Overall 9.3 Graphics 8.8 Sound 9 Addictive 8 Story 7.3 Depth 7.8 Difficulty 7.3
9.7
Playing with peoples lives is STILL FUN!! TheJJ405
FINALLY! IT'S HERE! Hello everyone and welcome to yet another review of mine. I've been waiting to do this one since I finished the first game so you can tell how PUMPED I am for finally finishing this masterpiece. Advance Wars 2... what can I say about it. When I started it up I wasn't sure how they were gonna top the first game but then in a matter of seconds I found out. This game was everything the first game was and more. Topped with new CO's, new powers, new maps and a new story, we got everything we wanted from this series right here. If you enjoyed the first game then this one will still blow your socks off. You play chess? Play this game. You play strategy/tactics RPG's? Play this game. You play video games in general? PLAY THIS GAME!
Now that I've made my state of mind clear it almost seems worthless to write this review... almost. However we all need facts mixed up with opinions with a topping of advertisement don't we. So I'm gonna make this review as best I can and hopefully by the end, you will understand why you should, could, and would play this game. So without further chatter we can begin with the basics of the basics.
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is a Strategy game for the Game Boy Advance and sequel to the original Advance Wars. Set in an unknown time in a place called Wars World, four nations fight for supremacy... at least they used to. Now they are all buddy buddy as they continue their coexistence with their fellow nations. These nations are no different than the last game however there will be those new to the series so they shall be listen anyway. We have the ever lucky Orange Star, the cool calm Blue Moon, the ever tactful Yellow Comet, and the Fight Fight Fight center of the world Green Earth. "but..but, what's the "Black Hole" in the title mean?" Okay fine his time there is a fifth nation along for the ride. Acting as enemy for the sake of story we have the diabolical nation known as Black Hole. As the first game was, you take control of one of these acting nations armies and go pummel your opponent. Simple concept, but complicated at it's core, but enough of the basics, we want details and we are going to get them.
Graphics: 9The most notable difference in graphics between Black Hole Rising and it's predecessor is the terrain. Almost all of the terrain in the game has been changed to feature a more animated sense rather than the tricky 3d terrain that the first game has. It is a minor difference but still the first thing you will notice. The second difference is with Black Hole in general. Unlike in Advance Wars, this time Black Hole has it's own unit designs during a battle phase. This change is personally one of my favorites being that Black Hole using copied Orange Star units was one of the few flaws the first game had. We have a few new terrain additions such as the black pipe which is used to block off units from areas and it`s seams which are used to break through the pipe and gain access to these areas. Along with several Black hole weapons these additions add extra depth to the game that I never though possible. Graphics gets a 9 for being as great as it was, along with some new additions that make it ever so worth the look. My only problem with the graphics is the removal of the moving portraits that were in the first game. It`s just a little less satisfying to not see your CO laugh in the face of their opponent when you destroy that bomber that`s been bugging you the whole map.
Sound: 10The sounds of this game are just as perfect as they used to be, if not better. As I felt it worked better last time, I will cover the different aspects of sound separately so here we go.
The sound effects are few but well made, from the pitter patter of feet through the fog of war to the vrooming sound of tanks rolling towards you to the explosions and bullets, the sounds are all made to sound perfect. Though realistic to a sense there is still a sense of fiction within these sounds that makes it seem all the more sweet as you single missile takes down that fleet of fighters.
This game, though lacking in voice acting... and by lacking I mean absolutely none, doesn't need voice acting to make it`s characters come alive. I personally wouldn't have it any other way and see the lack of voice acting a plus. However, I can think of a few voice actors that could fit these characters.
Last but certainly not least we will speak about the soundtrack. As with the first title we are greeted to absolutely jaw-droppingly fitting themes for all the characters as well as some suspense music for out of battle scenes and all new CO Power music rather than a simple jingle. Though our returning CO's got nothing new in terms of character themes I have no complaints as I believe there could never be themes more fitting for these characters than the ones they already have. From Nell's cheery lucky fun time track to Eagle's death from above track, we get what we want from the soundtrack. The new CO's also have forever fitting themes such as Colin's FOR COMUNISM theme and Jess' cling clang clap tune that sounds as if the tanks themselves are playing the track. I can also vouch for the Triumphant CO Power and Super CO Power tracks as they feel and sound as perfect as can be. I cannot imagine a song that gets me more pumped to blow stuff up. Not much else to say but go listen to it. It's all great in it's own way.
