When I was younger, I loved playing Advance Wars on my Game Boy Advance. Nintendo’s turn-based strategy game got me in its grip ever since and I never missed a release, I even got Battalion Wars on my GameCube to quench my thirst for new entries in the franchise. Sadly, Advance Wars is one of those dormant Nintendo IPs that somehow never got a sequel. Did you know it’s been fifteen years since we got an Advance Wars release? Way too long if you ask me! Luckily for me and the newcomers, we get the second-best thing, a solid reboot! Welcome to my review of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp on Nintendo Switch.
Advance Wars?
Since it’s been so long since the last entry in the franchise, let me explain what you can expect. Advance Wars is a top-down turn-based strategy game that plays on a grid. You move your units around the map, attack opponents or conquer important buildings in order to advance and eventually win the battle. After your turn, it’s time for your enemies to make their move. Nothing groundbreaking and it’s safe to say that Advance Wars follows the basic rules of a good turn-based strategy game. The franchise kicks off with Andy, a young Commanding Officer of the Orange Nation, a peaceful country that’s forced into combat due to an invasion of the Blue Moon Army. It’s clear to see why this game got delayed but as always, we don’t talk politics in our reviews. The story of Advance Wars progresses through dialogue and small interactions between the COs at the start of the battle. It’s all rather cartoony so don’t expect gruesome real-life conversations. Advance Wars is about having fun and everything about its presentation reflects that.
Once the dialogues are over (or if you skip them), it’s time to enter the battlefield. It’s important to know that you can win a fight in different ways. You can win by defeating all units or you can win by conquering a certain amount of buildings or by conquering the headquarters of your enemy. This allows for more strategic gameplay, it’s not all just run and gun or base rushing. You can win by going head-on with your enemy or you can win by sneaking your units closer and closer to your enemy’s HQ. It offers fun gameplay that will keep you on the tip of your toes at all times.
I love how well-balanced the combat in Advance Wars is, it’s far more than just attack and defense, the extra layer comes in conquering small cities. Conquering these cities is crucial for your economy and will earn you more money, which will come in handy if you have to buy new units in your bases. The better the unit, the more expensive. Cities also give you more ammo and will refill your fuel so conquering strategically placed cities will drastically improve your combat. The combination of constantly trying to conquer cities and outsmarting your opponent is the charm of Advance Wars and it really works from the start. This Re-Boot version includes the first two games. I do recommend playing them in chronological order. The first game has fewer commanding officers and one less unit. It’s still an amazing game but once you’re playing the sequel, you’ll notice the difference.
Advance Wars 2
Advance Wars 2 is the second main campaign in this Re-Boot Camp and follows the same formula as the first entry although it adds interesting innovation to the mix. Besides an extra unit, there’s also an extra superpower for the commanding officer, which can truly alter the flow of combat. Where the first power gives you a nice little advantage, your superpower can truly alter the battlefield. By creating new units, defeating enemies, and capturing cities, you’ll fill up the power bar, which adds an interesting new layer of tactics to the overall gameplay of the sequel. Will you use your regular power or will you risk it all and save your power until you can activate your superpower? It’s a nice little touch that really elevates the battles in the sequel. Besides that, you’ll also have more interesting ways to be victorious as the sequel pushes you to think outside of the box even more. It’s hard to return to the first campaign when you’re playing by the sequel rules so if you want to enjoy the games as much as possible, respect the chronological order of the campaigns. Not so much for the obvious spoilers but more for the gameplay improvements.
There’s more
The two remastered campaigns are the main reason to buy this version but it does come with a bit more content. War Room allows you to play random missions which are often more challenging compared to the ones in the campaigns. If you’re up for a challenge, you can enter the War Room but be prepared, these battles can last a lot longer than the campaign ones. Of course, since you’re playing this on the Nintendo Switch you can continue your battle anywhere anytime. I also love the fact that you can play as any commander, including your enemies. This opens up a lot more variation and a tremendous amount of experimenting. Finding the best possible commander for a certain mission is certainly part of the charm. The War Room really adds a lot of extra hours which makes this release one of the most impressive games, hours-wise, on the platform.
You can also enjoy Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp with friends locally or online. This works well but it’s a bit of a shame that you can’t join battles with strangers. It’s a strange decision to include an online multiplayer element but limit it to players in your friend list. It’s not that modern and feels like a huge step back compared to other multiplayer games. Even stranger is the fact that you can create your own maps. Think Super Mario Maker with Advance Wars maps. You can share and play with friends but not with strangers and you can’t see what strangers created, nor can you download their maps. Another weird decision without a doubt.
Conclusion:
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a great reboot that offers a crazy amount of content and proves why Advance Wars deserves its spot amongst some of the best turn-based strategy games. There are some strange multiplayer restrictions, but besides that, this is the perfect game to play on the go.
9/10
Nintendo Switch OLED
