optical Disc |
| System requirements | Memory card |
| Input | Game controller |
Battalion Wars (突撃!!ファミコンウォーズ Totsugeki! Famicom Wars?), originally to be titled Advance Wars: Under Fire,[2] part of the Nintendo Wars series, is a real-time strategy game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on September 20, 2005. A sequel, Battalion Wars 2 for the Wii was unveiled at the 2006 Leipzig Games Convention.
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[edit] Gameplay
Battalion Wars contains the elements of both a third-person shooter and a real-time strategy game. In the midst of battle, the player will have control over a variety of units, including infantry, tanks, and air units. The player also controls an individual unit himself. Separate units, unit groups, or the entire battalion can be given commands. Units can be commanded to follow the player, hold their positions, man gun turrets, or attack certain targets. At any time, the player may "control-transfer" from one unit to another and take control of that new unit.
[edit] Unit types
[edit] Infantry
- Rifle grunts: These basic soldiers make up the bulk of the armies. They carry an assault rifle.
- Bazooka/Rocket (Xylvanian/Iron Legion) Troops: Bazooka-wielding infantry whose rockets can destroy tanks and other vehicles.
- Missile/Ack-Ack (Xylvanian/Iron Legion) Troops: Infantry that carry surface-to-air missiles.
- Flame veterans: Infantry with flamethrowers; they are most effective against other infantry at close range.
- Assault/Minigun (Xylvanian/Iron Legion) Troops: Assault veterans are essentially more powerful Rifle grunts; they carry heavy machine guns capable of causing massive damage against infantry. The heavy machine gun is also capable of dealing damage to lightly armored vehicles and helicopters.
- Mortar/Grenade (Xylvanian/Iron Legion) Troops: As the name implies, they fire explosives that travel in an arc through the air, allowing them to be shot over walls or behind enemy cover. A fully charged Mortar Shell has increased damage and a larger blast radius capable of knocking infantry off their feet.
- Xylvanian Acid Gas troops/Solar Empire Plasma troops: Identical to flame veterans except that they use poison gas/plasma weaponry.
[edit] Land vehicles
- Tanks: Tanks are armed with cannons and machine guns. The cannon can be aimed and fired manually by the player, while the machine gun is fired automatically. There are Light and Heavy tanks, with the Heavy version possessing more firepower. The Western Frontier Heavy Tank has a double-barreled cannon.
- Recons: Light and Heavy Recons are jeeps with rear-mounted machine guns. They are much faster than tanks.
- Anti-air: A vehicle carrying surface-to-air missiles.
- Artillery: A self-propelled artillery unit, with a long range. It also has a mounted machine gun.
- Battlestation: The ultimate ground-based vehicle. It has a double-barreled cannon, two side-mounted gun turrets and three rear-mounted heavy machine guns. The main guns are fixed in an assault gun configuration, meaning that the whole vehicle must be turned to aim them.
[edit] Aircraft
- Gunship: A helicopter with missiles for use against ground units and other air units.
- Fighters: Jet fighters armed with air-to-air missiles.
- Bombers: Bombers can drop bombs on ground units, and have two heavy machine guns for defense against other aircraft. One turret is on top, the other in the bottom of the aircraft
- T-Copter: Transport helicopters can transport infantry and vehicles to various spots on the battlefield. They are never commanded by the player.
- Strato Destroyer: The ultimate air unit, with powerful air-to-air missiles and bombs to drop on ground units.
[edit] Storyline
A border quarrel between the Western Frontier and the Tundran Territories eventually grows into a large scale conflict between the two powers, after Tsar Gorgi uses his own personal army to instigate a war between the two forces. The constant warfare that erupts as a result places a strain on both countries.
The leader of Xylvania, Kaiser Vlad, had territory taken from him during the conflict and seeks revenge, by building his own army. Unfortunately, this has come at a cost of their own country's remaining vitality, and so, a deal is struck with the Tsar Gorgi, frustrated with his son's constant flaunting of Tundran traditions of leadership. During the conclusion of the skirmishes between Tundran and Frontier troops, a task force led by Countess Ingrid bombs both armies, bringing destruction to each. As a result, the Western Frontier and the Tundran Territories join forces to overcome the new threat.
The first target of the Western Frontier and the Tundran Territories was to weaken the Xylvanian forces at the Dune Sea. The essential resource of this region was an element called "Nerocite," an efficient vehicle fuel. Xylvania was being defeated in battle after battle which soon ended the campaign. In the final battle for the region, in which Frontier forces were deployed to bomb Xylvania's Primary Nerocite Mining Facility, Kaiser Vlad deployed his elite Fighter squadron to take out the Frontier Bombers. Luckily for the Frontier and Tundran forces, Tsar Gorgi dispatched his own personal Fighter team to take out this threat, and in the process, he returned from his exile. But just as the battle had ended, Kommander Ubel found him at a bridge by his personal Heavy Recon and personally dealt with him by throwing him off the side. Mortally wounded from the fall, Tsar Gorgi told his son in his last words that he was only trying to act in the best interests of the Tundran Empire when he started the war with the Western Frontier and then tried to form a secret pact out of desperation with the Xylvanians. After his father's murder, Marshall Nova became furious and wanted revenge for his father's death.
On their push onto Xylvania, the Western Frontier used the Coral Atolls as a staging point for their forces. Though originally owned by the powerful Solar Empire, it had recently become yet another target of Xylvanian invasion, and thus was under strong Xylvanian control. However, in response to this invasion, the Solar Empire and the Frontier are quick to join forces to rid the country of the Xylvanian menace. Yet again, Xylvania fails to properly defend their newly acquired territory, and is forced to retreat back to their homeland after their HQ in the Coral Atolls is captured by the Western Frontier.
