"War is never fun. Is it?"

Until now this particular franchise was only enjoyed in Japan on the original Game Boy as Nintendo held back releasing it into other territories. However with the Game Boy Advance (GBA) just released and the Advance Wars formula tuned in just right how could Nintendo not let the title be released in the hungry North American, European and Australasian markets? The game was tweaked and translated and finally Game Boy fans around the globe got to enjoy one of the finest turn-based offerings ever. The genre of turn-based strategy in video games has been often left to select group of gamers, often because the games can involve a lot of strategic planning and thinking, leaving gamers who enjoy fast paced gaming adrift in the gameplay style. Advance Wars somehow manages to employ tight strategic and often intense gaming whilst still being very fun and rewarding for those who enjoy action packed war titles such as the Command and Conquer series.

Advance Wars offers a supreme balance of gameplay, with so many intricate features and details that make this title one of the best GBA releases to date. The title features an incredibly deep campaign mode and an equally addictive multiplayer mode, which means that if you are alone or with friends there is plenty to enjoy with this title.

Playing Advance Wars is like playing a huge game of chess taking place on a large map. The battle maps are broken up into a grid of squares and each of your units can be moved a certain amount of squares and can attack from a certain range of squares, which is, as mentioned, very similar to a chessboard (except larger and more complex). To progress through the game you must use all your wit and skill of battle to either capture the enemy's base or destroy every enemy unit. Their are 18 types of units that are able to cover air, sea and land – understanding how each unit moves, what it can and cannot attack and how expensive they are to produce is one of the many keys to success.

Another interesting feature of Advance Wars is that each of your opposition's commanding officers has their own fighting 'personality', each with there own attacking and defensive advantages and disadvantages. Each commanding officer also has a boost bar; this fills as you take down enemies HP. Once it reaches it’s maximum you can boost an aspect of your commanding officers attributes. For example the main commanding officer Andy is able to heal his units when his boost bar fills and is a great all round battler whilst another commanding officer, Max has strong tank units when his boost is used. Knowing your opponent well and restricting their boosting will increase your chances of defeating them.

There is a lot to learn in Advance Wars and while the difficulty curve is quite steep it can be quickly conquered with a 15 level training mode that helps gamers understand the basic controls and the finer points of gameplay - it is heavily recommended you begin with this before jumping straight into the heat of war. It is quite rewarding learning how aspects of the game work and conquering these early opponents. As you make your way through the training and campaign modes you earn coins and these can be exchanged to open up new battle maps and other bonuses.

As commanding officer in the campaign mode (single player) you must take control of your army and lead them to victory and re-take the world. The path to glory is not as linear as one might think and often players are given the option of several different missions at one time. Whichever is chosen will have an affect on the rest of the game meaning that the campaign mode can be enjoyed over and over again with the player facing new challenges in battle.

Advance Wars fully supports the Game Boy Advance's link cable mode for two-four player fun. If only one player has the Game Boy Advance cartridge only one map is available for play but if everyone who is playing has a copy Advance Wars every map that you have unlocked is available for battle. But what if you only have one Game Boy Advance and three of your friends want to play? Well you can! At the end of each player's turn just hand the Game Boy to the next player and they can make their move - simple and fun-fun-fun! Oh, and if 114 battle maps isn't enough for you Advance Wars lets you make your own with the map creator. You can save up to three maps and these can be used in multiplayer or in your battles against the evil computer. There is so much to do in Advance Wars you won’t have a shot of doing everything unless you sink a lot of hours into the title. Naturally there is plenty to unlock – maps, commanding officers and new missions to open up – and they all push the experience that much further.

Visually Advance Wars is impressive. Menu’s flow nicely into one another and the battle maps look impressive even whilst the game is zooming back and forward between pieces. The player needs to be able see clearly what is happening as to make accurate decisions under pressure and thankfully Advance Wars keeps the information that you, the commanding officer, need easily viewable at all times. While the maps have nice backgrounds and textures they are kept simple and a very easy to understand once the player moves through the training schedule. Animations of unit movement and combat scenes are nicely done but once you’ve seen them once you’ve pretty much seen them all and it’s suggested players turn them off to speed the game up dramatically.

Musically Advance Wars doesn’t quite stack up against the other aspects of the game. Not to say that it’s bad at all, it just gets well, repetitive. Mind you that’s bound to happen when you start sinking in fifty plus hours into the title. Nevertheless it must be mentioned that there are too few tunes in Advance Wars. The ones that are there are brilliant but it really needed more to lose the whole ‘I’ve heard this twenty times already, please just go away’ impression.

This is pretty much the best turn-based game I have ever played so it goes without saying that everything about the game bleeds excellence. You can come back to Advance Wars time and time again and love it more and more each time. I’ve been playing it for well over a year now and it’s still as fun as when I first picked it up that frosty Christmas morning of 2001. Campaign mode is great and the different paths you can take add up to a fresh replayable adventure every time. If you’ve got mates you can battle away with them! Advance Wars is so friendly that you only need one GBA and one copy of the game to enjoy some fun four-player action. No other game lets you have all that now does it? I thought not. Advance Wars is certainly a game to add to your collection. It offers some great in-depth single-player action with the excitement of a multiplayer war with friends. This is a polished title that is one of only a handful of games that offers intense strategy and general good fun. Its comic nature also helps to dampen the fact that this is an intense war simulation - but be warned - this game is not for the weak at heart or mind. Are you game?

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/03, Updated 04/05/03