Battalion Wars
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| Battalion Wars | |
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| Developer(s) | Kuju Entertainment Infusion Games |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Release date(s) |  September 19, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Third-person action |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen CERO: 12+ PEGI: 12+ |
| 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, part of the Nintendo Wars series, is a real-time strategy game for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released on September 19, 2005. A sequel, Battalion Wars 2 (BWii for short) for the Nintendo 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 possess assault rifles and are only suitable for eliminating opposing infantry.
- Bazooka veterans/Rocket troops: Bazooka-wielding infantry. Their missiles can destroy tanks and other vehicles easily, although the slow speed of the rockets make them easy to dodge for other infantry. Rockets can be charged before they are fired to increase their speed, damage, and the distance they travel.
- Missile veterans/Ack-Ack troops: Infantry that carry guided missiles. Their missiles home in on air units. But if they're ordered to attack ground units, the missiles will spiral out of control due to the warhead's tracking system fuzzing out from ground interference. However, if at close enough range, they can be slightly effective against vehicles. A noteworthy fact about the Tundran Missile Vet, showing that Army Differences aren't always cosmetic, is that it can fire 6 Missiles as opposed to 4 Missiles.
- Flame veterans: Infantry with flamethrowers; they are most effective against other infantry at close range. The weapon's range is increased the longer the A button is held down but it will overheat if held down for too long.
- Assault veterans/Minigun troops: Assault veterans are essentially more powerful Rifle grunts; they carry heavy machine guns capable of massive damage against infantry. With the exception of the Solar Assault Veteran, Accuracy is lost with the gun over long distances as the bullets spread out in a conical pattern. The HMG is also capable of dealing damage to lightly armored vehicles and helicopters. Instead of realoading, this weapon will fire at a faster rate the longer the A button is held down. However, if held down too long, the gun will overheat and be unable to fire for a short time.
- Mortar veterans/Grenade troops: Mortar veterans, as the name implies, fire mortars. Mortars travel in an arc pattern 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 in every way except that they use poison gas/plasma weaponry. This makes them more effective against infantry, especially against large groups.
[edit] Land vehicles
- Tanks: Tanks have cannons and machine guns. The cannon can be aimed and fired by the player (usually at vehicles, but still effective against ground troops), and the machine gun is automatically fired at infantry. There are Light and Heavy tanks, the Heavy Tanks possessing more power than the Light Tank. 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, but are only effective against infantry.
- Anti-air: An anti-air tank. Its missiles (which are reloaded after eight shots) seek enemy aircraft, but their Tracking Systems are unable to achieve lock-on when targeting ground units and will spiral out of control instead. Rendering them fairly useless. However, they can still be used at extremely close range, but this leaves them vulnerable to attack.
- Artillery: A tank with a long range of fire. It also has a mounted machine gun, but it is still very vulnerable to other vehicles due to its lack of close-range weapons and light armor.
- Battlestation: The ultimate ground-based vehicle. It has a double-barreled cannon in front, two side-mounted gun turrets and three rear-mounted heavy machine guns. The only thing it lacks is anti-air capabilities.
[edit] Air vehicles
- Gunship: A helicopter with missiles for use against ground units and other air units. However, it can't fire on Fighters (see below). Houses two automatic and generally useless machine gun turrets.
- Fighters: Jet fighters with missiles effective against other air units, but not effective against ground units (due to the Missile's lack of radar coverage on the ground). Fighters are also extremely fast, making their ground attacks brief.
- Bombers: Bomber planes can drop fuel air bombs on ground units, and have two heavy machine guns for defense against other air units (although the gun is limited in power against them). One turret is on top, the other in the bottom of the aircraft, and both can fire at a ground target at the same time if the plane is tilted enough.
- T-Copter: Transport helicopters can transport infantry and vehicles to various spots on the battlefield. They're only armed with Heavy Machine Guns, but have very thick armor to protect them against enemy planes and copters. Transport copters cannot be controlled by the player.
- Strato Destroyer: The ultimate air unit, with powerful air-to-air missiles and bombs to drop on ground units, and thick plating. The bombs are automatic and may thus behave irrationally to the player. Though heavily armed, the aircraft is slow and clumsy and lacks defense in its rear.
[edit] Storyline
The game is set at the end of the 20th century. 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 conflict between the two forces. The constant warfare that erupts as a result places a strain on both countries. The Tundrans, however, are defeated in battle after battle.
