In 2001, Nintendo released Advance Wars on the Game Boy Advance, finally bringing its turn-based military franchise to North America. The game was a strong success for Nintendo, leading to a direct sequel in 2003. Two decades later, Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising are together again in one package. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp brings both games to Nintendo Switch with improved graphics and some helpful modern day enhancements. While some elements of the game’s presentation look a bit dated, it does offer a package worth checking out for fans new and old.
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Advance Wars and its sequel are set in a fictional world with various locations loosely based on real-life countries. When the first game begins, the Orange Star nation has been invaded by its long-time rivals, Blue Moon. Players begin the game controlling the commanding officer Andy, as he’s given orders by the army’s leader, Nell. As Andy, players must choose the moves of their respective military units, figuring out the best ways to attack and defeat opposing armies. Each unit has its own particular strengths and weaknesses, as well as limitations in how they can move across the game’s grid-based maps. Options like Tanks and Helicopters can dish out a lot more damage than Infantry or Mech units, but only Infantry and Mech units can capture cities and bases. Players advance to the next mission by defeating all of an opponent’s units, or by taking over their base.ย
Andy is the first CO available, but as the player progresses, they’llunlock additional COs Max and Sami. Just as each unit has their own distinctadvantages and disadvantages in battle, so do the game’s COs. Forexample, Andy is a solid overall option, similar to choosing Mario inMario Kart. Meanwhile, Max is the best choice for direct combat, butstruggles when using units that attack over distances (like Rockets).Sami is the game’s infantry specialist, and her troops are faster attaking over cities than her fellow COs. Andy, Max, and Sami each hastheir own distinct CO Power, which can be used as a meter fills.Figuring out the best CO to use for each mission becomes increasinglyimportant as the games go on, and can make all the difference in battle.
While all of the mechanics might sound daunting for newcomers, Ishould note that I went into this game as someone that didn’t play the original games and doesn’t have a ton of experience with the genre in general. Thankfully, Re-Boot Campeases players like me in, slowly showcasing different unit types in different missions. The collection alsooffers a casual mode, which still offers a decent challenge, but mightbe easier for those new to the genre. Speaking of newcomers, the game israted “E for Everyone,” which means the game offers a pretty tame takeon war. There’s never any blood spilled on these battlefields, as Advance Warsoffers a more “Saturday morning cartoon approach.” Even when Infantry units get wiped out, it literally just looks like they get blownoff of the map. The game’s graphic style is somewhat deceptive in thatregard, as there’s still a lot of depth and challenge found throughout.
Missions in the game can take a pretty decent amount of time, whichcanbe all the more frustrating when the player ends up with a loss.That’s apretty standard convention of the turn-based strategy genre,but thereare a couple nice quality-of-life improvements that helpin thisregard. A new fast-forward feature can be used to make anenemy’s movesgo by quicker, and players can use it at any point byholding the “ZR”button. The game also autosaves between moves, makingit a lot easier toleave and come back in the middle of a particularlylong mission ifneeded.
The presentation in Re-Boot Campis probably the area that’s most difficult to judge. The new stufflooks terrific; all of the character models look bright and colorful,and the brief animations that precede the use of a CO Power areparticularly sharp. But when it comes to watching the actual gameplayitself, players shouldn’t expect much more than an upscaled GBA game.It looks fine, but it’s easy to see how developer WayForward wasprobably hampered by the restrictions of 20-year-old games; if thiscollection does lead to a new series entry, hopefully it’ll look alittle bit prettier. That said, the music is quite catchy, and players aresure to get plenty of tracks stuck in their heads as they spendcountless hours with the two included games.
For those interested in easing into the turn-based strategy genre, or those with a lot of experience, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a strong option on Nintendo Switch. With two complete games in one, there’s a lot of meat in the package, and that’s not even factoring in the multiplayer options. WayForward has done a very nice job adhering closely to the Game Boy Advance originals, while offering enough tweaks to make it feel like this package was a better decision compared to putting the originals on Nintendo Switch Online. It’s been a while since fans of the series have had a wholly-new game to enjoy, so hopefully this package will lead to more from Nintendo.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is set to release April 21st, exclusively on NintendoSwitch. The game was provided by thepublisher for the purpose of this review, and it was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch OLED.
