Battle Group 2 is not a complicated game. You are in command of a gunship that finds itself being attacked by a mysterious organization called “The Talon” which is very reminiscent of Cobra from GI Joe. After a short tutorial, they threaten an airliner and you are forced to give them your ship. Out for revenge, you start level one with a much smaller ship, and start hunting down the Talon. Some humorous dialogue aside there really isn’t much to the game’s plot, and with good reason.. Battle Group embraces an old arcade style sensibility and is really all about the game play.
The game will put you in control of a fleet of two ships. The flagship will have the guns, which you have direct control of, and the secondary ship has a support weapon. This can be a support artillery turret, Harrier jets, decoy missiles, etc… which are usually activated by pressing a button on the ship, and have a cool down time once you they are done. The down time is usually a few seconds, and knowing how to manage it vital for your success in the game. You don’t really have any control over the ship’s movements; they will just move forward or stop depending on the set piece. Enemy forces will come at you in the form of planes, helicopters,cruise misses and barges, and try to damage your ships. Your job is to shoot them before they can fire, and if they do fire, to shoot the missiles down before they reach your ships.
When you destroy enemy units you get oil which you can use to upgrade your fleet. You have a variety of primary and secondary ships that you can purchase, each with different abilities. I found that saving up for the most expensive ships, and then upgrading those you already have. Just saving up and buying the best ships was the best strategy. The last ship has guns that are simply devastating, and with the aircraft carrier combination, it pretty much ensures that you will destroy anything in your path. This means there is no purpose in upgrading anything on the old ships, and you can save your oil for the satellite support shots.
These support shots are really special abilities that you can purchase charges for with oil. The abilities range from things like emitting an Electro-Magnetic Pulse to frying all mid-air missiles, to my favorite: the ability to slow enemies down while keeping your fire rate and reload rates the same. These abilities are expensive. They cost more than some of the cheaper upgrades for just a handful of charges. A wise player will use them sparingly, but recognize the times where an EMP hit can make the difference between clearing the level or a game over. If oil gets too scarce to fuel your special ability needs, Battle Group 2 lets you replay old levels to farm for oil, which can be a blast later in the game with your two floating death machines.
I would like to say that Battle Group 2 has great boss battles, but unfortunately it only has the same battle twice. It is not terribly difficult. It should not pose a major challenge to players who were able to make it that far. If there is an area in which I feel Battle Group 2 could have done better is this one. A game of this type lends itself to crazy, epic boss fights, and with a villian that is essentially Cobra, it is not a stretch that the player would be meeting vehicles straight out of the GI Joe toy line. It feels as if having only one boss in the entire game was a missed opportunity.
When it comes to games like these all that really matter is gameplay, and in that aspect Battle Group 2 delivers. If you are looking for a fun game to play in short bursts. Or if you just want arcade style fun, you can do a lot worse for the $7.99 it’ll cost you to pick Battle Group 2 up.
