hile Advance Wars 2’s Black Hole Rising tag line may sound like a new Soundgarden album, it is actually the follow-up to one of the greatest games in history. I’m not just talking about handheld titles either; I’m talking consoles and PCs as well. If you weren’t lucky or smart enough to play the original Advance Wars, you need to put down the magazine immediately and go buy it…NOW! It’s that good.
Okay, now that the uninformed have run off to play the original; we can discuss the sequel that, for all intents and purposes, is a lot more of the same – except with bigger, more difficult missions and some new pieces to spice up the action. While that doesn’t sound like much of an improvement on the surface, it really makes for an outstanding sequel.
Sadly, Advance Wars 2 does start off a little slow, as the first four or five missions of the Campaign mode incorporate various training features to help refresh unit usage, as well as map rules such as fog of war and how terrain can be used to the player’s advantage. It’s a little annoying for the seasoned player, but it’s not the end of the world.
The main commanding officers are once again Andy, Sami, and Max for the Orange Army; but as you advance in Campaign mode you will get a chance to control other armies again including Green Earth, Blue Moon, and Yellow Comet. Thankfully, all four armies feature new COs such as the cranky Sensei or the young cadet Colin – each with new and unique powers. Advance Wars 2 has also upped the effect that the commanding officers have on the outcome of battle by adding a new Super CO power (which is basically a super-sized version of their normal power). This gives players the option to use the standard CO power, or save up for a larger reward.
Perhaps the greatest additions to Advance Wars 2 are the new units and facilities. For example, during certain missions you are given the opportunity to steal secret plans from the vile Black Hole army and then produce the new Neo Tank (an amazing unit that can tear up even MD tanks) from your factories. But even better than that is the addition of Missile Silos throughout various maps. This one-shot weapon enables the player to fire on any ground unit on the map. An amazing weapon, especially when you find a nice set of five or six silos together.
The enemy also has a wide variety of new obstacles for you to overcome. From giant missile launchers that require you to destroy the eight surrounding buildings in 15 days, to weapon factories that will relentlessly spew enemy units until the pipe feeding the structure is destroyed, these new super-structures will challenge you like never before. There are also new super cannons that can fire on any unit in a large array. One of my favorite missions actually has you moving your forces through a forest of trees to avoid the relentless fire of these giant cannons. It’s pretty intense, as it basically challenges you to use all the skills at your disposal as well as make perfect use of the terrain.
In the end, Advance Wars 2 is everything a fan of the series could want. There are more opportunities for dual army control (like the final battle in the original) as well as much more challenging maps to defeat. If you own a Game Boy Advance, seriously need this game.