Advance Wars (E)(Arrogance) 1,321 5 0 0. Advance Wars is a turn based strategy game developed by Intelligent Systems. It is the first game in the series to be released in North America. Strategy Role-Playing. Part 20: Let's Play Advance Wars Days of Ruin - 'Battleships on sea, bombers in the air'.

Click to PlayConsole: Gameboy AdvanceIntelligent Systems, the studio behind Fire Emblem, was also behind the greatest turn-based strategy game on GBA: Advance Wars. The premise was simple: A blue army faces off against a red army, each comprised of tanks, infantrymen, and artillery. Featuring tough strategic gameplay, a deep campaign, and a map creator, Advance Wars had everything a strategy fan could want.

Like Fire Emblem, Advance Wars came from a Japanese exclusive series called Famicon Wars, so we’re quite lucky to have it North America. The GBA also received a sequel in Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising. While also great, it felt more like add-on content for its already robust predecessor.

I was blown away by the first game in the series and for me Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising on the Game Boy Advance is doing what a good sequel should. It takes what made the first game so great and just builds on it without radically changing stuff just for the sake of doing so like so many other sequels make the mistake of doing! It goes without saying if you liked the first game, you will like this.

Black Hole Is At It Again!

The story is pretty good and once again that pesky Black Hole is up to no good. They are trying to take over this small continent and the Advance War CO’s from the first game are back once again to put them back in their place. Orange Star, Green Earth, Blue Moon, and Yellow Comet have a ton of personality, but this time you have three new CO’s joining the fight to try and stop Sturm who also has new CO’s! I do feel that as good as the story is, you need to have played the first game to really appreciate it.

Wage War

What I love about Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising and the series, in general, is that this is a tactics-based game that anyone can play. They really managed to make this a game that is very in-depth and requires some serious strategy, but at the same time it is very accessible for people new to the genre. The game design in this regard is very, very clever. In a battle, you have to either capture the HQ of your enemy or you can just flat out kill all of them! The game has many different units and troops for you to consider and each CO has something about them and their squad that makes them special. One thing that I really liked was the Neotank which is a badass ground unit which is hard to get, but once you do it is awesome. Even Black Hole has a new arsenal which makes them more formidable than they were before.

Armed conflicts, economicwars, attacks, spying, treason and alliances.

Easy On The Eyes

While I feel the gameplay of Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is accessible to those new to the genre, I do feel that it is the presentation that makes this a strategy game more people are willing to give a chance. At first glance you may think that this looks just like the first game and it does have the same style. However, I would say that there are more finer details here and in general it is just a tad better looking than its predecessor.

I really enjoyed the first game in the series and I would say that I enjoy Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising just as much. It may not reinvent the wheel, but it did not need to. Building upon what that first game did was a very smart decision and I would say that this and the first Advance Wars games are essential games to play if you are a fan of the Game Boy Advance.

9/10

Pros:

• The game has a ton of personality
• I really liked the direction of the story
• The game looks a bit better than the first
• The gameplay is fun, addictive and easy to get into
• There is a lot of strategy to tinker with in battles

Cons:

• You need to have played the first game to appreciate the story
• Graphics could have been touched up a tad more perhaps?