Addictiveness: 10Cannot stop playing this game even after beating what would seem to be the most impossible mission the game has to throw at you. I can't find an excuse not to play this game. If that isn't a 10 for addictiveness then I don't know what is. I will probably continue to play this game for months upon years as well as complete that Hard Campaign that I know will make me cry on the inside. I don't se a reason why anyone could find this game boring enough to drop before it's finished. I shouldn't have to say it but Addictiveness gets a 10 because this game is so darn addicting.
Story: 9This is where Black Hole Rising truly shines past it's predecessor. Unlike the original Advance Wars, Black Hole Rising has a crisp, clear story that isn't hard to follow and has not to many surprises. Normally I'd say that something like that was too simple however the childish "war is fun" nature that this game has merits it to be simple. The ending did make me a bit sad but we won't spoil that here, rather go play yourself so you can find out.
I guess this is where I summarize what is about to go on. After Sturm's defeat at the hand of Andy and crew in the first game Sturm decides "I'm too important to do al the fighting, let's hire some henchmen to do all the work while I sit back and watch." So after hiring 4 Co's that make it seem like they were the only 4 who applied, he switches his attention to Macro Land, the part of Wars World that he didn't bother with before. Sturm decides "Let's have each one of my peeps attack a different continent because it'll be faster... right?" and so each continent is attacked by a different Black Hole CO. Orange Star get's the easy way out with Flack, the muscle of the group. Blue Moon get's assaulted 343 didgits into Pi by the girl genius Lash, the smartacle of the group. Yellow Comet get's Adder, the *Sarcasm* TOTALLY SELFLESS *Sarcasm* CO of the group. Finally Green Earth get's the brunt of the smash with Hawke, the only CO who knows what he's actually doing and fight with tactics and not lame "GO GO" assault maneuvers. After Sturm's "GO GO BLACK HOLE RANGERS" plot fails he decides to just blow up the world his own way. So much for collecting all that Money for the invasion huh?
That's more or less what goes on without spoiling any of the major details. This story gets a 9 because It's everything I wanted out of this sequel and then some. My complaint? Well the ending.... just those last few moments... I can't believe they did it. That's all. Really just a few moments dropped the story from a 10 to a 9.
Depth: 10This game had a lot to live up to being the sequel of such a great strategy title. It already had so much to do and so much to unlock. Black Hole Rising was gonna need some major extras to live up to that... and as you can tell by the score, it did. With 8 new CO's, a non-linear Campaign, new War Room maps, a new Unit, Super CO powers, and several enemy weapons to destroy, this game added enough to get an 11 for depth. But unfortunately 10 is as high as I can go. you know the drill, get the popcorn and nachos, this is gonna be a long one.
We'll get the new CO's out of the first. Aight let's do it.
Flack: Stupid, however he proves he can count to 20 so he must have attended at least one day of school. Flack is the muscle of the Black Hole Rangers. If he can smash it he will. If he can't smash it he'll find a way to smash it. As for his battle strategy, Flack's troops get extra attack power at the expense of ammo. His CO power allows him to do even more damage by wasting even more ammo however this may turn out to make his shots highly inaccurate and do even less damage.
Lash: As said before she is the genius of the Black Hole Rangers and is responsible for all of the new weapons that Black Hole has to use against you. So if you want to thank someone for the mini-cannons, black cannons, laser cannons etc... she's your gal. Being a Genius, she knows the physics behind everything in war in including terrain. This leads us to her battle strategy, Lash is able to turn terrain defense bonuses into firepower bonuses as well. Her CO Power is essentially the core of this effect. Her Super CO Power however not only gives the firepower bonus however but also doubles the defensive cover she gets in any given situation. You know what that means, 80% defense in mountains and on an HQ. On a side note, she has the second best hairstyle of the group.
Adder: How to explain him... sadistic? no to soft of a word. How about genocidal? no, still not right. AH HA I GOT IT! Sadistically Genocidal. Adder is the kind of guy who would follow a guy into a dark alley and come out with his victims head in his coat. If you are afraid of clowns then this guy will be your bane. As for his battle strategy he... well... umm... I guess he is... well he moves fast right? Adder gets no attack bonuses or drops however he fills his CO power meter faster than other CO's. The problem? His CO power is terrible. Regular, he get's +1 move and is not effected by movement costs. Super he gets +2 movement and is not effected by movement costs. Now you may not see the problem with this at first glance but here is the deal. Sturm is automatically not effected by movement costs. Max get's both a + to is movement and a power boost. Adder is good with rushing but his extreme weakness is being stuck with weak attack power no matter what.
Hawke: The leader and final member of the Black Hole Rangers, hawke is the only one who is even close to a war veteran. His hair is also top notch awarding him the Best Hair In The Game Trophy and the nickname of Bald Eagle. (in my book) Hawke's battle strategy is pretty unique as CO's go. He gets a high Firepower boost to all of his units at the expense of a Slower CO power meter. If that's not bad enough his meter is also pretty large too. (7-8 stars i believe) His CO power does 1 hp damage to all units as well as healing 1 hp to all of his units. Super CO power is the same only the numerals have been increased to 2. He relies solely on his firepower to get the edge in battle and when you least expect it, the CO power hops out and forces you back. Clearly the best of them all.
Colin: Starting with the new allies, Colin is Blue Moon's new CO. A rich boy who's still new to war, he relies on his money to get by. Still as Green as can be, Colin is always cautious about stepping out of line however still does his best to voice his plans to Olaf and Grit. One of my Personal Favorites, Colin's battle strategy is based on money. Colin has the ability to buy units for 20% cheaper rates at the expense of firepower. His CO power gives him 50% more money for the current turns income and his Super CO power increases his firepower based on how much money he has when it is used. This means that a 1 hp Mech could take on a Medium Tank if you had the money and makes Colin almost unmatched in large pre-deployed maps.
Sensei: The newest member of the Yellow Comet crew, an ex-paratrooper who was once an unrivaled CO who never lost. Now, in his old age, he's giving the heat of battle another shot. The master of both Kanbei and Hachi he's one to be worried about. As for his battle strategy, Sensei controls Death Copters (150% B-copters) and Killer Infantry. (120% Infantry and mechs) His Co Power meter is small making it easy to achieve. His CO power spawns Infantry with 9 hp on every available city he owns. His Super CO Power spawns Mechs with 9 hp on all available cities he owns. These units can then be joined for extra income or sent into battle as expendable units only to fill your CO meter again and give him even more expendable units. Yes Adder, be afraid.
Jess: The new member of Green Earth, she tends to get along well with Drake but argues with Eagle to no end. Strong enough to carry a tank shell with one arm without so much as breaking a sweat, she is not one to mess with. Her battle strategy is based around Ground units as with Eagle's Air units and Drake's Navy. Jess has Extra Firepower on all vehicular units including artillery and rockets. Both Her Regular and Super CO Powers increase her vehicular strength as well as movement and resupplies ammo and gas to them as well. Her regular simply does a little less (+1 movement and lesser firepower bonus) as her super does more. (+2 movement and mighty firepower bonus) If you need someone to lead the land charge, she's the one. n a side note she also has one of my favorite character themes in the game.
Hachi: Hyper shop owner gone rogue, Hachi is the most broken CO in the game and is known to be unbeatable unless he let's you win. Being the shop owner, you wouldn't expect much. An old war veteran who was the apprentice of Sensei... now we're talking. His battle strategy... well... it's pretty broken. He gets 10% off all units with no expense to power or anything else. His CO meter is extremely small and he has the most game breaking CO powers in the game. His CO power takes 50% off all costs for units. His Super CO power does the same but also allows you to build on any city you currently own, this allowing him to build units in pre-deployed maps. Thankfully the AI doesn't understand how broken he is, or those War Room Maps would be impossible.
