Advance Wars (any) - Discussion

[charlesr]

Opening this while I remember

Not sure how many people will be playing any of the Advance Wars games because there is sooooo much on the games radar right now. For those that do play it, I'd be interested in hearing from anyone that's not tried a strategy game before.

Off you go then.

[noobish hat]

oh man, and I just started mario and luigi rpg. guess I could knock out some advance wars 1. Or maybe I'll boycotte the whole thing and play Gameboy Wars instead.

[angelx]

I loved the first one after finding it cheap I had never heard of it before but looked fun, Never liked turn based stuff before and FF tactics & Fire emblem were a bit too stuffy, The cutesy style really helped. Then I got the 2nd one which was just as great in most respects but the annoying characters were more prevalent & I found myself skipping a lot of the chatter but enjoying the game.

Before I sold my DS i tried the new art style one and found they had managed to suck out any charm and make it look like fire emblem and I just lost interest in the series.

It would be nice to return to the old style and not overcomplicate things as the simplicity for me is what made this so addictive.

[Matt]

I may give this another go. I enjoyed AW immensely. Never clicked with AW2 though.

For the record, I had two complete run throughs on AW, including the Advanced campaign. I'll probably replay it, but stay away from Advanced this time.

[DeathAdder]

I'm playing Super Famicom Wars at the moment for my retro fix. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a new take on the series - there is no advantage in being the first in a fight. When normally two equal units fight, the damage will be split 70-30 in the attackers favour, but in this game (so far, at least) it has all been equal.

It makes playing it quite different, I've found.

[J0e Musashi]

I tried twice to get into Famicom Wars DS, but I found that once it stopped holding my hand I couldn't make any progress. Shame really as I really wanted to get on with it.

[DeathAdder]

Well, there are plenty of free play missions as well. I usually get fed up of the campaign as soon as one of the "Win in 11 days" or similar missions comes up. I hate time limits. I believe in fighting a defensive war and building up superior forces, then overwhelming the opponents.

Anyone else buy tons of rocket launchers? I love their superior range. Especially around a bottleneck bridge, I always deploy a ton of these.

[MattyD]

I never really stopped playing Advance Wars since I got the first DS one when it came out so I'm happy to join in

I find this game as compulsive and addictive as crack so I've got to be really careful with it. Once I get locked in to playing a stage I'm loathe to stop without finishing it off and that tends to mean very, very late nights.

What I like best about the series is its chess-like qualities. Though it seems fairly simple and straightforward, playing well requires intense concentration and mental focus for long periods, and a certain amount of forward planning as you work through the possible permutations of your own and your enemy's possible actions.

The unit characteristics and balance are actually pretty sensible in real-world terms and ensure you can't just tank-rush your way to victory. In the higher tier maps its actually impossible to make any sort of progress without using a combined-arms approach, with armour, infantry, artillery and air/sea power all working together to push you through the enemy lines. Tanks alone will get chewed up by cheap and plentiful mech infantry, but put some light infantry in front of them, and arty behind them, and you've got an almost unstoppable battle group.

If I can find one of the older GBA titles I'll be interested to give it a bash and see how it plays without the new units they've introduced over the years. Less specialist units should make a purer, more strategic game I think, though the latest DS game has really nailed the balance IMO even with the controversial anti-tank guns.

[nickgodfrey]

I'm going to try and join in with this. Think I might try the first one - as in the first one on the Game Boy Advance - on my Game Boy Player. Disgracefully, I bought it at launch and didn't make it past the training levels.

[nickgodfrey]

and didn't make it past the training levels.

That was it: Field Training. I completed the final two last night. I'm going to go back now and try to A-rank them all before moving onto the game proper.

[noobish hat]

just cracked out the old advance wars one, A-ranked the training missions first time! tilley, you've still got it. I'd almost forgotten how cute the graphics are though, especially the adorable little APCs with their little noggin heads sticking out. Nell reminds me of Denise Richards in Starship Troopers. Or Pepper Ann. The dialogue is terrible though. "Grr, Nell, you troublesome little..."

[angelx]

just cracked out the old advance wars one, A-ranked the training missions first time! tilley, you've still got it. I'd almost forgotten how cute the graphics are though, especially the adorable little APCs with their little noggin heads sticking out. Nell reminds me of Denise Richards in Starship Troopers. Or Pepper Ann. The dialogue is terrible though. "Grr, Nell, you troublesome little..."

The second one gets much worse with its "street talk" good gravy........

[MattyD]

Dual Strike is awful for that. "S'UP FOOS!?" etc. Fortunately it seems hipsterism was also lost after the great meteor apocalypse because there's none of it in Days of Ruin

[davesol]

Loaded up the first GBA one earlier today and played some of the battle maps, then restarted the campaign. Forgotten how much I loved this

[noobish hat]

Oh god, been playing a bit more of it. That goddamn Grit is really twisting my bollock. Is he supposed to be a cowboy? I don't give a **** where he's moseying to, but I'm pretty sure cowboys don't say 'catch you on the flipside'. My micro's battery died on me so I switched to my DS, which I never use for gba games, and I only just noticed the difference; the colours are much brighter and vivid on the DS. Anyway, I'd been playing War of the Lions before this, and the speed at which you can go through turns is very refreshing, but the lack of a sleep mode is criminal.