Battalion Wars 2 Review  This sequel to Nintendo's console
wargame wages a much more successful campaign on free time.
The original Battalion Wars seemed like a great idea: an Advance
Wars spin-off with as much action as strategy, where you could
command an army's entire force while also wrecking house from
the cockpit of a chopper, or running around in the body of a
grunt. It was a cool game, but it didn't quite live up to its
potential. As a sequel, Battalion Wars 2 delivers a superior
single-player campaign, as well as decent online play for owners
of Nintendo's elusive Wii. With several of the same problems as
its predecessor, this second world war will hardly take the
world by storm, but it may capture your imagination for awhile.
The most immediately gripping feature is the game's context,
which sets a global stage of six fictional factions, most of
which are based on real-world analogs. For instance, the Solar
Empire is pretty obviously supposed to be Japan, with its
kimono-clad Empress, high-tech w