Oh man that was long, but that's the characters. I won't spend extra time going over the game mechanics in detail however I will mention a few things.
A: Units exist on a grid system, this means no unit can occupy the same space as another. So no submerged sub can get past a fighter, no units can go through each other etc...
B: All units have different strengths and weaknesses, so you must think carefully about what kills what and so on.
C: Every CO plays differently, so one strategy may not work if you are using a different CO. and finally
D: Income is everything. Capturing cities helps your income get higher so you can build more, similar to Risk.
There is also a new unit in Black Hole Rising, The Neotank. Essentially a buffed up Mid Tank with higher firepower and movement. You can unlock these in the Campaign by completing the Lab Plan stages unlocked after finding the Lab Plans.
There are several War Room and Versus Maps new to lack Hole Rising as well as the ones from the original Advance Wars. You may also buy CO Colors from Hachi to customize the looks of your CO's. You may also customize maps again as well as use the new Black Pipe and Seams to block off parts of the map. Finally the Campaign features over 30 long, grueling but fulfilling missions to keep you on your toes the whole way through. How many bags of popcorn did that take up? Well we're finally done so let's move on.
Difficulty: 8This game is hard. It is a game that will test your knowledge of both Chess and Risk and will force you to do things you may not want to do. But in the end, that's a good thing. The challenge this game brought led to about a months delay in this review but when I finally finished it, It was well worth it. With the Hard campaign ahead, I can easily say that this game get's an 8 on difficulty. If you enjoy strategy games then I'm sure you can endure it and if you are trying out strategy games for the first time, this is a great example of what they are like difficulty-wise.
Overall: 9.7I love this game. It's still one of my favorite games and I by no means regret spending the time to beat it.With all of it's content, twists, turns, and fun, I think there is something in this game for anyone to enjoy it just as the first game was. This is everything the first game was and more and it definitely deserves your attention. So go play it. I'm done rambling now so you can go enjoy it on your own. Remember to have fun and that it's a strategy game, so one loss isn't a big deal at all.
On the final note, Thank you to any and all who took time out of their important day to read this. I'm always glad to see that there are people who wish to know my opinion and I'm thankful that you find it worthy of your time. If you wish, drop me some feedback and tell me how to make it better. I tend to try and be long and informative but I can't always be that way so If there is anything that I'm doing wrong please let me know. Lastly Thank you in advance if you do leave feedback and BAI BAI for now.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 4.4/5
Submitted: 10-12-13
Review Replies: 4
8
Advance Wars 2 - Black Hole Rising Redrunelord
Let there be no doubt that the military, in all countries, got difficulties associated with the various rankings. During a time of conflict, it is expected for the masses to serve their nations by both the high brass and the people of the nation. Without getting into the actual political aspects, the average soldier has to do a lot of the grunt work while the officers handles the logistical and strategic aspects. It is intriguing how games tend to focus on one of two aspects of command: either the gamer plays as a grunt soldier initially then grows into a commando, or the player plays a high ranking official who steadily takes on more dangerous and/or complicated missions. These two ways of playing a character in a war environment are entirely different as one deals with strategically analyzing a situation in a matter of the big picture, and the other is hands on work in trying to make said picture be drawn. Advance Wars 2 focuses on the commander.
Advance Wars 2, for all purposes intended, is a turn based strategy game developed by Intelligent Systems as a sequel to Advance Wars. This game requires the player to build an army from certain buildings on a grid and advance them towards the opposing player or AI to either capture a critical building, destroy all of their units/capacity for war or reach a critical objective while preserving their own main base. The player would have to take advantage of a number of unit types, and utilize the environments and terrain to their advantage to ensure victory. It is relatively unaltered from the original title in this series, with only additional content and one or two extra game play mechanics. Resultingly, someone who is a fan of the original game will likely enjoy this sequel, but what of the average strategy game fan?