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 apparently carpet bombs both armies, bringing forth destruction unto each. As a result, the Western Frontier and the Tundran Territories must join forces to overcome the new threat.
The first target of the Western Frontier and the Tundran Terrotories was to weaken the Xylvanian forces at the Dune Sea. The essential vitality to 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 carpet bomb Xylvania's Primary Nerocite Mining Facility, Kaiser Vlad deployed his elite Fighter squadron, dubbed "Gotha 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 upset 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 seige operation. Struggling through its defenses until finally capturing 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. This event most likely will lead directly into the sequel to this game, though nothing is currently known to support this.
[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 awakening, 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, the game has sold relatively poorly since release. Many fans and critics feel that the game did not live up to the potential of its gameplay ideas. For example, it only had one mode: Campaign. The Campaign itself can be completed in about 3 hours, although scoring the highest ratings (100% in three distinct categories) would take much longer. It lacked a multiplayer mode and a mapmaker/free mode, plus Naval units as well as factories, airports, and shipyards to deploy more units.
[edit] Advance Wars series parallels
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.
Despite its apparent lack of relation to Nintendo Wars, the game contains many references to the series, particularly in units.
Infantry
- Rifle grunt = Infantry
- Bazooka veteran = Mech Infantry
Tanks and vehicles
- Light tank = Tank
- Heavy tank = Md. Tank
- Battlestation = Megatank
- Heavy recon = Recon (note that car units in Game Boy Wars 3 are immune to bazooka shots and other Anti-Tank weaponry for that matter)
Indirect units
- Artillery = Artillery/Rockets
- AA vehicle = Missiles/Anti-air unit
Air units
- Gunship = Battle Copter
- Fighter = Fighter
- Bomber = Bomber
- Transport = T. Copter
- Strato Destroyer = Attacker (Super Famicom Wars and Game Boy Wars 3) / Stealth (Advance Wars : Dual Strike, with new stealth abality that consumes lots of fuel, but become invincible to ground based Anti-Airs)
[edit] Real life parallels
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[edit] Armies
Each Army in Battalion Wars is modeled after the armed forces of real world nations.
- Western Frontier: U.S. Army, Cold War era Well rounded, and possessors of an extremely capable aircraft fleet.
- Tundran Territories: Soviet Army, Cold War era. Tanks are remarkably superior to all other units, in their increased speed to armor ratio.
- Solar Empire: Chinese/Japanese armies, Various eras/futuristic. Appear to be the most technologically advanced and yet the most numerically inferior units in the game. Entire army uses laser weaponry, a change setting them apart from the projectile based armaments of their contemporaries. As status quo with anything modeled after Asian troops are based on some sort of Anime format.
- Xylvania: German Army, World War I (Xylvania's situation is much like Germany's after WWI - rejected and weak) Overall, to a degree more powerful than other troops, an obvious numerical advantage (They are fighting three, later four armies at any one time) and over all stupidity on the part of their individual capabilities unless specifically ordered by AI to attack, in which case they are devastating. Use chemical poison gas troops in the stead of conventional flame troops, which are much more effective against groups of infantry and cleaning out fortified enemy positions. Their Assault troops seem to have a longer range and are (apparently) more efficient in shooting down basic aircraft. Xylvania's Tanks have an advantage in speed which makes them second to the Tundran's Tanks.
[edit] Units
Some of the Frontier unit names closely imitate real-life U.S. weapons, such as:
- On the tires of the recons, when one looks closely, the word "Firestorm" is printed on it. This is probably a reference to Firestone.
- "Herman Mk5" light tank (nod to the M4 Sherman WWII tank)
- M1A5 Battle Tank "Hermanator" (Double-Barrelled variant of the M1A1 Abrams)
- "Duey AH-86" gunship (blatant aside to the Huey helicopters) and its "Heckfire" missiles (kid-friendly name for its Hellfire real-life counterparts)
- "M17" assault rifle that looks like a cross between the American AR-15, also known as M16, and the British SA-80, also known as the L85.
- "M70" machine gun, the name'd suggest M60 machine gun
- "Humbug" heavy recon jeep that looks much like HUMVEE
- "Preacher PK-772" mobile artillery, whose name and role resemble the M7 Priest and also mounts an 88 mm gun that undoubtedly has something to do with the FlaK 18.
