In our first look at Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp, which we had the chance to play, we take a look at the old classic’s revamped version.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp first look: Gameboy Advance (GBA), one of the best selling handheld consoles of all time, has a unique game catalog in its category. Despite 22 years since its debut, it continues to amaze me with its rich library of more than 1500 games, even today.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp first look / Played!
You get your fill of JRPG with Golden Sun, action with GTA Advance. On the one hand is Max Payne, on the other is the frenzied Kuru Kuru Kururin (check it out, you’ll love it!). But whenever the console’s name is mentioned, a few games stand out for me and yes, the Advance Wars series is among the leading games.
Nintendo 3DS’sw Fire Emblem: Awakening and especially Nintendo Swith’ Fire Emblem: Three Houses productions, the Intelligent System’s Advance Wars, published exclusively for the GBA in 2002, has certain technical limits and can be on a handheld console that has 4 keys on the ball. It was the most profound and fun turn-based strategy game. The compelling and complex attacks of the enemies supported this deep and entertaining structure.
The return of the series, which we saw last time on Nintendo DS with Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, 15 years later, even as a remake, gives me hope for the future. Prepared for release for Nintendo Switch, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp offers modern-day versions of two great strategy games, Advance Wars and Advance Wars: Black Hole Rising, published for the GBA, in a single package.
The package, which I was blown away when it was announced, was actually going to meet the players in the year it was announced, in 2021. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine delayed the meeting of the war-themed Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp by 2 years. And finally, after downloading 30GB, I pressed the start button with my hands shaking with excitement!
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is entrusted to WayForward, which develops more bespoke games and has 30 years of experience in this field. What I call custom-made, for example; They took part in various games such as the video game Smurfs 2 or Contra 4 with the support of Konami or Aliens: Infestation in partnership with Gearbox. This worried me a little bit, but Nintendo doesn’t leave their game unattended so easily. Indeed, that’s what happened.
In the renewed Advance Wars package, two separate story modes (which you can’t start Black Hole Rising without finishing Advance Wars. Some of you might say “it’s okay”, but I think this is the ideal one in order not to spoil the story in the story.), the game has not been officially announced yet. Online mode, which is not active because it has not been released and where you can play online matches with other players, Versus mode where you can play locally, that is, with your friend, spouse, friend (there is also CPU combat for lone men), Design Room section where you can create your own war maps and share them with other players, in old games There is the War Room mode, which includes challenging battles, Hachi’s Shop where you can buy maps for the War Room mode, and finally the Gallery section.
An animation that fills the lungs with the cartoonistic atmosphere of Advance Wars greets the players in the opening minutes. Although it is a war game with a tank and rifle, Advance Wars was a production that presented this theme in a cartoon style. A very enjoyable job has been done in the presentation and the ambiance of the original game has been successfully carried over to these remakes. The characters do a satisfying job with their vibrant colors and voiced dialogue at some points. The reworked music also paid homage to the originals. They don’t sound like an adaptation to reflect the repulsiveness of modernity.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a game that holds your hand in the first hour whether you’ve played the series before or not. It does a good job of explaining the rules of the game, describing the effects of battle units, artifacts, and geographic structure on warfare. In addition, with the guide section that you can access quickly during your battles, it always helps.
As in every turn-based strategy game, Advance Wars has chess logic at its core. In the rock-paper-scissors system, you try to win the battle by either destroying all the enemy units on the war map or by capturing the enemy base, without forgetting which unit opposes the other and by carefully observing the moves.
The tank destroys the infantry with rifles, but is devastated by the infantry carrying rocket launchers, or you can hit difficult targets from afar by firing artillery. Although the win conditions vary according to the story, this is the general system. Strategies become deeper with the inclusion of new units into the war in each episode, and the weather conditions add dynamism to the fights in the following hours.
Its story is more a means than an end, but it has to be said that the characters also transform into commanders who lead your army. As well as their importance in the story, the fact that the characters can trigger their special powers called CO Power that can direct the battles positions them in an important place in the gameplay. Likewise, the commanders of the enemy country can trigger their different features during the wars and put you in trouble.
Unfortunately, Advance Wars, which I found successful as a presentation, could not draw me in with its graphics and animations. I definitely prefer the visuals of the original game to the units that “look like plastic”. I think it would be even more impressive if the developers here took an example of the HD-2D style Square Enix has used in games such as LIVE A LIVE (Live a Live review) and Octopath Travelers in the near future.
I liked the Advance Wars pack for the first hours. After all, these games were productions that knew how to experience the deepest excitement possible on a limited hardware 20 years ago, and they are meeting a new generation via Switch, preserving their originality. I think Nintendo polled the Advance Wars series with the Switch release. We will talk more in the review article…