Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp Preview

It’s been a long road to get here, and we’re also most there Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp is just a couple of weeks away. I’m not just talking about the two-year delay from the announcement of this game. No, it’s been 15 years since the last Advance Wars title was released back on the Nintendo DS. That one sold so bad they didn’t make another until now. This time Wayforward is at the helm, and they’ve given this old dog a few new tricks.

The first two games, Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, are less serious than those later entries and have a cast, some of who are teenagers who wash away the death and destruction of war. You can see why it was delayed, especially with everything going on. 

I’ve been playing the game for around a week now, and while our full review will come, we’ll answer some of your questions about the game. It’s been 15 years, and many people may have yet to play an Advance Wars game, let alone these – the original was released 22 years ago. Yes, that makes me feel old. 

What is Advance Wars?

As the name suggests, both games included in Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp are reboots or remakes of the original Game Boy Advance games by the same name. They’re turn-based strategy games where one commanding offer is pitted against another on a battlefield grid. Battles can be won in number of ways, but most of the time it’s blowing stuff up. 

You play as one of three commanding offers from the Orange Star army, initially defending their land from the Blue Moon army next door. Different COs have different powers which build up over turns, Andy can repair, Max boosts his offence power, and Sami can capture buildings much faster. Other COs have powers like extended firing range or the ability to move twice in one turn. 

Battles can be quick, or they can be a real grind. New to this compilation is the addition of a Casual difficulty, the standard difficulty, the one the Game Boy Advance games had some really brutal levels. This new difficulty option grants additional units or removes the fog of war from some battles. 

What’s it got, and what’s new?

Obviously, the most noticeable difference is the graphics. Gone are the pixel art characters on the battlefield, replaced with 3D models. I’ve seen the complaints, but it’s grown on me. They could have gone with a 2DHD-style look, but it works for me. There are also small details now added with different armies having different-looking units. It does, however, reduce the glanceability of the battlefield initially. The game’s animated cutscenes and talking heads look great but are partially voiced.  

The music has also been rebooted with new mixes of all the tracks. I was sure some tracks were changed more than others, but nope – that was just the terrible GBA speaker in action. There are also minor quality of life updates like being able to directly attack a unit on the battlefield instead of moving next to it and then attacking, and you can fast-forward all the animations – if you don’t turn them off anyway. 

Is there multiplayer, or anything outside the campaign?

Lucky for you there is, there’s the War Room with a number of scenarios to play through, there’s a complete VS mode both locally and online (with friends) and even a map creator as well.

If I like Fire Emblem, will I like this? 

The last Fire Emblem I played all the way through was also on the Game Boy Advance, probably the first game for many people. Since then, the Fire Emblem series has diverged a bit. While it’s still a turned-based strategy game, it’s become more about the story and relationships than it was in the past. Except seemingly for the last one (Engage), which flipped it back on the strategy, and left the relationships and all that to the side. It then appears people really didn’t like that too much, but not everyone. So is Advance Wars like Fire Emblem? Yes and no. It’s a strategy game first and foremost, but there are characters and a story, but it’s second to the action. How much you’ll enjoy this depends on what kind of Fire Emblem fan you are. 

We’ll have our full review of Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp soon, the game is out on April 21st. Find our bargain guide here to grab the game on the cheap.