Advance Wars
2001
- simulator
- strategy
- turn-based strategy (tbs)
- tactical
- action
- science fiction
- warfare
- single player
- multiplayer
The story
Just because this battle fits in the palm of your hand doesn't mean the stakes are small. On the contrary, this all-or-nothing fight will have you accessing guns, grenades, launchers, and weaponry of all sorts. Players assume command of an army that's out to reclaim a world that's been broken up by warring factions. The battle map is essentially a grid, and moving units is like moving chess pieces on a board -- each of the units can move a specific amount of spaces within this grid, and can only attack at a certain distance from specific enemies. Advance Wars features more than 115 maps, a map editor, head-to-head play via link cable, and an easy-to-understand tutorial mode for beginners.
What it’s like
Chunky pixel art on a small handheld screen, bright and crisp, with saturated primary colours that make each faction instantly readable: blue and red armies in sunlit fields, grey-green fog over the mountains, orange fires blooming in the sprite animations when a tank goes down. Battlefields are seen from a fixed overhead angle, a tidy chessboard of roads, forests and rivers where the camera never moves and every unit sits in a clean square. Combat animations are brief and punchy, with little comic bounces and puffs of smoke, and the sound is a set of bright chiptune marches and tinny explosions that stay friendly rather than grim. The vibe is brisk, cheerful tactical calm: pleasant to dip into on a commute or in bed, and absorbing once a turn-by-turn puzzle takes hold. Its violence is cartoonish and bloodless, with destroyed units vanishing in small flashes and no gore, and the tone stays light and wry even as the war story unfolds. It suits players who enjoy planning and patience, people who like strategy games that feel unhurried and low-pressure, and anyone wanting a clever, gentle war game with no sting to it.
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