Gamer Tag: Advanced Wars 1&2 Review

It’s yours truly and I’m back again with another game review. This time going for something more convenient to everyone’s access to a computer and of course it’s free. It’s a game you can acquire through ROMs online and the use of an emulator. Don’t know what that is? Emulators are like application programs use to run games and all you do is run the ROM through the emulator and presto! You’re playing the game like the good ole days! So time to buckle up and take a ride back to the Game Boy Advance ages.

Today I’m reviewing a classic and one of my personal favorites called “Advance Wars”. Going to review the first two in combination since they’re both for the GBA and you can quickly pick them both up and play them when you get the chance or access to the internet to quickly download. So let’s get started.

Advance Wars is a turned based strategy game created by Intelligent Systems (The same Developer that does Fire Emblem) with Advance Wars being released on September 10,2001 (literally one day before 9/11) and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising released on June 23, 2003 so they’re both over 10 years old. Since it’s two games I’ll start with reviewing the first iteration first for obvious reasons.

Advance Wars
Story

The story takes place in a real world setting with different armies representing a different nation across the world. It starts off with Orange Star Army, a representation of USA as it fends off the bordering nation of Blue Moon: the representation of Russia. You play the role of “Advisor” and with the help of the COs of Orange Star you fight across countries in hopes of finding who is really behind the attacks happening around the world.

Gameplay

It’s turned based strategy means you gotta be smart with your approach. But the strategies really change depending on the CO you’re using. The units on the field are affected by the CO that is being used and how they gain the abilities of that CO both their strengths and/or weaknesses. Andy, one of the main COs of Orange Star is well rounded so he doesn’t have any weaknesses nor any real strengths in this game but his CO Power allows him to repair 2 Points on your units (Each unit has 10 HP maximum)when his Power bar is filled. Each CO has a Power to use to change the tide of battle and it’s up to you know to know how and when to use them. But what’s great about the game is the artwork, the soundtrack, and the overall feel seems quite colorful and exciting despite the fact that at face value its a war game. Playing this as a kid I was definitely lost in it’s design and it really made me use my head about how I went about attacking or defending against enemies. This game also allows 2 players on one screen so you can grab a friend that doesn’t have it and war out together.

Advance Wars gets a 9/10 for being a great turn based and really showing off that even things such as war can be fun and exciting without looking morbid.

*record scratch/skip*
Which now I completely digress with the review of the 2nd iteration.

Advance Wars 2: Days of Ruin
Story

After some time has passed and the countries that fought against the Black Hole Army (who happen to be the culprit from the first game starting trouble behind the scenes) are recovering and rebuilding the first Continent they were on, they discover that the Black Hole Army has moved to their 2nd Continent called Macro Land and plan to launch an invasion attack there. So all the armies that participated in the first game (Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth) must now travel to this new Continent in hopes of defending their territories there.

Note: Apparently these Armies are spread across different continents and have different patches of land that belongs to them.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the same as the first with some modifications. The COs now have a 2nd CO Power called “Super CO Power” which basically doubles your original CO Power or adds on a new affect with the doubling to really change the tide of battle. You are no longer an Advisor in this game and it just follows from the eyes of the Orange Star COs as they are made into the main characters for the remainder of the series, Go America. This game adds a few new units to the mix as well and only one of them is playable to us as the rest are used specifically for the bad guys to use. Fair right? At least it spices things up but I will admit to say this was probably the hardest iteration of the entire series so good luck beating this one. The Artwork is a little tuned up but it still looks practically the same as the first game. But as for the feeling it’s a little more morbid as the Invasion of Black Hole seems as drastic as Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia that sparked World War II. This game added new COs for every country including the use of The Black Hole Army Cos, more maps to use, color swaps for every character and link play as well as Local Play with a single Gameboy Advance, so the fun never stops. Literally. And if you’re brave enough, you’re welcome to buy Hard Campaign off the shop and test your abilities.

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is what a sequel supposed to be, better than the first and with a ton of replay value and challenges and other modes to try out. It’s challenging and compelling which is why it’s literally my favorite game of all time to play. So I can easily grant it the perfect score of 10/10 and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Turned Based Strategy games or just plan using your brain. Nothing cooler than stomping your friend with a ton of tanks as they ravage their land and capturing their cities. And if you like the series and you wanna explore some more of the game there is 2 more iterations for the Nintendo DS which I highly recommend you try out as well if you love the play style.