"Almost a perfect lullaby... pity it'd waste batteries."

Fame: Amazing replay value - Shame: Ultra-boring

Side Effect: Insomnia

Advance Wars is a game in which boredom and brain power collide in a vicious confrontation within your mind, which then makes you ponder the rather entertaining idea of taking Advance Wars back to the store you just bought it from to get your money back. Believe me, the reviews you may have seen in magazines or various websites (i.e. GameFAQS.com) where the game is rated a 10 and proclaimed the best strategy game ever made is junk. Don't listen to them. Either Advance Wars has plagued their mind with its super-repetitive and thus annoying battle sequences, or the now-depressed and angered person is just trying to hurt the wallets or pocketbooks of others, because Advance Wars is downright boring. It has an up or two, but going downhill for so long at such speeds really hurt and the ups become rather unimportant.

The first hour of playing the game is the more fun than the rest of it, and that first hour is just the training missions, where a schoolgirl-ish person named Nell is showing you the ropes of military tactics. Oddly enough, once you're done acing the training missions, you'll feel as though you're ready for anything, yet once you go into the Campaign Mode, you'll be just too... (what's that word... oh, yes...) bored, to continue on. Maybe the story will help you out, here?

Sorry, the story is anti-kudos for anyone looking for some kind of depth in that area. The plot is simple: You're a member of the Orange Star army, and you, as a General, must fend off the Blue Moon army and then take them over, as well. All the battles that take place (a long, enduring process of... ya... boredom) lead up to something rather significant, but you shouldn't be wasting your time playing this game, anyway, so it won't matter.

I said Advance Wars has an up or two, and if it has only one, it is definitely the replay value (if, however, you can take the boredom). If you can't take the insomnia that comes along with the game, then the replay will be as useless to you as it was to me. However, if you can stay awake (via some type of anti-sleep pill or something), you will find that Advance Wars is a very deep strategy game. But not in anything but its tactical approach to things.

A wide and varied array of units are at your disposal: Infantry, Mech, Recon, Tank, Md Tank, APC, Artillery, Rockets, Anti-Air, Missiles, Bombers, Fighters, Battle Copters, Transport Copters, Submarines, Battleships, and Landers. The following units are used for transporting Infantry and Mech units: APC, Transport Copters, and Landers. Landers are for over-sea transportation, APC for cross-country, and Transport Copters for a bit of paratrooping (which isn't shown). Each and every one of those units can be used for something entirely different, some for sacrifice, some to cause far-range damage (i.e. Artillery) where it doesn't get fired back at, etc., etc. Each one has a weakness, however, and it can be exploited easily...

There is a whole truckload of terrain features, and they, also, can be used for tactical purposes. For example, if you're Infantry units are in the mountains, and the opponent's Infantry units are on the Plains below, you can slaughter them easily as they pass by. However, in Fog of War, such things aren't as easy. The Fog of War is a deadly something that occurs every now and then, which clouds your vision. Thus, the safest idea is to send out some Recon units to slowly check out what is in which area. You may lose a few Recon units, but you can just buy some more.

Then there are the certain civilized areas. There are Bases, Airports, Ports, Neutral Cities which can be taken over, and the all-important Headquarters which, in the case of capture, the opposition wins. Neutral Cities are there simply to gain more restocking opportunities, and that is a good thing. Oh yes, it is good.

The music is quite cruddy, but it flows nicely. It's not bad music; it's just not lively enough. The insomnia slowly sets in around this point.

The graphics are very good, and here I can not complain. A pretty sight on the eyes is everything but the overview in Advance Wars; all the units are represented rather clearly, and the battle animations look very good indeed. The only problem here is that the battle sequences never change if the same situation is shown twice. It's quite annoying.

Playing Advance Wars is a treat if you want a multiplayer challenge, though. The chess-players would most likely play Advance Wars over Pokemon any day, don't you think? You can even design your own battlefield if you want, and that's a very fun thing to do, especially if... rather, when, you get bored or frustrated with the game. Supporting all of your units with practically limitless supplies has never been so fun...

If you're a hardcore strategy gamer, you must pick Advance Wars up. There's no doubt about that. But if you think Advance Wars is gonna make you wanna buy another strategy game, then wake up and smell the gunpowder... You're not going to like this game and you're not buying another strategy game in general. Not for a long time and maybe, just maybe, not ever again.

However, strategy/RPGs are a different story...

Value: 5/10 (depends; do you like strategy games? If so, buy this game, NOW!).

Replay Value: 10/10.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/02, Updated 11/30/02