Though the war was coming to a close, Xylvania was far from defeated. However, in the foolishness of her desperation and chronic curiosity, Countess Ingrid awakens the ancient armies of the Iron Legion, buried deep under the grounds of the Crater of the Sun. This dangerous new threat consumes Xylvania into fighting on two fronts, battling both the Frontier and the new Legion forces, and its military begins to lose ground. Though Kaiser Vlad attempts to reason with the now demented Ingrid, he is met only with constant talk of Legion control, and assumes she has become fully overtaken by the power of the Iron Legion. The Frontier forces eventually cut a swathe through both forces, quickly finding the Cenotaph (the massive structure that awoke the Legion), and destroying it. The Solar Empire is quick to intervene in the battle, sending support fighters, and as the Cenotaph is finally destroyed, Empress Lei-Qo is quick to arrive and eliminate Ingrid from the picture (though it is not currently known if she is dead, or simply gone).
In the final battle of the war, a combined force of Frontier and Tundran troops arrive at the Vladstag, the Xylvanian capital, to commence a siege operation where they struggled through its three layers of static defenses and against two Battlestations until they finally captured the massive building. In its finale, the Frontier COs, as well as Marshall Nova, arrive to find Kommander Ubel and Kaiser Vlad prepping to escape, but Ubel is taken down by Nova in an act of vengeance, though Vlad escapes during the fight, and takes off in a helicopter.
[edit] Officer profiles
[edit] Western Frontier
- Brigadier Betty
- Athletic, vivacious, and energetic. She likes to win, and win hard. Her sunny outlook boosts morale and she is keen that all the soldiers are happy and well looked after. She can be impatient with her other COs, but when they ruffle each others feathers, Betty straightens them out.
- General Herman
- General Herman is such a bundle of aggressive energy that two generations of Frontier tanks were named after him. His immense drive keeps the Frontier forces on the ball. Herman is gruff but playful, with a fascination for all things tactical. Herman is affectionately known as "Coach" by the troops.
- Colonel Austin
- Distinguished and statesmanlike. Austin can sometimes become overconcerned with details and planning, and the army would grind to a perfectly organized halt if he were not paired with Herman. Strategic thinking is Austin's strongest suit.
[edit] Tundran Territories
- Tsar Gorgi
- Years of responsibility have left him with difficulties in expressing emotion. The head of a noble family, Gorgi is imperious and chauvinistic. He is skeptical of Nova's new approach to government though he is very attached to his son.
- Marshal Nova
- Proud and stern. A champion boxer at the academy, he feels the need for progress. Unlike his father, he has been exposed to worldwide culture since his birth, and he is a great modernizer. His support for Nelly exemplifies this.
- Major Nelly
- An excellent CO due to her robust methods and sense of justice. She is a broad, warm woman who cares deeply for her soldiers. Nelly can cut through any unnecessary machismo. She tolerates Gorgi's attitude toward her due to her respect for his achievements.
[edit] Xylvania
- Kommander Ubel
- A loyal incompetent, who is very good at following orders. However, his lack of imagination and love of brute force can be surprisingly effective in battle. If Vlad is the brains of the operation, Ubel provides the muscle. He aspires to be just like Vlad, respecting his superior's power and lack of emotion.
- Kaiser Vlad
- Since his rise to power, he has been intent upon reclaiming Xylvania's historical legacy. To this end the Xylvanians have been working to create a worthy army. The small portion of land they still claim as their own has been polluted and destroyed by this effort. For Xylvania, war must come now.
- Countess Ingrid
- Manipulative and kittenish, but not as smart as she thinks. She suffers from terrible curiosity and has always been fascinated by Xylvania's dark past. Her fearsome reputation as an air ace has lent her reputation as "The Red Countess." She teases Ubel in malicious games of power.
[edit] Solar Empire
- Empress Lei-Qo
- The direct descendant of the ancestral Solar Leader who destroyed the Iron Legion. Supremely elegant, yet ruthless, the Empress is able to presage events. She has been brought up, as was her mother and mother's mother, to be ready to stop the Xylvanian evil should it arise again.
[edit] Iron Legion
- Countess Ingrid
- During the campaign to defeat Kaiser Vlad, Countess Ingrid, desperate from the continuous losses of the conventional military, steals an artifact from Vlad that enables the user to awaken the Iron Legion of Old Xylvania, an army stopped only by the use of a Doomsday device that devastated both the Xylvania and Solar Empire. During their resurrection, the power of the Legion overwhelms Ingrid and subverts her to their army, providing them with both a means of reclaiming the world and a competent leader in one stroke. Possessed, Ingrid is transformed from a kittenish, egomaniacal, sociopathic narcissist to the war hungry, fanatical, sadistic leader of the Legion. Her speech changes as well, with the appearance that she is speaking with several voices. Instead of taunting her foes in this incarnation, she berates them with threats of utter destruction, demands of unconditional submission, and prophecies of the Iron Legions dominion over the entire world.
[edit] Reaction
Critically, Battalion Wars received mainly positive reviews. However, many fans and critics feel that the game did not live up to its potential. It only has one mode; Campaign. The Campaign itself can be completed in about 3 hours, although scoring the highest ratings (100% in three different categories) would take much longer.[citation needed]
[edit] Advance Wars series
Battalion Wars was originally entitled Advance Wars: Under Fire, but the name was dropped after E3 2004. This would have put it in the Advance Wars series of video games, as well as the Nintendo Wars series of games. However, all of these games are turn-based, as opposed to real-time strategy games, and none contain third-person shooter elements.
[edit] Cultural references
- The river Styx is the river that flows through Hades in Greek mythology.
[edit] References
- ^ a b IGN: Battalion Wars. IGN. Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ E3 2005: Battalion Wars. IGN (May 18, 2005). Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