For a game like this, it is essential to be able to distinguish the various images in order to play accordingly. In games like horizontal space shooters, it isn't necessarily required to have 100% distinguishable enemies (though it is an excellent benefit) as the objective is the same: rapidly press/hold down the button to shoot and destroy them. However, it is essential to distinguish each enemy here as there are different classes of units and it is important to tell them apart to properly plan. Fortunately, not only are they quite distinguishable, but are extremely colorful, high contrast images. That is the two distinct features with advance war game's visuals: bright and competent. The game is shot from an over the board perspective, showing the playing field much like a board game from the 80's with what is basically a large grid with units/locations on it. The various different areas in itself is The units all got appropriate images, but the AI's infantry can be confusing whether or not it is a foot soldier of mechanical units (this game's equivalent of panzer force infantry) can be unclear at times. Within the battle animations, each team got very distinctive looking units; for example, "yellow's army" looks much like the Japanese army and navy of WW1 and WW2 which helps diversify the game a bit and prevent the eyes from falling asleep, so to speak. Animation itself is very limited (only a very brief one for units moving across the playing grid and a short one for battles that is looped) and it isn't fantastic by any means. Fortunately the battle sequences can be skipped through an option in the menu and it isn't horrible or distracting from the main game.
The soundtrack is relatively diverse for a Game Boy Advance game, but it still has a predominant tone. Songs ranges from cool relaxed music straight from the film "Deliverance" to something that could fit out of a star wars battle sequence. The audio itself is very high caliber and the only matter of it is whether or not one likes it on a subjective level. Same is true for the sound effects, while the text scrolling one can grow agitating. All in all, the sound is strong but purely subjective.
The game itself is divided into the campaign mode with the campaign mode, and several modes allowing for the player to battle against the computer or against a friend. These are all standard skirmish modes and not much worth noting...but one nice feature this game would have is the map editor. It is relatively simple to use and faster through the PC controls, and can help add a lot of additional content to the game.
The story is meant to be ridiculous and over the top; that is a staple of the series. This is almost unprecedented for strategy games like this as up until this series, the vast majority of games are serious to the point that newcomers will scoff at them for being silly. The story is basically about the black hole army and how they are trying to take over the various zones with each zone having their own cast of characters. It only takes itself seriously enough to advance the story but little beyond that. This is its advantages and disadvantages, depending on the player's taste. On it's own, the story is admittedly dry if not for the humor and it do compliment the overall brighter images or tones. This humor helped avoid the necessity of a large script and replaces with a shorter, abridged story which will take a back seat to the game play.
The core attraction is in the actual game play mechanics. The grid style game play works well for the most part, but is slowed down by the fact the player has to wait for the AI to perform all of their moves (and it is no exaggeration when one says that the player could go get a drink while waiting for the AI's turn). That is the sacrifice with these games: they are very slow and methodological. That isn't a bad thing by any means, but some players will be deterred by this. However, for players who wants a slower paced game, then the game play will certainly cater to that. This game is fairly balanced in its unit strengths/weaknesses and the player has to consider every single move they makes carefully. For instance, it would be tantamount to suicide to infantry right at artillery if a number of scouts are nearby. One extra pleasant for this game is that the commander being used will give very distinct advantages or disadvantages. For example one commander (Grit) has more powerful artillery but that comes at the sacrifice of having weaker standard fighting units. As well, there was an addition where each commander got two special powers that enhances their units to an extent in some way, or provide other bonuses that could tip the scales of the game, which is an admittedly nice addition to the second game.
The difficulty is well worth noting: like other games in the series, the AI are designed to such a degree they can be little short of "cheap" in later stages. The AI is programmed to react to every single move possibility making classic strategies that work in other games quite possibly futile (for instance, it is a lot harder to play off of unit weaknesses or simply flank them). Day by day guides may even be necessary for many players on their first time through unless they literally memorize the AI inside and out. The AI isn't too difficult earlier in the game but still a sufficient challenge for people looking for one. The higher calibre AI definitely adds a significant replay value to people already addicted to said game, but this comes at a terrible price: it is difficult to pick up and play initially unless the player is a tactician rivaling General Rommel. This is one of those few games that should be given out at officer academies for lower level command training.
