Battalion Wars 2

My biggest concern: I've only completed the prologue mission and the first campaign (six missions altogether), and the game tells me I'm 30% done. My second-biggest concern: BWii has its own friend codes, unique from your Wii's friend list/codes. At the same time, I am very pleased with how it plays - aim with the pointer to choose targets, and use the D-pad on the remote to select from your battalion (like the C-stick from the original). There are some gesture controls too, for stuff like doing barrel rolls, that I'm still getting used to but are working out okay so far.

The level design is already really impressive. In the fourth mission of the first campaign, I pushed my forces into a jungle to capture a drop point, then took control of a Recon vehicle to do some swift sabotage, hurling off ramps that would make Excite Truck blush. And then I took defensive positions around my recovered base and thwarted an air-dropped onslaught! In the next mission, I had Frigates and a Battleship and it was just awesome.

Comfortingly, the voice acting is just as comedically bad as it was before. The first campaign shows off a duo who are awful at faking an Asian accent, and when they get angry, it's hilarious.

I really want to try out the online play, once anyone else has this game. There are three modes: a flat-out skirmish, a co-operative objective mission, and a counter-operative objective mission, where one player defends and the other tries to capture. Apparently more missions (maps?) in each category are unlocked simply by playing them online, so it sounds like there is considerable variety here. And yes, you can play with anyone, not just your friends.

Progress: 30%