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This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Matthew Call.

Battalion Wars is a cross between an action and a strategy game with a style all its own. The game could easily try to be an action or a strategy game without actually succeeding at either, but instead it creates a whole new genre. The game delivers fun gameplay with lots of style and is definitely worth picking up for fans of military action or strategy games.

The premise of the game is a war between the Western Frontier and the Tundran Empire, which resembles the US and the Soviet Union, respectively, and must join forces to fight a new threat, the Xylvanians. The game puts the player into the role of a commander of the Western forces. The commander can issue orders to all the other friendly units in the game, but can also jump into the body of any friendlies on the map. This makes gameplay a balance between strategically commanding troops while also fighting the war in the role of a footsoldier, tank, bazooka trooper, and so on. 

On the surface Battalion Wars delivers on many levels. Visually, the game is impressive. The graphics have a cartoon-style feel to them which fits in well with the theme of the game. Explosions look fantastic and frequently fill the screen and the game never stutters from frame-rate issues.

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This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

Battalion Wars was at one time known as Advance Wars: Under Fire. It was supposed to be the series’ leap from handhelds to the home console. Despite the loss of the pedigree’s name, Battalion Wars still shares a lot in common with those great GBA strategy games and should be a deserving spiritual successor to the throne.

Real-time Strategy (RTS) games haven’t made smooth transitions to the consoles due to the complicated nature of controlling a multitude of units all at once. Battalion Wars helps alleviate this problem by putting you in direct control of only one of the units under your command at a time. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck relying on the computer AI or using that one unit for an entire mission. With a simple flick of the C stick, a menu featuring the icons of the other units will pop up. By highlighting a specific unit, you can tell them to head to a certain point on the map or have them follow you directly. And if users want to switch to completely different unit, they can. Another helpful feature of these icons is that it displays the unit’s health, so if you see one on the verge of death, you can direct it out of danger, or drag it out yourself.

Kuju Entertainment hasn’t revealed a full list of weapons and units, but what they have shown us is a good variety. Foot soldiers will have a massive arsenal of weapons to choose from, such as rifles, bazookas, flamethrowers, machine guns, mortars, and rocket launchers. The vehicle variety is also great. You’ll be able to take control of jeeps, tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, and transports among others.

Battalion Wars features over 20 missions each with their own subquests and goals, which should keep fans busy for a while. There is also one goal in each mission that can be completed in any way you choose. These open-ended type missions are probably what many gamers are chomping at the bit to attempt. Need to blow up a supply caravan? It’s up to you to decide how to approach it – be stealthy and send a foot squad to pinch it from the sides in an ambush, air raid it from above, or hop on a tank and go for the full frontal assault – it’s all up to you.



Commanding a large number of troops like an RTS and with the limited control setup of a GC controller all while controlling your own tank or foot solider – are we playing the same game? If Battalion Wars manages to seamlessly merge the best aspects of an RTS with the frantic pacing of an action title, then it will be just the title war“heads” should go gaga for. Diehard purists of Advance Wars may turn up their noses at the drastically different gameplay, but the game seems on the right track to being a solid title that will attract more than just its target audience.

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