After an unexpected two-year delay, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is finally here. The collection was long looked forward to by fans who fell in love with the Advance Wars series when it launched over two decades ago. Now, while Fire Emblem has arguably overtaken its spot in the cultural zeitgeist, Advance War makes a return and in a big way too. But while Re-Boot Camp is an earnest attempt at a modern update, there are a few things left on the table that could help the package reach its full potential.
Re-Boot Camp includes brand new from-the-ground-up remakes of the original Advance Wars and its sequel. Initially released for the Game Boy Advance, these two games are narratively two sides of the same coin, so it makes sense to include them together. It makes even more sense given that, from a gameplay perspective, both games play pretty similarly, with little difference between them. Both titles have had a visual makeover and sport other gameplay-related improvements that make them more approachable and streamlined.
From a narrative perspective, things are pretty simple but take a surprising turn. Advance Wars sees you playing as leaders of the state’s military on a fictional continent. You are the Orange Star and the game opens with you being at war with the Blue Moon. These two nations have been in conflict for years, but when another two countries enter the fray – the Yellow Comet and the Green Earth – and accuse the Orange Star of starting a war between the other nations, things get a bit dicey. I won’t spoil how it plays out, but it’s an intriguing, simple, engaging story.
Fans of Fire Emblem have a lot to owe to Advance Wars. Developed by the same team, these games are turn-based strategy affairs. You and an opponent take turns defeating each other in war. A selection of different units are available to you with differing roles in battle. Some are better for simply scouting out the battlefield, and others can attack from afar. Some can transport other units greater distances than they could themselves. Your goal is to destroy all enemy units or capture the enemy HQ.
It’s a simple premise, but it requires some thinking. While released over two decades ago, Advance Wars still packs a punch with difficulty. You must think through every turn to come out on top, and the enemy AI can be relentless. I’m keen on this strong challenge, even if it took some getting used to, but I acknowledge other players might not be, and it might be a bit off-putting or overwhelming.
Re-Boot Camp thusly includes a new casual mode, but it feels like a poorly thought-out inclusion. This is the only issue I have with Re-Boot Camp. Both the original difficulty and the casual difficulty lack that Goldilocks principle. They’re tuned to occupy both ends of the difficulty curve with nothing in the middle to cater to the average player. I’d have loved to have seen a middle difficulty introduced, as both the provided options will alienate some players.
That’s my only major complaint about Re-Boot Camp which might seem a little controversial. Everything has been improved for the better. Bringing together both games under the same banner, the quality-of-life changes implemented here are integral. So many of these additions feel simple enough but impact the game’s flow dramatically. You can now fast-forward enemy turns and battle animations. You can reset your turn if you make a mistake, so long as you don’t end that turn. You can even attack an enemy outright by selecting them – which might sound like a small change – but any design choice that removes button presses to achieve the same result is a UX win.
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There are other aspects that are similarly fantastic – tutorials are now streamlined into the campaign, introduced to you more gradually rather than forcing you through some simpler uninteresting missions like the original game did. Even better, though these tutorials are embedded in the main missions now, they’re skippable for people who know what they’re doing. I appreciate good onboarding more than anyone, but also respecting returning players by allowing them to skip these elements that would otherwise bore them is, once again, a win for the player.
But putting all of those opening moments aside, both Advance Wars games still play as well as they did back then. The campaigns each gradually introduce the key concepts until you’re eventually faced with challenging gauntlets and a story that’s simple but intriguing enough to keep you going. It can be demotivating to spend fifteen to twenty minutes on a battle only to lose and start again, but that’s the nature of the beast with a game like this. However, the quality-of-life improvements mentioned earlier carry a lot of weight in alleviating this pain.
It boggles my mind to think that Fire Emblem fans who began their journey with that franchise on the 3DS might never have played an Advance Wars game. But given the shared DNA between the two, there’s most certainly some crossover in appeal, though it depends on what you enjoy Fire Emblem for. Today, Fire Emblem is just as much about taking your prospective waifu to a euphemistic tea party as it is about the solid strategic battle elements. Advance Wars feels ironically and oddly refreshing in that the gameplay takes centre stage first behind the characters and story. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, but I enjoyed playing a strategy game solely grounded in the strategy.
Of course, bundling together two games represents tremendous value for money. Both of the adventures included within will take most players upwards of forty hours to complete, and that’s before you might even try to attempt the high-difficulty campaigns on offer. There are also other modes to jump into as well. A level designer allows players to make their own missions while War Room pits the player against tough odds in even more brutal battles. Both are nice touches that add more value to Re-Boot Camps overall package, but I’m not so sure about the implementation of multiplayer.
Multiplayer was always contentious when it comes to Re-Boot Camp. I won’t beat around the bush – it’s a somewhat limited offering. I can appreciate that there is still support for a local four-player versus mode, but offering only a two-player online mode feels like a missed opportunity. Similarly, given games like Wargroove have popularised the notion of an asynchronous multiplayer mode – where you and others can play your turn at your own leisure rather than be stuck in a live game – to not see something like that implemented here also feels like a bit of a letdown. Of course, having online in a game that is ostensibly twenty years old is still a great addition, but given the current climate of these games, it still feels a bit simplistic in its offerings.
Perhaps even more controversial is the art style, however. Everything to do with Re-Boot Camp’s artistic direction is purely up to your personal tastes. On one hand, I miss the sprite-based look of the original game and could love to see what an art style like HD-2D could do for a game like this. On the other, while the fully rendered style does admittedly look cheaper and more generic, it does look more like plastic toys battling each other on the battlefield. I’m still determining which look I prefer overall, but the action that played out while units exchanged fire was definitely more interesting to look at than whatever is served up here.
On the other hand, the remake brings voice work that does a good job of breathing life into characters we’d previously never heard from. The cast does a great job at turning in some hammy performances that perfectly suit the tone of both games. The music, on the other hand, while good at first, can get grating during more extended missions. The developers were aware of this, I’m sure, as there is an option to turn it off, but it is most definitely worth mentioning.
While Re-Boot Camp doesn’t capitalise on its potential, it’s by far a much more accessible version of the original game it is based on. Your gripes with it will no doubt be purely based on personal factors. Still, there’s no denying that underneath it is a solid selection of strategy games that are well worth a look.
