Advance Wars is the epitome of contradiction in video games. It’s downright cute to look at, its dialogue is almost childish, and it’s presented in a colorful, friendly way as it takes you by the hand step by step through the first few missions. On the other hand, it’s still a game about war, one that talks flippantly about invasions, killing, and terrorism. What’s more, it can be extremely difficult at times, and can leave an incredibly stubborn system behind.
But man, I’m the same. There are some things I hate about it, but it also completely won me over again, and I ended up devoting almost 60 hours to this review.
Advance Wars 1+2 for Nintendo Switch: Re-Boot Camp is WayForward’s compilation and remake of the first two entries in Intelligent Systems’ tactical combat series, which debuted on the Game Boy Advance in the early 2000s. That means a lot of audiovisual: New 3D graphics, new cartoon animations and sequences, remastered music, voice acting, or the possibility to race online against other Commanding Officers for the first time.
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Considered one of the best games in history, the meat of the game consists of dozens of maps that you must solve as strategic puzzles, either as part of a two-twenties mission campaign or as a standalone in War Room unlockable challenges. Then there’s Versus mode, and you can even create and share your own custom maps within the Design Room.
Those unfamiliar with the series will know that this is turn-based land, sea, and air strategy on a grid map, complete with different types of units, terrain, conditions, and the occasional WMD used by invading enemies. It’s similar in some ways to IntSys’ own Fire Emblem combat mechanics, although here you’ll rely on fire weapons rather than swords and sorcery, and characters won’t be tied to each unit, but instead appear as Commanding Officers from different armies , while pushing the narrative and spice things up with special powers (so-called CO Powers).
To get away from the awkward tone of this war and how the cartoon characters talk about it, you have to think of it as a friend playing a round of the battleships board game, or fighting a war with a bunch of toy soldiers. In fact, in the remastered version, you can see how the map is actually built inside a cardboard base or wooden box. This way, toy-like units and animations end up being fine.
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Speaking of which, at first I kind of missed the original with the primitives, but WayForward’s rework eventually grew on me with its beautiful, clear and distinguishable units. The new graphics manage to convey the same spirit while maintaining the style, simplicity and desired clarity of the original. Of course, the redrawn characters boost their personalities through anime-style sequences and newly recorded voiceovers for many of their lines, both of which add to the remake’s production value. Too bad, though, that the CO Power animations can’t be skipped, as they can get pretty annoying after a while. (Pro tip: you can skip conversations by pressing Plus).
The inherent experience is pretty much the same, even with a few extra quests, aside from the QoL improvements. Rookies to the genre should definitely opt for the new Casual difficulty, as the Classic alternative will add up quickly and might make them nervous. The most difficult tasks are both exciting and legendary once completed, but also painful when you don’t get things done after a few hours. That’s right: some of the most epic maps can last for hours, which means you might actually work your way through them over several days.
Expert strategists will find this difficulty to be cheating or annoying, as some of the challenges depend on trial and error and don’t offer much in terms of flexibility and different impromptu methods. Perfectionists might want to Yield after a few rounds (game days), nail down every move after a reboot, that’s fine, but when you feel like you’ve mastered the game and it destroys you because you have to follow a strict Rigid, very specific paths, it just doesn’t feel that great.
For better or worse, the remake also retains some of the ridiculous AI behavior from the original, and if you’re trying to beat the hardest missions, you canchooseTake advantage of these behaviors, not to mention earning an S badge. Some challenges will be impossible if you don’t realize what Armored Personnel Carriers are cannon fodder, how to stop an enemy Artillery, or what decisions their Infantry will make in the first place.
This mostly takes place in the last third of the former Advance Wars’, but the second game’s campaign (Black Hole Rising) also has its very challenging moments, with its larger scale and more focused map design, some of which are inventive and Fantastic, requires you to be at least good at using more tools and CO.
However, it’s an absolutely addictive proposition, allowing for some epic comebacks and very, very satisfying transformations. When, after 15-20 days on a lengthy mission, you finally get over the bottleneck of your enemies and finally feel strong enough to beat them, you celebrate with your sweaty fists pumped. This makes up for the slower or more annoying parts of my campaign – as you can see, I just can’t put the game down, which speaks to something I already played 20 years ago.
So, at the end of the day, the beauty and uniqueness of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp lies in this contradiction. You just need this light finish to make the info and the challenge more bearable, and WayForward has done a great job of bringing back the tactical cartoon classic, making it a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch as a platform, whether it’s on TV or on the handheld.