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Normally, turn-based strategy games are the province of beard-stroking professor-types who like to
sit in armchairs, wearing tweed smoking jackets and puffing contentedly on an evil-smelling pipe.
With Advance Wars,
Nintendo did the impossible - it made the strategy game something everybody could love. Indeed, Advance Wars was so good,
Nintendo arguably did its job too well - we've been addicted since it came out last year - our hands are locked into arthritic
GBA-shaped claws and all we can see when we close our eyes are tanks, tiny airports and cute little explosions. Tsk.
BATTLE
GAMES
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, the inevitable sequel, offers more of the same but is bigger, better and even
more brain-mashingly brilliant. You might be a little disappointed at first, as it's initially incredibly similar to its predecessor,
but the little tweaks and changes are so perfectly judged that Advance Wars 2 genuinely does feel like a progression.
FACES
OF WAR
Many of the old faces return, along with plenty of new ones. Moving through each territory of Wars' world, you'll
play as each of the different Commanding Officers in turn, getting to experience their own tactical quirks and fancy abilities.
Each CO, as before, can use a unique Power, once it's charged up (such as Olaf's Blizzard, which hinders enemy movement).
This
time, however, you can also pump up a Super Power, which is madly useful. Looking at Olaf again, his Winter Fury does what
Blizzard does, but also knocks two hit points of health off every enemy unit. Other Super Powers are even better - new addition
Sensei, for example, can increase his Battle Copter's attack power and instantly create a Mech unit in each allied city. Hoo-ha!
Elsewhere,
there's plenty of new terrain, including evil enemy cannon emplacements and one-shot missile silos, which anyone can use,
allowing battlefield-wide enemy-crumpling.
There's one new unit, the Neotank, which is hugely formidable, heavier than
a medium tank and able to knock the stuffing out of anything. It's hugely expensive, mind. Finally, there's a greater variety
of maps and missions and you'll have to use your noodle a lot more this time around.
TOP FIGHT
It might sound
like there's not much new stuff in Advance Wars 2, but what there is changes the dynamics of the game considerably, deepening
it and providing a more strategic - and fun - experience.
In fact, we're glad Nintendo didn't change things too much,
as that old Advance Wars magic would have been lost. And this truly is a magical game - easily equal to the best stuff on
offer on GameCube, PS2 or Xbox.
It might look old-fashioned, but Advance Wars 2 is incredibly satisfying, pleasingly
intelligent and never less than tremendous fun, even when it gets horribly hard. It's also the best game on GBA so far. And
that's a fact!
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