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Videogame Source : GameBoy Advance |
Advance Wars |
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7.0 |
| Sounds |
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6.0 |
| Replay |
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10.0 |
| Gameplay |
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9.0 |
| Overall |
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9.1 |
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Review
by JR
Clone |
In one fell swoop, Advance
Wars has outdone all the rehashes of Super Nintendo “greats”
on the Game Boy Advance (Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Castelvania:
Circle of the Moon, Super Mario Advance, etc.).
Advance Wars is engaging, highly addictive, and, perhaps most
importantly, fresh. A war strategy game on a portable system is
certainly uncommon, and although Advance Wars is one of many in
the “Wars” series of games, this is the first installment to be
published outside of Japan.
A completely turn based game, playing Advance Wars is more akin
to a chess match than a heated battle in Command & Conquer.
While the majority of strategy games gain their complexity from
a plethora of units, buildings, and special weapons, Advance
gains its complexity from its impeccably laid out, seemingly
simple gameplay.
Like chess, Advance Wars takes a day to learn, but a lifetime to
master.
There are a total of (about) 15 different units, each unit has
10 HP, and the two main objectives: capture the enemy’s HQ or
rout the enemy’s forces.
Three Keys To Victory
The strategy comes in with the different types of units. Battle
copters, for instance, work wonders against artillery, but bring
a team of fighter jets in there and those copters are history.
The fighter jets may wipe out other air units with extreme
prejudice, but bring in some anti-air cannons and the fighters
won’t even have a chance. The AA machine guns have no problem
dispatching airborne units, but a burly medium tank renders the
AAs helpless. Medium tanks will cut through most land units like
a knife through butter, but a battleship can reduce the tanks to
nothing with one blast of its cannons. A battleship is a highly
effective weapon with its long-range attacks capable of
destroying land and sea forces, but one submarine is all it
should take to submerge the mighty destroyer. Of course, I could
get into all the nitpicky details, but this is a review,
not an FAQ…
Precision positioning on the map plays a key role to success in
Advance Wars, as the different types of terrain can adversely
affect movement. Placing divisions of your army in illogical,
inopportune places will soon result in a severe spanking from
the enemy.
Along with manipulating the terrain and the types of units, the
third aspect of Advance Wars lies in the selection of your
commanding officer. Each CO has their own special ability and
special strengths, so choosing Drake the ol’ sea dog over Sami
the peppy infantry specialist can drastically change the flow of
the game.
So, once you come to grips with these three concepts, you can
begin to understand the rich strategy of Advance Wars. Placing
units in the right places, strategically capturing bases, and
finally moving in for the kill is a refined skill that can only
be gained with experience. Experience is certainly one thing
that Advance Wars brings to the table in exorbitant amounts.
First, you progress through the campaign mode, the “story mode”
of Advance Wars, really just a thin plot to lure gamers in to
even deeper in. After this, it’s time to get serious.
Coins earned in the campaign mode are used to purchase various
maps, at least a hundred of them, in order to fully hone your
Advance Wars skill. If somehow, you complete the glut of
pre-designed scenarios, there is a custom map creator in order
to create your dream battle. Is this the deepest handheld title
ever? It’s very likely.
The only problem with Advance Wars is that the AI is…well…kinda
stupid. The computer opponents each seem to fall for the same
tricks over and over again, and they have incredibly rigid
programming. Rather than programming effective AI, the designers
seemed to content to instead put you against an opponent that
always seems to be better armed, better positioned, and too
defensive. The AI will always blindly chase certain types of
units over and over again, only to be duped when capture their
HQ with a unit that isn’t as high on their “priority list”.
Fortunately, with multi-player action readily with just one
Advance Wars cartridge, a human opponent should always be
readily available when the computer programmed COs seem a bit
predictable.
As far as the package Advance Wars come in, the game’s designers
put effort to make sure there was some style to liven up a game
that could easily be seen as drab. The overhead map on which the
battles will take place is crisp, clear, and colorful. The
graphical highlights of Advance Wars are the battle animations
(well, they’re practically the only animations in the entire
game…but they look pretty good), which ensue immediately after
ordering your forces to attack the enemy. With many of the
newfangled Game Boy Advance games using grainy “3D” visuals
(i.e. Mario Kart Super Circuit), Advance Wars is a sharp,
smooth visual ride.
Advance Wars sounds about as well as a war strategy game could
be expected to. Generic, army type music and explosions make up
the aural experience in Advance Wars. Surely nothing exciting,
but the lackluster audio has practically no impact on Advance
Wars at all.
The Bottom Line
Some are sure to get bored of Advance Wars faster than others,
but for those who stick around, the sheer breadth of Advance
Wars should keep even the most obsessed gamer content.
Challenging scenarios, various rankings, easy multiplayer
hookup, and a virtually limitless number of maps has given
Advance Wars the title of the deepest handheld title I’ve ever
played.
The somewhat underwhelming visuals and sound are nevertheless
well done, and the simplistic AI still offers up a challenge
with the advantages Advance Wars’ designers have decided to
bestow upon these thick opponents.
Hopefully you don’t have many social or job-related obligations
in the near future…9-
.:. JR Clone |
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