Battle Academy 2 Review (PC)

One of the easiest tests to perform on a wargame is to see how it treats line of sight, and by that standard, Battle Academy 2 offers a solid set of gameplay features, as shown by the large amount of infantry I have been losing while trying to see exactly where the Soviets have entrenched their defenses in order to then unleash my artillery and tanks to take them out.

The developers at Matrix Games have developed a game that is able to deliver depth but does not force players to constantly look up statistics and other data, allowing them to focus on the actual movement of troops and the way their abilities can be used to take out enemy positions and secure objectives.

Story

World War II continues to be the most used setting for war-focused video games, be they first-person shooters of real-time strategies, and for Battle Academy 2 the development team has decided to take a stroll through the various engagements on the Eastern Front, the area where the bloodiest and most savage engagements of the entire conflict took place.

Gamers can choose from four campaigns which allow them to control both German and Russian troops, ranging from simple infantry to the most powerful tanks of the war and more specialized squads, in order to reach a wide variety of objectives.

The game includes urban engagements, open field assaults and other situations that showcase the range of experiences that a real world commander would have needed to deal with, although he would have had to get through them without having the advantage of an over-the-battlefield view and detailed info about his forces and those of the enemy.

Planning time

Battle Academy 2 also includes a very well developed skirmish mode, which allows players to set up the parameters of the battle they want to try out and then allow the game to generate it, with often very solid results.

The title is also smart enough to keep narrative elements to a minimum, with only a short comic book-like presentation before each new battle, and allows gamers to develop their own narratives as they try to get through an entire campaign.

Gameplay

Battle Academy 2 is a turn-based strategy title with a focus on small unit tactics, allowing gamers to move around small squads of infantry and individual vehicles in order to defeat enemy forces and try to achieve a series of core and bonus objectives.

The game starts off small but it gradually expands, and the final few missions in each of the campaigns allow gamers to coordinate assaults through large sectors using plenty of tanks, powerful artillery, airstrikes and plenty of infantry.

Rushing into Battle Academy 2 is a big mistake as the game can be very punishing to those who do not take the time to scout, discover enemy positions and carefully move their forces forward.

Infantry can move through buildings and other obstacles in order to spot enemy positions, but can easily be surprised by ambushes and forced to retreat.

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Tanks are more powerful and can easily resist some attacks, even from AT guns, but they need support units to uncover the battlefield for them and are easily taken out if they are isolated, especially in urban areas.

Long-range indirect fire seems like the answer to many battlefield challenges initially, but it’s easy to hit one’s own troops with it or to waste shots on areas from which the enemy has already moved.

Battle Academy 2 sometimes seems simple, but soon after, the Artificial Intelligence executes a solid ambush or flanking move and it’s quickly apparent that a gamer needs to plan and then carefully execute his plans in order to achieve the objectives and complete a mission.

Fans of history can spend time reading about the involved units and their abilities, but the title is flexible enough to also allow gamers to just focus on orders and actual combat.

Soviet advance

The biggest problem with Battle Academy 2 is the fact that there are moments when almost nothing happens, when a city seems peaceful and unoccupied, because they often tempt gamers into moving fast and with little care, which tends to result in losses which in turn require a scenario restart.

The game also includes a full editor, which might be a little bit clunky to use at first but allows players to create their own maps and to then easily share them with the wider community while also using them to create random battles.

Graphics and audio

Battle Academy 2 is not a good-looking game and even a fully zoomed out look is not enough to shield the player from the relatively ugly terrain, the limited details on the unit models and the lack of animations.

Even the interface seems to have evolved very little since the first game was launched, and it’s a pity that some solid gameplay mechanics will be dragged down by the simple fact that many gamers will dismiss the experience due to its graphics.

Matrix Games should have spent more resources on the details of Battle Academy 2, making it easier to visually identify units based on their profiles and maybe shifting the art style in order to make the entire title a little more abstract, which could have hidden some of the lack of detail.

The user interface is solid enough to deliver information that the player needs during combat, including plenty of statistics about the units involved, but these are also a little hard to find and read at times, which once again limits the impact of the actual gameplay.

The audio design of Battle Academy 2 is also a little underwhelming, but it has less of an impact on the enjoyment of actual battles because any player can easily fire up their favorite war movie soundtrack in order to give the game a little bit more character.

Multiplayer

Battle Academy 2 does feature multiplayer, but it’s surprisingly hard to get into it because gamers need to first create a Slitherine official account and then access the server which powers it, where they can issue or accept challenges.

Turns are also sent to that central hub and that means it’s possible to play at one’s own pace rather than set for another human being in order to complete an entire battle at once.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion