The following is a transcript of the video above, presented as a written review. So if it feels like someone talking off the top of their head instead of a concise, well-written review… well that’s why. Enjoy!
I’m confused about this Advanced Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp game because I love it, but there was one thing I was worried about when I picked it up. Is this a classic that belongs in any strategy lover’s catalog or is it a nostalgia cash grab? After playing it now, I can honestly say maybe it’s both.
What is this game?
This game is a remake of a pair of strategy games released on the Game Boy Advance 20 years ago,and the reboot is available only on the Nintendo Switch.
I’ve always loved turn based, grid based military strategy games, and even though I didn’t play this back in the day, I felt right at home as soon as I picked it up because it was so much like a game that I loved, Military Madness from the good old Turbo Graphx 16. Seriously, these games are a lot alike. So much so, I knew exactly what the units did before I even selected them.
Story and Presentation
One thing that wasn’t immediately obvious to me was the story and characters in the game. There’s these nations at war with each other, but the commanding officers talk to each other after the battles, and they’re totally flippant about the war. I don’t even know what’s going on here. Am I supposed to believe there are people in the tanks and there are people out there dying, or are these toys on a game board? The whole thing’s presented in this, like, wooden game box, but it’s never explained in the game why or what’s going on here.
Am I supposed to believe there are people in the tanks and there are people out there dying, or are these toys on a game board?
Now I realize a game about tanks and death and destruction and war was probably problematic back on the GameBoy Advance and fun fact this game was released in the U.S. one day before the 911 attacks. And even in modern days, obviously with the Russian invasion of Ukraine going on, I’m sure Nintendo wants to distance this game from actual real world war.
So I understand why they give kind of this cartoon aesthetic to it and they take away a lot of that realism and that makes total sense. But even still, I don’t understand the relationship between these characters or what’s really going on in the story. And so I was never able to get invested in why this character used to be friends and they’re not anymore, and there’s this like love triangle, and who’s on whose side—it’s intentionally confusing, but it’s also never really explained. So that part was just frustrating to me.
Gameplay
The gameplay itself is incredible. I mean, if you came here for the turn based strategy, you came to the right place because this is a lot of fun. You move your units around on a square grid, which is a little bit simpler. Each unit can only be attacked from four sides. A lot of these games that I play are more of a hex grid, which means you can be attacked from six sides. So that simplifies the movement a little bit, simplifies the decision making. This game does a great job of easing you into the different strategies involved. Again, I’m familiar with these kinds of games, so I was able to pick it up and play it pretty quickly.
if you came here for the turn based strategy, you came to the right place because this is a lot of fun.
But it definitely will ease you in if you’re new to it and it has a casual mode that’s new to the game, or you can play in the slightly more difficult classic mode. But it’s very newcomer friendly in that regard. But it definitely has that easy to learn, difficult to master flavor to it. So if you are a veteran or if you do want to spend more time with it, it’s definitely going to be challenging.
The game mechanics themselves are so strong, it’s really a testament to just how good the original games were. The online mode is a nice addition and the new art style is really easy on the eyes. It’s got this kind of cross between American and Japanese animation style, which is really cool considering this is a game about these sort of generic nations. It’s not meant to represent any actual geographic place. So the kind of blended art style works really well.
There’s even a level editor included, so you can create new maps to play with your friends. But unfortunately you can’t really set up AI and just play against the computer.
What you get & what you pay
So you get the first two games in the GBA series, you get online multiplayer, you get a map editor, you get new graphics, new voice overs. On paper it sounds like a great deal, but keep in mind this game does not vary much.
There’s not much you’re doing in hour 40 that you weren’t already doing in hour two. So there’s just not a lot of variety here. And all in all, even though it’s two complete games, I don’t really feel like there’s a lot of content here, which is why I think this game should have been $20 or $30. I just can’t get behind a full $59 price tag on this.
Which gets me back to my original concern. Is this game worth it? I can honestly say I have played mobile games with almost as much content for under five bucks.
But what do I know? By all accounts, this game is doing great. I think it sold something like 400,000 units in its first week, at least in its early release window. For a game that hasn’t had a new entry or a series that hasn’t had a new entry in 15 years in a fairly niche genre, to sell that many copies is a great sign for Nintendo, and there’s got to be conversations going on over there about the next two games in the series or other games in this category, which is great, bring it on.
But for $59, I want a new game. I want a new experience, I want ranked online play, I want a map editor with AI enemies. There’s so many things that could be added to this game: new CO’s, new scenarios, a new campaign. That’s what I want to pay $59 for. This reboot, a remake, whatever you want to call it? It’s essentially new graphics on the old games and there’s very little else added to it. The voiceovers are nice. But again, the story is so strange and bizarre. The scenario… I’m just here for the maps. I’m just here for the campaign. Maybe a little bit of multiplayer. I don’t even plan to play this game against friends locally or anything like that.
Conclusion, sort of
Until a new one comes out, I’ll keep playing this one because this game is awesome. I love this game, which is why I’m so confused. I’ll keep playing it. I’ll keep wondering, was it worth it? I’ll keep wondering why is there a little kid commanding soldiers on the field of battle inside a little wooden game box against enemies who like him or something? I don’t know. I’m so confused by it.
I gave it a thumbs up and all that. It’s a great game, but I do think it’s massively overpriced. I’m really confused about how to square that away with how much I enjoy playing the game.
Does that make it worth the money? I just don’t see how the amount of content in this package can be sold and priced for the same amount as like a Mario game. It’s just nowhere near the same level of of content to experience in it.
