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Wow...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 22, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When one actually sits and reads most of the reviews in the GBA section at Amazon, one may notice the overwhelming amount of 5-star ratings that games are getting. To the point where the reviews become almost useless.

This game, however, deserves every 5-star review it gets. I bought this game mostly out of curiosity, after reading how surprised so many people were after playing it. I have to say, after playing it, that I understand exactly what they mean.

This game is fantastic.

It's amazingly fun and addictive. The graphics are tight and colourful. The gameplay is easy to use and efficient. The replayability is extremely high. Frankly, I don't think there's a better game for the GBA.

Here's some detail: The gameplay is very similar to tactics games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Front Mission 3. It's turn-based, and you have a number of units to deal with. There's logistical issues (ammo, fuel, etc...) to deal with too, but it's handled very elegantly and doesn't become tedious. Animations keep things lively to the point where again, it prevents tedium (a common malady of this sort of game.) The strategy is deep, but again, simple enough to be fun, and the AI is actually pretty complex, considering.

The multiplayer is stupendously fun, but you have to have quite a bit of time with your friends to play it out. Here's my only issue with this game: the 1 pack Link Mode is fun, but it's pretty lame compared to the Multi-Pack link mode (which is full-featured and behaves just like the game.) In terms of replayability, the multiplayer alone is worthy.

I recommend this title above all others to any GBA owners out there. It's an excellent "first" game, and regardless, you won't regret its addition into your library.

An Extremely Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 03, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is one of my favorite games and is very fun. If you like Starcraft and Warcraft type games, you will love this game. What makes it better is that it is on a handheld. This is truly a must have.

Greatest console strategy, on a handheld?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: December 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Ohhhhh yess. This game caught me completly by suprise. I had read some of the other reviews talk about it before i got it but nothing prepared me for just how cool this game is.

First off you are on of the CO (Commanding Officer i think) in the Orange Star Army. You are basically trying to run the Blue Army out of your territory, which of course comes down to warfare. There are a many units to choose from from infantry, tanks, battle copters, to huge battleships. Each CO you play as has special powers such as andy's hyper repair (which adds 2 health to all units) and max's firepower increaser (forgot the name). The fighting is turn - based, but never slows down.

To tell the truth the only strategy game that is as good as advance wars is starcraft. This is basically a console game packed in a handheld package. Highly addictive, and the one must have GBA game.

Excellent Game with Unlimited Re-Play

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game that has tons of features. In addition to head to head battles (using GameLink or passing around one GBA), you can design maps (to use in battle), use already made up maps, or follow a War Campaign (series of battles already made up by Nintendo).

Pros-
1) Unlimited Replay
2) Great AI (once you play in Vs. mode; Good AI in War Campaign mode)
3) Easy controls - despite layers of status screens
4) Vast amount of troops (infantry, land vehicles, ships, aircraft)
5) Highly addictive

Cons-
1) Graphics appear very cartoonish
2) War campaigns have limited replay

Overall, I would say this is a fantastic game. If you can find this game, it is a MUST buy. Hopefully, Nintendo will follow up this great game with a worthy sequel.

Stradegy at its best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

OK listen up. I got this game 2 days ago and it is as good as the other reviews say about it.Its so awesome.Its just the feeling of watching your anti air squadran(cant spell that) lift up their 50cals and rip the jet fighters to pieces that makes this game great.You have to use lots of srategy for this game. Lets take a look at this games great features:
1.Cool looking anime graphics.
2.Very easy controls but complicated enough to make it fun.
3.Lots of units including Land,Air,Sea.
4Very well done plot
5.good music that is not annoying
6.Great training missions to ease you into the game
7.Lots and Lots of missions!!
There is a ton more but i cant list them all! I highly reccommend this game to anybody that owns a GBA!

Got some time? Got some smarts? Buy this game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Advance Wars. Very popular in Japan, new to the US. What a great debut.

Oookay. Basically, the game starts out with a long Tutorial. And that's about all you can do for the time being, so you have no choice. However, you can skip most if it, but you probably shouldn't.

Once you've completed the tutorial, you can now go to Design Maps, War Room, and Campaign. In Design Maps, you get to, well, design maps, and you can either battle on them, or trade maps with a friend. In the War Room, you go on missions and earn coins. I'll explain those later.

In Campaign Mode, you basically fight one battle at a time for the Orange Star Army. Please don't laugh, but I'm stuck on the second mission, which is against a guy named Grit. He's good.

Anyway, sooner or later, you get Battle Maps. This is where you can use those coins to buy stuff. Once you do certain things, you can buy more stuff. Also, Haji, the shopkeeper, gives you wierd little tips every now and then.

In VS Mode, you can either play the computer on any map, with options, or you and up to 3 friends can pass around the gameboy and play eachother. Link Mode is about the same, only you need (a) Link Cable(s), and you can't play the computer(I think). Oh yeah, there's also a Team function for both of them.

Pros:
-Addictive
-Fully utilizes the GBA's incredible abilities(Graphics, sound,etc.)
-Good replay value with different COs, designed maps
-VS Mode is great!

Cons:
-You might find yourself unable to separate yourself from the GBA
In other words, buy this game.

