Advance Wars

September 23, 2002

Reviewed by: scigamer

Ever since Nintendo released their miniature version of the SNES known as the Game boy Advanced or code name GBA long lasting must have titles seem to be few and far between really only focusing on resurrecting old titles from the past. Let’s face it the portable system is specifically aimed at younger gamers even more so that the GC which so happens to be gradually trying to break their kiddy mold with more adult themed games.

It’s no surprise that strategy based games have been rather non-existent portable wise, the one that are available are rather limited in their challenge and length of play. Advance Wars comes along and changes the board on everything as it creates probably one of the most in depth and well balanced strategy based games that will probably ever grace any portable system( at least until the sequel)

-GAMEPLAY 10/10-
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AW practically translates into the essential perfect game for the GBA as it balances all of it’s gameplay equally that makes the words “must have” a complete understatement. Advance Wars is summed up as a addictive 2D turn based strategy game where the player takes the position of directing the troops of Orange Star army as a Special advisor. The game is made up of three other rival countries Blue Moon, Green Earth and Yellow comet that are battling against an unknown force. Blue Moon as started to invade into Orange Star and your job as advisor is to drive them back across the border.

Advance Wars is jammed pack with a ton of different modes from single to the vast multiple player but to unlock them you start by going through 14 different missions in field training guided by a CO named Nell, which cover each aspect of game in detail which is helpful in learning the key areas of the game. Once completed, four modes become unlocked: Design maps, Battle maps, War Room and the main mode of the game Campaign. When you progress through Campaign mode, you are awarded coins and letter rank based on your performance.

The coins are then used in the Battle maps mode to purchase special maps at a shop that can be used during outside the Campaign mode. AW can be played at length of time you choose since you can save at any given time at any point during your turn which is a great bonus

As an advisor the player in charge of different variety of Commanding Officers of Orange Star, each with their own distinct strength and weaknesses. Your objective in each mission is to either wipe all enemy forces, capture the enemies headquarters, or if stated win by capturing the most cities and bases with the deployment of three main types of units that are made up of land, sea and air forces.

Each different CO have a particular area of expertise such as indirect, direct or aerial combat and a special ability that parallels their expertise that enhances your armies firing strength, firing range and movement depending on who the CO is. A meter controls your CO’s special power that increases every time you attack, once full you have the ability to use your special once per meter.

The Campaign mode is the very heart of the game and there are a total of 18 different missions that face off against the different CO’s of the other countries. The missions are setup on a 2D overhead map block grid that display miniature pieces of each unit available that move just like you would on a game board. Each unit contains 10 vehicles or soldiers that can move a certain amount of blocks and attack at a specific distance depending on what type of unit it is, some can only fire directly in front of the enemy and some can only fire away.

Each turn you have allows you to deploy, move, engage and supply units with important resources such as gas and ammo to everyone that hasn’t been selected. There are different factors in the game right from the beginning that affect your Strategy which are based on the enemy CO, terrain, weather and units available. Terrain serves important natural defensive that helps your troops absorb less damage when attacked that is a key tactic in winning missions

There are 18 units available in AW and most of them are land based which have certain weakness and strengths that the players must also be constantly aware of. When you get deep into the Campaign mode things get even more challenging and complex especially when you are given your own bases and airports to deploy whatever units you like. To acquire new units from bases they must be purchased from funding of properties that constantly increases based existing and new buildings in your possession.

Don’t be fooled by the stylish Anime theme to the game because AW can is a rather extremely challenging and at times a downright frustrating experience due to the surprisingly shrewd and adapting AI system used. Each enemy CO’s in Campaign mode use there Special ability and approaching style so effectively that most of the time is spend trying to stay a couple of steps ahead just to avoid crushing blows to key units. The computer in such a master opponent that playing a friend may seem rather tame to the full effort that the enemy CO dish out.

But if you though Single mode was detailed and involved, Multi player mode is even more intense as it offers up to four players to jack up at one time via the link cable. Can’t find your link cable, well that’s no problem since AW supports a single multiplayer format which allows you to just pass your GBA to whoever you play against after your turn is finished

-CONTROL 10/10-
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The movement is basically a simple version of a RPG with a menu system that easily accessible in a pull down format with the press of one button. Units are selected using a small four corner cursor that shows info detailing the units current condition. Selecting it highlights the area on the grid showing how many spaces in any given direction that the unit can move with a red directional arrow that expands to the farthest point that the unit can possibly move.

When the unit is selected, stats display the current condition of the unit as well as showing the details on the defense ranking of a particular type of terrain. Stats on every unit in play can be accessed using the top shoulder buttons and displayed in a menu format.

-GRAPHICS- 9/10
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Despite being a surprisingly complex strategy game, AW provides a simple colorful style clearly details sprites to it’s visuals. AW sets itself apart from anything else with it’s unique 2D anime theme with a minimal yet detailed style that fills the whole screen. The main structure of game is set on a simple battle map that represents the terrain and unit in a small mini 3D form that move across the board with a fluid quality. The heart of attacking turns the game into a split screen format that displays your forces and the enemy facing off in a detail that is unique to each army.

The details of the backgrounds on the split screen correspond to the environments at your current location which possess a crisp vibrant format. The battle animation moves at a smooth rate even though there is a minor amount of motion applied to the game. The units are showed firing as well as providing expressions of each CO on a successful strike or painful defeat. The character designs of each CO are solid down the board, each with a distinctive look.

-SOUND 8/10-
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The audio qualities contained in AW are a solid affair but nothing that requires you slap on some noise reduction super quality stereo headphones for. The background music used in the missions are different depending upon which CO you are given or can used at the time because each has there own. The sound effects of each unit are exactly what you would expect in a battle situation, with each unit containing there distinct sound. Unfortunately just like Final fantasy of old, there are no voice over’s at all during the Campaign story mode or in anything else, so your just going to get the text treatment from each character involved.

-PROBLEMS-
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Need power source - Need a Sam’s club membership just to save on batteries
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Not that this is a major problem, isn’t really the only one I can make out in the horizon passed the huge amount of pros in the game. . Your going to need to buy stock in the battery company of your choice just to keep your habit in a constant rhythm. Okay maybe that really extreme but with this game it’s not by much.

Must love Str-tee-jury Why have a sketchpad if you have no artistic flare
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Patience and observation are essential skills in the strategy sense, if you have none of these then you will not get the appeal of this type of genre. Most of the missions take around 2 hours or less to complete so it’s basically a slow chess battle that takes place. If you like to shoot first and ask questions later gamer, then what pass on to the next game

-FINAL THOUGHT-
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This is by far the best game that the GBA has available now because it just represents depth to each area equally and provides the challenge to match. I suppose GW could also view as a Starcraft with training wheels for the beginner but serve the veteran just as effective. This is about as close as you can come to in creating a perfect game and the shocking thing here is that AW is on a portable system. The power of caffeine just doesn’t hold a candle to the sheer overflowing addiction levels created in Advanced wars.

Once you turn the power on, you better have a plethora of time and batteries on hand since your eyes will just be glued unto the screen with the thirty plus hours needed just play through the training and campaign missions alone. The replay value alone just doubles the playing time so you really can’t ask for anything more in the complete package that is AW except for a quick sequel.

ADVANCE WARS