Sunday, 8 February 2015

Advanced Wars 2 Black Hole Rising Review: Best GBA game ever

Anyone who's ever called themselves a gamer  should know (and I mean should know) about the Nintendo Game Boy. The Nintendo Game Boy, for those who don't know, was one the first major hit portable game consoles. It sold millions and Nintendo quickly saw a new cash-cow on they're hands. Fast forward to 2001 (or 2004 if you're Chinese) and Nintendo has just released the Game Boy Advanced, the successor to the Game Boy Color, which was a successor to the original Game Boy. Growing up, the GBA was my only video game console. As such, it holds a special place in my heart (even if my GBA doesn't work anymore). Now, my favorite game on the GBA was a little game called Advanced War 2.  While Advanced Wars 2 was met with critical acclaim, the series never really got anywhere. I mean, sure they had sequels on the Nintendo DS but the Advanced Wars series as a whole never got any mainstream attention. And, that got me wondering, why? Why is it so overlooked and, more importantly, what can I do to change that? Well today, I'm going to review this game and show you why I hold it to such high regard.

Advanced Wars 2 is a turn-based strategy game, and what would a strategy game be without units. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this game is the unit variation. All units are special and balanced, so, even in the late game, you will still be using units that were available at the start of the game. However, units don't last forever. If they keep on fighting, they will run low on ammo, fuel or rations. This will make them sitting ducks for the enemy. This is where another one of the games strategic elements come in, logistics. You need to bring that unit to it's respective building (Airport for air units, harbor for ships, etc.). However, in the heat of battle, this is can become impossible. So you need to use a special units to refuel them. The problem is that these units can't fight so you need to strategise on how to get them to their target without dying.

Another great feature the game has are CO Powers. Each commanding officer (or CO) have their own special CO Power which have different effect. These effect can range from a healing effect to a damage increase. However, while you can just use the CO Power when the bar fills up, use can wait a few more turns for it to charge up even more.  This means you need to switch up your tactics depending which CO you play as. When you are 100% charged, you can use the Super CO Powers. The Super CO Powers are much more power than the normal CO Power, usually having the same effect but to a much higher degree. However, you can't always rely on your CO Powers as they take a while to charge up and it's not really a good idea to use it once it's ready. However, when executed correctly, the CO Powers can turn a near defeat to a victory.

Now, as much as I love this game, there is one glaring problem that can't go unnoticed, the AI. While it is anything but terrible, the AI makes some truly downright idiotic decisions. Sometimes, they make a soldier who had his entire squad killed go 1 on 1 with a tank. Sometimes, they attack my refuelling unit when they could have taken over my HQ. Sometimes, instead of being sneaky with their submarines, you know like keeping the underwater, they just send their subs at me completely out in the open like they were freaking boats. I could go on and on about the AI but honestly, most of the time, you wouldn't notice any problems with the AI. The reason I've encountered so many hilarious AI slip-ups is because I keep on playing the game over and over again so stuff like this has a higher chance of happening.

Now the final thing I'd like to talk about is length, and holy cow is this game long! Not only does it have a campaign, but it also has non-campaign missions and multiplayer. Oh, and don't worry if you don't have a GBA link cable, you can just pass one gameboy back and forth whenever your opponent finishes a turn. If you're anything like me, this game will be with you for years. In fact, while writing this review, I was playing Advance Wars 2. I probably still am by the time you're reading this review.

So there you have it, Advance Wars 2, a fun, criminally underrated game which was undoubtedly one of Nintendo's best sleeper hits. So, if you have a GBA laying around go buy this game. But, if you don't have a GBA, don't worry, it's on the WiiU virtual console for download. BUT, if you still don't have any of those, you can do it the old fashioned (*cough*Illegal*cough*) way, and download right of the internet. Heck, you can even do this with your iPad or iPhone if you jailbreak. So what are you waiting for? Go get Advance Wars 2 right now. Like, right now. I'm serious, get of your computer and go get it right now.



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