Video Games Reviewer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 07, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Advance Wars for the GBA is an excellent game period. Not simply an excellent game for a handheld, but an excellent game period. The game features a simplistic design that inexperienced players can pickup on, but one that challenges even the best turn based strategy game players. The game starts out with a tutorial mode (Field Training) that teaches the fundamentals of the game mechanics. After leaving the tutorial mode, one can start playing the Campaign mode where players fight it out in a minimum of 17 missions with the possibility of playing in 22. In addition to the campaign mode, the game features a War Room where players can play on a wide variety of maps thay have purchased from winning stages in the Campaign mode. Other added features are a Vs. mode to play against your friends and even a link mode for everyone to keep their own GBA's and hack it out. This game has almost infinite replay value with over 120 maps to play on and an added bonus of being able to create ones own maps from scratch. For anyone interested in strategy games or simply a good game altogether this game is a must buy.

See, graphics don't always make a game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 16, 2001
Author: Amazon User

..fun is fun whether the game's done in 32, 64, or 128 bit. Advance Wars is a turn based, not real time, strategy war game. Kinda of feels similar to a war campaign version of Vandal Hearts. Definitely fun. There are alot of units that you'll get to use such as copters and planes to subs and cruisers. Each one has their own distinct strengths and weaknesses. You really have to pay attention to this as it does definitely play a part in your strategy as you don't want to end up with a unit next to an enemy air unit but it has no anti air capabilities. Terrain and some weather also play a part in the capabilities of your units in battle. I also found the use of bases and mobile refueling units to stock up on fuel and ammo an interesting addition as you have to pay attention to that factor as well. Or else, you're going to have a useless piece of metal with no ammo or a plane with no fuel that will actually crash. Yeah, this definitely is no kid's game as the Amazon review says. You're gonna have to think a bit which is fine by me. I like long games and am growing tired of these new "graphics intense" games that only last a couple of hours and leave you feeling lacking.

Rock-paper-tanks

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 20, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The following is a mini-preview brought to you by Nintendorks, Brandon DeHart, and the letter Q:

"Advance Wars has baptised me into a true GBA believer. I now see the GBA as a console--a game system to sit down with in my home and play videogames. The fact that I can take it with me is now just an added perk, whereas before that was its entire purpose. Even after Castlevania, Mario Kart, Dodge Ball, and more, it was Advance Wars that made me see the light about how the GBA can compete with my N64, GameCube and PC as a prime-time videogame-playing machine. Thank you, Intelligent Systems.

So what's the game all about? Well, it's a turn-based strategy game; that's as good a place to start as any. Think rock-paper-scissors meets chess, but with tanks and fighter jets, and you'll start to get the idea. You command an army of troops, and use those troops to either capture your opponent's headquarters, or wipe out the enemy troops completely--either one will win the battle for you. There's a bit more to that, of course. Scattered across the map are cities which you can capture. Capturing cities gives you more money at the start of each turn, which allows you to build more and/or better troops. Some units can't be built until a certain building is under your possession. You can't build bombers or submarines unless you have an airport or sea port under your control, for example.

The battles are just as fun to watch as they are to plan. When two units clash, you're treated to a great split-screen battle where each unit fires onto the other, and destroyed units explode off the screen. There's also the nice CO expressions of glee or disgust in the corners of the screen, depending on how well or poorly his or her unit did in the battle. And if you sense a long, epic battle ahead of you, you can turn off various animations to make turns go by quicker. The anime style of graphics that runs though Advance Wars works perfectly, and even the little things like weather effects and menu screens are top notch--not to mention the cool graphics and animation when a CO uses his or her special move. The sound effects and music are on par with the graphics as well. Granted, bullet fire and explosions aren't the most intricate of sound effects in a game. Each CO has his or her own musical theme which makes each turn a bit more fun--when you hear your CO's theme fire up at the beginning of your turn, you know it's time to bring the pain.

Other than Worms, I've never been a big turn-based strategy fan, especially when compared to the fast-action real-time strategy of StarCraft. So I should give the obligatory statement of "If you absolutely hate turn-based strategy, Advance Wars may not be for you." Because that's all Advance Wars is: turn-based strategy. However, it's brilliant and fun turn-based strategy with more replay value than you could possibly ask for. This isn't boring turn-based strategy where you spend 15 turns setting up your troops to fight the inevitable battle, no sir. By about your third turn in an Advance Wars battle, you're already fighting, and it only gets more hectic and fun from there. Throw in the bucket-load of options and play modes, and Advance Wars will be in your GBA for a very long time. Intelligent Systems put so much thought and detail into every little aspect of this game that it screams perfection. Well, that may be a bit too bold--Advance Wars isn't the perfect game, but it could very well be the perfect Gameboy Advance game."

MY Favorite GBA GAME!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: October 09, 2001
Author: Amazon User

What can I say This is my favorite game on gba it has great grapics when you go to thew battle screen and the guns sound really good this is like a cross of final fantasy 7 (turn based fighting) and warcraft war stratigy type games this game involves a lot of stratigy to win for instance if you have soldiers attack from the mountains they'll do more damage then they would from the ground and there will be less deaths because the eviorment is also something you must know about to win the war i this game is so great i can't begin to explain SO GO BUY IT AND MAKE IT NUMBER 1 ON THE LIST!!

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