- The Weapons System of the "Prometheus AIM-9RR" Anti-Aircraft vehicle is similar to that of the Crotale.
- "F-19 Poltergeist" fighter that shares a similar designation to the F/A-18 Hornet, looks with A-7 Corsair II, the rear end (tail fins and engines) of an F-14 Tomcat, nickname of the F-4 Phantom or AC-130 Specter Gunship, and the jump-jet function like the Harrier II
- "Valentine B-58" bomber that shares quite a common name with B-58 Hustler and a bit looks with De Havilland Venom
- "B-5000 Strato Destroyer", a heavy flying wing aircraft, that has a name in common with Stratofortress (it could also be the combination of Stratofortress and Star Destroyer) and looks of a B2 Spirit
- The fighters used by the Solar Empire share looks with the fighters from the anime Sentou Yousei Yukikaze.
- Xylvania's Rhomboid-Shaped Tanks are a throwback reference to the British Mark I Tank of World War 1 while their Heavy Recon is based on the Sdkfz 222.
[edit] Campaign Levels
There is a mission called Bridges on the River Styx, referencing the film The Bridge on the River Kwai as well as the mythical River Styx. There is also a level called Herman's Heroes which contains three POW camps which could be a reference to the sitcom Hogan's Heroes, or the movie Kelly's Heroes.
There are two levels called Beachhead (Fort Omaha), and X-Day. The latter is an obvious reference to the conceived yet never carried out invasion of Japan during World War II X-Day, the former the Battle of Omaha Beach. This could be disputed as being likened more so to D-day, since both are fought between the American-like Western Frontier and the German-like Xylvanian armies, just like D-Day was fought between the Allies and Germany. Though, it does take place in an area similar to Asia. Also, on the Beachhead level, the roles of both armies seem to have been reversed, as the Western Frontier are defending the fort from the Xylvanians. The X-Day level is more like the actual Omaha beach invasion. In the Xylvanian campaign, the mission "Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers" where the Western Frontier didn't know who they were fighting is a reference to the many war monuments found in some european cities which were dedicated to the unidentified, low-rank soldiers that died by the thousands in defense of their homelands.
The "Gunships of the desert" and "Black Gold" missions are just like Operation Desert Storm where the U.S. destroyed Iraqi supply bases in the desert. On another note, the Dune Sea Campaign can be comparable to the British campaign to reverse a series of Nazi victories in North Africa during WWII.
[edit] Commanding Officers
- Empress Lei-Qo constantly spouts proverbs from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, changing the gender whenever she refers to herself.
- Marshal Nova was obviously based on Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.
- As a nod to the nickname given to Arnold Schwarzenegger during his gubernatorial campaign, the equally muscular Kommander Ubel of the Xylvanian Army is promised to become "Governator" of any lands he is able to capture.
- Ubel means 'evil' in German.
- The possessed Ingrid's battle cries and rants sound similar to those of Adolf Hitler, or more specifically, Dietrich Eckart.
- In the early stages of the Game's development, the character that was going to be Colonel Austin was originally white. In the final stages, he was changed to be black.
- Countess Ingrid's reputation as "The Red Countess" for being an ace fighter pilot is a reference to the Red Baron of World War I.
- Kaiser Vlad's name is a combination of Vlad Tepes and Kaiser Wilhelm while his character is based on the latter with the ambitions and ideals of Adolf Hitler.
[edit] List of the Missions
- Combat Patrol
- Behind Enemy Lines
- Assult on Windbreak Ridge
- Operation POW
- Plan of Attack
- Titans of Tundra
- Campaign Bonus Mission One
- Striking Distance
- Beachhead
- Invasion Force
- Campaign Bonus Mission Two
- Gunships of the Desert
- Black Gold
- Xday
- Herman's Heroes
- Call Sign Eagle
- The Guns of Tiki Bay
- Campaign Bonus Mission Three
- Battle of the Coral Atolls
- Bridges on the River Styx
- Road to Xylvania
- Campaign Bonus Mission Four
- Tomb of Unkown Soldiers
- Siege of Vladstag
[edit] External links
- Official
- Unofficial
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| Famicom Wars • Super Famicom Wars • Game Boy Wars series • Game Boy Wars 3 Advance Wars • 2 • Dual Strike • Advance Wars COs Battalion Wars |
