GENRE
	Intelligent Systems
	DEVELOPER
	Nintendo
	PUBLISHER
	1-4
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	unknown
	CONNECTIVITY
	unknown
	BUY NOW AT

I remember when André was telling me about this ‘great new game on the Gameboy Color’ I had to get. After a while, I moseyed on down to the store, picked it up, and glued my hands to the GBC. I couldn’t let it go. Warlocked was the game to play. Now, a little over a year later, another great portable strategy game is released into my waiting hands. It doesn’t disappoint. Apparently all the strategy games on handhelds (in the states at least, I still need to play Napoleon) are best buys. All two of them.

Apparently at one time or another there was a game called Wars that went on a couple different systems. Most unbeknownst to me. So when I saw Advance Wars, I didn’t know what to expect, till I played it. This was quite a few months ago, at E3. The game was an absolute blast. I knew I had to get it when it was released. Well, I did. I sold some other older games to get it, but I’m incredibly satisfied that I did. This game is the best title to hit the Gameboy Advance since Super Dodge Ball Advance, or Castlevania. In fact, I may just have to go as far as to say it’s better than the both of them. I’m giving this game a perfect ten, because it completely deserves it. I love this game. It’s as simple as that.

visuals

While not exactly pushing the handheld to it’s limits, the graphics on this game are excellent. You can see every little unit clearly, and there is never any mistaking one unit for another. Not to mention the shear number of sprites able to be on screen at once. One time, I was pushing into the enemies base, with little to help me, until I realized I had a lot of money stored up. So I kept ordering medium tanks (I’ll get into how much ass those kick a little later) one after another, until my funds were depleted. I must have had upwards of twenty five sprites on screen, while the enemy had about twenty of his own. Each was moving, and there was NEVER any sprite flicker or slowdown. All the while on very pretty backgrounds.

And that’s the overworld. Once you get into a fight, you have an equally beautiful (if not more so) fighting sequence. Each unit has it’s own little sprite used to mark it’s location on the map, and a much larger one for fighting. You’ll have huge tanks attacking little infantry, helicopters attacking boats, it’s all so cool. Just…so cool…

Anyway, the battles. Included are somewhere in the neighborhood of ten different backgrounds depending on where you are when you fire, and where the targeted enemy is. There are woods, cities, bases, construction factories, (nicely done on the infantry aiming downward when they fire from a mountain), and they all look grand. Not to mention they all change when it’s snowy, or something. Not that you’ll be looking at them much, of course, cause of all the numbers and units you need to be paying attention to, but that’s all explained in gameplay, a little further below.

Finally, the little things that are just awesome. Each commanding officer has their own few mug shots for text, and the emotion displayed during it. They also have different reactions to the fight in progress. Let’s use Andy as an example, cause you fight with him first in campaign mode. If a unit is fired upon, and badly damaged, Andy’ll frown. If the unit has been destroyed, he’ll have an animation for it. If it retaliates, and holds it’s own, or hurts the offending enemy more, he’ll have a big smile on. If he destroys a unit, he’ll have a little “V” sign on his hand for victory, that’s an animation too. And this goes for all nine COs. Number two small thing is the fact that even if two jet fighters verse each other, they’ll look different depending on what side you’re on: Orange Star, Green Earth, Yellow Comet, or Blue Moon.

The very last thing I have to mention is the ability of each CO. They can do various things, depending on who you’re using. Like Max makes your units stronger, while Andy repairs them, and Sami conquers faster. They all have a little animation on the screen, while it says what they’re doing, and has a picture of them in quite the anime way. Check out Andy’s (yeah, I know I’m picking on the little guy, but he’s my favorite besides Eagle).

audio

There’s really not much to say about audio, other than it’s the fact that it’s fantastic.A little addition, and an overly worthy note, is that the music changes, again, depending on the CO, when they get to move their units. The best thing, though, is that the music not only conveys the emotion: the annoyance of Olaf, the idiocy/hickidity of Grit, and the threat of Eagle, but it doesn’t get annoying, even after some long periods of time. And I mean long. Multiple hours are required to turn down the GBA and turn on some other music.

Ok, so the music rocks, what about the sound effects, you say? Yeah, they kick ass too. Each type of unit doesn’t have a unique sound when it moves, but most do. Like all boats sound the same, infantry/mech, and the two types of tanks. Still that’s quite impressive. They also have this little ditty for when you use a COs power. It’s short, but sweet.

Finally, the firing and explosions. Depending on what unit you use to fire with, the sound effect is a different. If you use a bomber, it’ll have a whistling sound, and a large explosion on whatever target it hit. For a fighter, it has the sound of launching missiles. A battleship: their booming guns. Infantry: machine guns. Mech: bazookas firing (if they’re against a tank of some ground based vehicle, or they ruin out of ammo, otherwise it’s a machine gun). The explosion of some trucks with rockets in the back has never sounded so sweet until you’ve lived through their raining hell of fire. Never felt so sweet…raining hell of fire…blew ‘em up…I blew the bastards up…

So there you have it. Audio. One very complete set. But it’s hard to write much about it when you’re never hearing it, but rather concentrating on the gameplay.

gameplay

Alright, the moment you’ve been waiting for. Even if you can argue with the sound and/or graphics, you can’t debate the gameplay. It’s just that solid. Alright, let’s run through the game chronologically.

