"One Word: Addictive."

I picked up this game yesterday as a birthday present for my little brother, found out he already had one, and since I lost the receipt I was stuck with it.

Quite possibly the best thing that's happened to me in a long time.

This game I'm talking about is Advance Wars for the Gameboy Advance handheld system. Apparently (after some quick research) I am led to believe that this game came from a series of ''war'' games released in Japan; however, it is the first one released in the US. You get to control a little cursor around ''battle maps'', which is where these wars take place.

With your cursor you can, in 3 easy steps, move a troop next to an enemy and command it to fire upon them. You'll see a nifty little battle animation, and then will be able to move your other units. After you are done, your opponent (or opponents; you can have up to 4 different teams battling over the same map, and if you so please you can 2 teams join up for a 2v1v1 battle, etc.) will take their turns moving their units around and firing. Of course, there's more than just soldiers to command here, anything from tanks to rocket launchers, from battleships to battle copters.

Battles end when one team captures the other teams base, or if your team loses all it's units, they're out. To capture the enemy base you must first reach it with one of your troopers. After that, depending on how much it has been damaged, it can take anywhere from 2 to 20 turns to fully capture the base and declare victory. If you can, you should try to capture bases with fully healed troops.

If you cant get near the base, your other option is to destroy all of your enemy units. Sometimes, this will be the clear road to follow, but it depends on the mission.

Graphics: 10/10
You will love this games graphics, from the movement of troopers across the map to the battles between units. Some people say that this game is too ''dark'' on their GBA, but it's just fine for me so far.

Sound: 9/10
The battle sounds all fit in just where you'd expect them to be. Their are only 4 different battle tunes (I think) and that's only in 4-player battles.

Lasting Ability: 10/10
This game has so may darned battle possibilities that you truly do have to know what each unit is available of on each terrain type to be a ''master''. And when you get tired of the over 100 battle maps, you can create and save up to 3 of your own on the game (and trade them)

Satisfaction: 10/10
At first I though this game would not be that good, but actually playing it is something different than reading about it or looking at pictures. It is quick and easy to pick up on (a half-hour at the maximum) and after the first 1 or 2 training missions you will be addicted.

Buy-ability: 10/10
No real reason except for the fact that you will absolutely love every electronic piece in this cartridge. Have fun.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/01, Updated 09/15/01