Battle Group 2 is the kind of title that does everything right and yet may still fly under everyone’s radar. Right from the get go, Battle Group 2 throws you into some really fun old school action.
I wasn’t aware of the first game, so I went into this review blind and I’m glad I did. The first thing to note is that Battle Group 2 drops you right into the game when it loads up. There isn’t any fluff or branding to be seen, just click play and the game gets underway.
From looking at some screens it’s hard to figure out what kind of game Battle Group 2 is on first glance. The game most resembles the classic Atari game Missile Attack, but on a horizontal moving plane with a boss battle or two thrown in. It feels like a game more suited for an iPhone rather than something that belongs on Steam, but, and that’s a big but, it does belong on Steam and shows that the while the game may work on a larger tablet, it would be very hard to enjoy on a tiny screen.
If you can click a mouse, you can enjoy Battle Group 2. And that’s the thing with the game, it’s just so simple that you almost expect it to be one of those throwaway titles that pop up from time to time. But don’t lets it simplicity fool you, Battle Group 2 is a blast to play and has a strange addictive quality.
You play a fleet commander (you can control a total of 2 ships) and wage war across the seas in an attempt to end the Talon menace. It’s a simple premise but works effectively to keep the game moving forward. I can really appreciate the focus on an overarching story, but it does seem to lose a lot steam toward the end. The story initially managed to grab my attention early on with the Talon being an interesting set of villains, but the story leaves much to be desired. Plot points are brought up and then never touched upon again and as a writer that drives me crazy.
Battle Group 2 is played from a top-down perspective and while not in 3D the game does feature some really amazing visuals, most prominently with the ships you have access to. I’m no expert on aircraft or ship designs, but everything looks pretty spot on and looks nice on the screen.
Your main battleship is the one that will be doing the bulk of the work on the high seas. You have access to a number of ships, eight in total, that you can purchase and upgrade giving the game a fair amount of replay value. Each ship not only has its own unique style, but also its own brand of armament.
Support ships do just that, support. You can purchase and upgrade them just as you would with your battleships, but these support ships each feature unique abilities that become essential in battle. Some can confuse incoming missiles while others can launch support aircraft. While these support vessels don’t directly attack enemy ships, their abilities can be activated when needed.
On top of the varied ships at your disposal you also have access to command level abilities that you can purchase before each round. These satellite abilities can be used to force an instant reload of secondary weapons, cause an EMP strike disabling all incoming missiles, or activate a hypertime mode that slows down all enemy action.
The campaign itself features 30 levels spread out over three combat ones. You can fight along the jungle shores, in ports, in the arctic, and have the ability for nighttime encounters. I really like that the game has a cohesive beginning, middle, and end to it. While an endless style game would better fit a mobile device, on PC it just feels better as a contained story, while giving you the chance to go back at anytime to play a level again.
While the game isn’t perfect, we had the occasional glitch where enemies and their attacks went haywire if our support ship was destroyed during its special attack and issues with having ships pass over land in some night segments, it is still a lot of fun. I clocked in four hours of time in total and that includes going back to earn oil to unlock more ships.
The developers have promised that they will be adding unique fleet captains and an extended story mode in the near future. This, with the addition of more levels and new enemy leaders could make Battle Group 2 a game with some lasting appeal.
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