Hyperbole aside, is this a good game? Yes, it is an outstanding strategy game. It has its flaws, but overall it is a recommended game strategy game for long term engagements. Be aware that this game is not necessarily recommended to people whose patience levels are in the lower quartile or people who despises brighter, almost "kiddy" games. Otherwise...recommended for long-term engagements of amusement for upcoming tacticians or people wanting to spend hours of fruition gaming
Graphics 9 Sound 8 Addictive 4 Story 6 Depth 8 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.3/5
Submitted: 12-23-11
Updated: 12-23-11
Review Replies: 0
9.5
Advance Wars 2: A sequel worth playing. sonikku
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is the sequel to Advance Wars. In the previous game, the four armies of Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth had managed to fight off Sturm and the Black Hole army. Sturm has come back, and has brought along four new COs to try and take over Wars World. Your mission is to drive these aliens off of Wars World once and for all.
For those that have never played any game in the series, this is actually a good one to start off with despite it being a sequel to the last one, which had AI you could manipulate too well. (APC diversion, anyone?) This is a turn based strategy game where your objective (under normal circumstances) is to either rout the enemy (eliminate all the enemy units) or capture their HQ, though the campaign mode missions can have different terms of victory or defeat.
First timers may want to check out the campaign mode before playing anywhere else, as the first several missions are pretty much the game's tutorial. They slowly introduce you to different unit types, what they can do, and other game mechanics such as using CO Powers and fighting in fog (which isn't as cheap as it is in most games since the AI has to legally see your unit to attack it, though it still knows where all your units are). The only problem is... there's no way to turn off the tutorial, so if you want to play the whole campaign again, you have no choice but to sit through it. Rumor has it that there is a more difficult campaign mode you can play... but unless you're really good at this game, I wouldn't advise playing it more than one time.
There are other maps in this game outside of the campaign mode which can be played in the War Room (where you have to clear the maps given preset conditions, but you choose which CO you want to use) and in Versus mode. The War Room is single player only, but versus mode can be played with up to four players (depending on how many different factions there are on the map by default) on a single GBA. So even though the link mode is useless on Vizzed due to an inability to link up with others online, if you know a few people who enjoy this type of game, you can play the game with them and take turns.
But that's enough of my ranting about the game modes. The graphics of this game are a little cartoonish, but that's what gives the game its charm in my opinion, and the way the story is told follows in the graphical style. It's a war game, but it doesn't try to be serious all the time. Considering this is on the GBA, the graphics for this game are very well done, the animations are quite detailed, and nothing really seems out of place.
The music in this game is really good. Actually gets quite catchy if you sit on your turn for a while, and I've actually delayed ending my turns just to listen to the music for one more loop. In fact, I have Kanbei's theme and Eagle's theme stuck in my head as I'm typing this. The sound effects aren't out of place. Gunfire sounds like gunfire, fighter jets sound like fighter jets, it all just fits.
As for difficulty... the game starts out easy, but once you complete Orange Star's campaign, some of the missions can be real pains in the butt. Take for example T-Minus 15, one of the early Blue Moon missions. The task in that one is to capture the eight properties around a giant missile within 15 days. The problem? Your units are split into three and are cut off by pipes, and your capturing units are stuck at the wrong side of those pipes. And you have to contend with a fairly large enemy force. So yeah... the difficulty curve can get kinda weird, and that's really the only reason for the somewhat high difficulty rating. Though it may just be my lack of experience at this genre.
Overall, I would give this game a 9.5 out of 10. Should you play it? I would say... if you aren't good at turn-based strategy games, avoid this title since you need to be able to plan ahead for every possible situation inside and outside of the campaign. If this is your first time playing a turn-based strategy game, I would definitely recommend you try this one. For all others, this is a definite buy if you can find it at Gamestop or someplace that still sells GBA games.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 8 Story 9 Depth 8 Difficulty 6
Review Rating: 4.1/5
Submitted: 04-19-11
Review Replies: 0
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