Blair Loveday
Advanced Wars is one of the most iconic strategy RPG games around.
After falling in love with the Fire Emblem series I had heard references to Advanced Wars but was never able to check out these classics as they were trapped on consoles I didn’t have access to.
Now with Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp I was able to see if these tidied up version still stand up in 2023.
The games tell a story of a war between two nations, Orange Star and Blue Moon. Your commander is accused of attacking 2 other nations for no reason and the conflict kicks off to a next level.
I can’t explain the premise of Advanced Wars 2 without spoiling the plot for Advanced Wars 1 so I won’t dive too much further than that. On the whole the story is OK, which is actually fine. The plot is just interesting enough to motivate the jumping from level to level, and that is what you are really here for.
If you have been playing more modern games like Fire Emblem then there will be familiarity here.
You have units on a grid battlefield, you have a turn to use each unit, and then it’s your enemies turn. Rinse and repeat until you win by beating a specific unit, capturing something, etc. or until the enemy beats you.
Where it is different is everything else.
Where a game like Fire Emblem has you choosing your characters and going in to fight, Advance Wars gives you a certain selection of units on each map varying between groups of troops, to tanks, to other vehicles. A lot of the fun here is that each level is like a puzzle, and learning new vehicle types and strategies makes each level a little puzzle. This nature of the battles makes the smaller maps not an issue, but just a layout of a puzzle.
The other major difference the game has is the importance of health.
If your unit has full health it will deal a certain amount of damage, but the less health they have the less damage they do. This fits the vibe of the game as a half dead troop of men or a damaged vehicle would be less powerful.
Most importantly though it makes a big part of the games strategy. In other games you may park a unit up and use the counter to take away enemy health. Here this makes your unit much less powerful so trying to get that first attack in to weaken your opponent can be crucial.
Though this isn’t always the case. If you have a highly damaged enemy, then popping your unit on something like a bridge may give you a few turns of grace period as you do actions behind the bridge.
A few times I made the mistake of taking a unit out, for a full strength one to barrel through the new space and wipe out my blocking unit. It’s just such a damn good system.
Each level gives you a ranking as well.
Many maps aren’t overly difficult, but getting that S rank can be so you wind up with the motivation to go back and be more careful with how you play. Fortunately the game has a simple and bright art style that looks a treat, meaning it’s fun to watch as you have fun playing.
I can’t speak to fans of the series, but to newbies I can’t recommend this game enough. The simple bright art style makes it a treat to look at, and the games unique systems make it special. Throw on top of how essentially every map is a strategy puzzle and it’s just so damn fun to play.
Also there being a lot less dialogue to mash through makes for a nice break from Fire Emblem. This game is a serious gem that is perfect for the Switch.
Released: April 2023
Rating: PG
Platforms reviewed: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Strategy
Developer: WayForward
Publisher: Nintendo