I was some way into Black Hole Rising. Mission? Reclamation. Day 9 I think, and I made a mistake that cost the whole battle. Brilliantly, I knew it at the time, as well. I knew I’d been too eager to advance. Heading off for the front line, I left a newly captured airport undefended. Yes, busy pressing my advantage and all that – or so I thought – but it allowed an enemy I had seen but not worried about to start taking the airport back. At the time, I had a twinge that this was very bad, and a hope that I could still turn it all around. But deeper, somehow, I also knew that I had just blown the entire thing. I would lose the airport and before I could take it back they would have whacked a perimeter of other units around it – junk units, sure, but time-wasters on a map in which tempo was everything. Somehow I knew I had screwed it up, which is the mark of a good tactics game. The mark of a great tactics game, though? Even as I continued playing, grinding my way towards a defeat I had already seen quite clearly, I was having an excellent time.
Advance Wars 1 + 2: Reboot Camp reviewPublisher: NintendoDeveloper: WayForward, Nintendo, Intelligent SystemsPlatform: Played on SwitchAvailability: Out on Switch on 20th April
I was. It was a mixture of: next time I’ll do this then that then this! A mixture of: I’m dead here already, so what happens if I try something weird just to see what happens? The bright paint, the revving of engines, the fog of war being pushed back like snow banking and shifting in front of a holy snow plough! And is there anything in turn-based tactic games better than the corrugated click you get from taking the Advance Wars movement arrow for a quick chug across the map?
The new Advance Wars on Switch is actually two old Advance Wars – Advance Wars itself and its sequel, Black Hole Rising. Both were originally made for the Game Boy Advance, and I have a memory, I think, of having them bundled together on a cartridge back then. There’s new stuff this time around, though, mainly a new art style, which has been pretty unpopular from what I’ve seen. Gone is the chunky pixel art, replaced by sheeny 3D models of glossy tanks and gormless soldiers.
Yes, it didn’t make a great first impression for me, I have to admit, but over time I have come to enjoy elements of it at least. That sheeniness gives an even greater toylike quality to the bombers and warships. You can see the paint on the diecast bodies. And while I don’t love the individual troopers, I enjoy certain other detailings, like the way light ripples on balmy Mario Sunshine water tiles, the way you can pull back and see the edge of the board and get a sense that the whole thing is playing out on a table somewhere. I like the new cartoon animations for the COs, so filled with the life and character that I remember sensing in the GBA games. So, Advance Wars on Switch still has its visual pleasures.