Step 1: Field Training
When you first switch on the game, you have a mere three options open to you: Vs mode, Link mode, and Field Training. So of course you click on the last one, cause you can’t play the game until they instruct you on how to do so. In front of you are 15 training missions on how to play the game, teaching you at most three aspects per mission. So once you finish all those (the plot of them has to do with you pushing Blue Moon’s Olaf out of Orange Star’s territory with Nell telling you what to do for the first few steps. As you complete a mission, the game evaluates your speed, power, and technique. And a letter grade. If you get all three full, or close to, you get an A. If you severely lack in one, you get something like a D. I’m usually lacking in speed, but full in power. Technique can be in any old place. So anyway, once you finish them, you get the options of creating a map, trading maps, Campaign mode, the one player game, Battle Maps, which lets you buy maps, and a couple other things, and finally, War Room, which is a competition to see how high you can score.

Anyway, there are 18 different units, each with their own strengths, and weaknesses. There’s things like infantry which are needed to conquer towns, which give you money to build stuff, and bases, which are a shortcut to winning. If you capture an enemy’s base, you automatically win. The alternative is defeating all units, or in some cases lasting a given amount of time, and/or capturing a specified number of bases/cities. Back to units, Medium Tanks can defeat practically anything on the ground it’s next to, but it can’t hit aircraft, and most ships. It’s like a great deal of other units in that it has to be right next to something to attack it. When it does, you’re treated to a lovely little sequence of fighting. You also have things like Artillery and rockets, which can reach far out, but not close by. Then there are bombers, copters, and jets that all fall victim to Anti-air turrets or missile units. Jets can fight only other air vehicles, and copters can fight anything but ships and bombers. Bombers can completely wreak havoc on ground units, but they have zero defense against jets. See how confusing it can get? I didn’t even get into all the ground or sea units, either. Or how far each can move. Each unit can move different distances, like 5 spaces a turn for a Medium Tank, while a small tank is at 8, and infantry at three, Mech at 2, etc. Once you get in the game, though, it’s pretty simple (mainly cause of field training).

There’s also using the terrain to your own advantage. Mountains give you four stars of defense, while forests two, fields one, bridges zero, towns three, etc. Sometimes they’re key to winning.

The final thing to mention is Fog of War. And that each time you both move, a day goes by. Right. Now Fog of War. While difficult, it adds a lot to the gameplay. The entire region is fogged, and each unit can only see so far (it differs from unit to unit, awesome!!!). The really cool thing is that if you put an infantry unit on a mountain, his view range is greatly expanded. And just cause you can see the enemy doesn’t mean he can see you. The enemy is also hampered by it. Unfortunately, he takes the wait-to-be-attacked method. C’est la vie. The last thing about it is that you can hide your units in forests, and boat units in reefs, so the enemy can’t see your unit unless he’s right next to it. Too late.

Step 2: Campaign Mode
So I try campaign mode, and the plot continues where Field Training left off. You’re still pushing Blue Moon out of your territory. The campaign mode opens up factories (after a few missions), airports, which let you heal and make airplanes, and ports, which are airports for boats. Anyway, in your quest, you have to pass by some stray Green Earth troops, and pass through Yellow Comet territory (who mistake you for an enemy, fancy that). And each country has special abilities for their units. Green Earth planes are much stronger, while Orange Star is balanced out. Yellow Comet are tough forces, but they cost a bundle. And Blue Moon can take snow with ease (but not rain, go figure).

Anyway, the plot just expands from there. Over time, some more COs join you (Max and Sami), giving you the option to choose between them for different missions. And even if this game sounds fun now, just wait till you play it. 115 maps ready to be conquered.

Step 3: Single Pak Link
Most unfortunately, no one I know has this game, so I can’t try out multi-pak link, but I did try out the single-pak mode the first chance I got. They cut out the battle sequences, and made all the missions in Fog of War. Also, they automatically start you each out with a given number of units, and no factories, or airports, or ports. The units are always infantry, Mech, and small tanks. Never anything else. While not as fun as the one player mode, it does have the appeal of a quick match or two to pass a little time. Also, I hear that Multi-pak link has everything, all the units, unit production facilities, and you can play on your three created maps. Not a bad deal, eh? One player, but with an intelligent opponent.

Of course, that’s not to say that there’s no challenge. It goes from move-fire-finish, to downright impossible. The AI is nothing to laugh at, and usually can predict my moves. It’s always a sucker for a supply unit over anything else, though. The one thing I’ve learned.

Step 4: Create Map
This is a very detailed option, where you can create your own map, as impossible or easy, or as whatever as you want. It’s easy to use, and you can whip out some really awesome playing fields. Useful in Multi-pak link. As if you didn’t already know.

multiplayer

See above.

overall

Yeah, I may have skipped a few things in gameplay, but I didn’t want to ruin it for you. And there’s no question. You must play this game, at least through the field training. It’s just so amazing. I mean, look at how long this review is. If you put it in Microsoft Word, it’s four pages long. And I didn’t go back to consult the game in the other room once. This is all off the top of my head. It goes much more in depth. But like I said above, words don’t describe it. Buying it, no no, stealing it at is the only way. Only way. Buy it. Now. Go out and buy it. There is no reason for renting it. Once you progress, you’ll only be disappointed that you have to sit through all the text again. The text is incredibly useful the first time, but just plain annoying the second time through. So buy it. Now. FuncoLand, Target, Toys R Us, it really doesn't matter, so long as you get this game

Strategy/10