by Ron Williamson - April 22, 2005

Off on a small remote island evil is mounting. The Forces of the Black Hole are assembling in an attempt to take over the world. The Continents of Orange Star, Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth are taken by surprise! They rush to assemble what forces they have so that they might mount some sort of defense. The Black Hole army is large and well trained. They have Missile silos constructed, tanks rolling in from every direction, and infantry storming buildings and factories. Prepare to take control of different characters, guiding them through battle, controlling entire armies. You are the last hope of the free world. Everyone prays it�s not too late�.

War. What is it good for? Absolutely everything!

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising is a great game. Advance Wars 2 is a turn based strategy game that allows the player a great deal of options. Perhaps one of its greatest assets is how much there is to the game. One point of clarification though, through almost every single option in the game you will do basically the same thing: Battle. It is the number of varied ways to achieve war that is its strong point. The game comes, as expected, with a story mode. It is in this mode that you will fight through each of the 5 continents, hopefully, defeating the Black Hole army along the way. Each character you play with has different attributes that make his/her army worth using. One thing that could have added a little more difficulty to the game is if you actually had to choose which character to use, but given the way the game is set up choosing the wrong commander would literally make it impossible to beat some of the levels. Some commanders might seize structures more easily while other might specialize in long range attacks, while still some others might be best with heavy weaponry. Each Commander also has super moves that (s)he can perform to help destroy the opposing force. You must be cautious, however, as the enemy has these special attacks as well, and they use them liberally. These attacks can drastically change the flow of a battle. They can be useful things like repairing all of your units or a devastating attack that issues damage to every enemy on the map.

Each battle faces one of the enemy commanders against your commander (or CO). At the start of each battle you are given a certain number of units and any number of properties. You can move each of your units once per day and usually give them an extra assignment. For example, you can move an infantry unit onto an unoccupied building and begin the capture of that building in the same day. All units can move and attack in the same day, minus long range weaponry (they can not move if they are to attack). Each building you possess gives you a certain amount of money per day. You can use this money to manufacture new units. Here too, it�s one unit per base, per day. When attacking or being attacked you lose sight of the world map temporarily for a closer view at both predator and prey. Here they have mini battles animated for you before your eyes. The number of units on screen loosely corresponds to the number of actual troops you have in that unit. The background will change depending on what terrain the unit is currently occupying (mountains, forest, plains, etc). These battle animations can be turned off, but aren�t really long enough to be annoying, but do slow the progress of the game down a little. You can repair your units by placing them on friendly territories and can give supplies to a unit by way of an APC.

Most battles you will encounter whether in story mode or not follow that basic layout. The story mode is pretty fun by itself. This game is not to be taken lightly though. Do not be deceived by the first few levels, which are won without too much effort. As you make your way through the game you will find each level getting more and more complicated and difficult. Manufacturing the correct units and being sure of which units to attack with are critical. Make a mistake for one day and you�ll be paying for it for several days to come.

Once you start making your way through the game you might start to get a little cocky and you want to impress your friends with your strategic prowess. Well, good news! Advance Wars 2 is multiplayer with only one cartridge. Now you can easily whomp your inexperienced best friend and finally get him back from beating you in Halo all the time. Another bit of good news is that you can actually use the GBA multiple link feature to play with up to 3 other friends at a time.

Fighting your friends on the same old maps and you keep? Well give him a taste of his own medicine with the Map editor. With this editor you are God. You can place any building or unit anywhere on the map. You can change the terrain and topography. Make it the ultimate battle at sea or even an all aircraft dogfight. Anything you see in the story mode can be used here. You can even trade your maps with your friends so you can practice when you have to go home.

When at home, say you get bored of the story mode and all of your buddies are unavailable. There is another feature of the game that might excite you. It�s called the War Room. In this room you are given the ability to select your CO and you are placed against another CO. You are both placed on a certain map, and you must fight to the death. This provides even more challenge than the story mode and even keeps track of your 3 best victories for each map. There are 30 maps in this section of the game, so it is sure to keep you busy for awhile. And there is always the challenge of beating your best score again.

With each victory you score in this game you are given points based on three criteria: Speed, Power, and Technique. Depending on how well you score in these areas you are awarded points. These points can be spent in the Battle Maps section of the main menu. In this area you can buy things like new maps for the War Room or the ability to change the colors of your COs.

Advance Wars 2 is a sound game. The units are well balanced and you really need to utilize each one of them in order to win. You must always be cautious not to just leave units sitting around or within the range of the enemy because the AI in this game is quite good at times and does some very decent strategizing. The sprites, though simple at times, are very clear and the battle animations are pleasantly detailed.

The Art of War

These days console games are becoming more and more realistic. It is very hard for a game without some sort of visual flare to stand out. Real-time shadows, more and more polygons, or even just good mapping can take a game from average to exceptional. It is hard for a game on a console to use sprites and get away with it. Luckily for the GBA most games use sprites and people don�t expect as much out of handhelds as they do of consoles. That in mind, the graphics of Advance Wars 2 are, simply put, enough. Due to its strategic nature the game isn�t designed to be realistic. On the world map, troops are the same size as entire urban environments, trees, mountains, tanks, you name it. Everything is the same size. But it is the small things in this title that make visually appealing. Things like the separate battle animations, which are much more detailed, add to the game. When moving troops all available squares for stationing become highlighted and your path is featured with a red arrow. Everything is simple and concise, there is no need for frills and, to tell the truth, you don�t really miss them. Though simple, the graphics achieve everything they need to in this game, and don�t detract in the slightest from game play.

Do Tanks Have CD Players?

The sounds in this game are great. From the explosions to gun fire everything sounds good. Not all of the sounds are necessarily realistic or even that original but they suit the game very well. It�s a war game, so explosions are frequent, but you never get tired of the bombs or bullets ricocheting off the pavement. The sound feature of this game, though, is its soundtrack. Even the title track features some hard, distorted guitar. Many of the tracks in this game could even be appreciated independently of the game. One interesting thing in the game is each of you COs has a different anthem. This song plays when it is your turn, and your enemy�s song will play when they are issuing orders. There are even separate tracks that play when you use your super attacks. An amped-up, energetic tune starts playing emphatically while you destroy your opposition. The music sort of serves as another way to keep the feel of the game light and fun, while maintaining its difficulty.

More fun than an APC full of insurgents

Everything about this game seems to be what it should. It has a solid battling system in which every unit has its advantages and disadvantages and is equally important on the field. The sound track is fantastic and saving the world while listening to some great music just can�t be beat. There are some great extras in the game and you can even battle your friends on your own maps. What is not fun about this game? The only thing that might detract from its fun factor is the fact that it, at times, can be blindingly difficult. Once you get the hang of which units do what and when to order them it gets easier, but there is enough going on that you might suffer some frustrating defeats. The game is a lot of fun and anyone who enjoys any type of strategy game will be sure to love this title.

Fire the Plasma Cannon!

Advance Wars 2 didn�t receive quite the upgrade from the first Advance Wars people had hoped for, but it still delivers. The graphics may be a little simple, but they suit the game well. The soundtrack is amazing. The game play is solid and enthralling. There isn�t much to complain about when talking about this title. It is simply a great game to play by yourself or with your friends. The Map Editor is awesome and with the different modes of play this game will be sure to keep you busy for days.

The War to End All Wars

Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising will stand out among other strategy games for some time. Intelligent Studios is known for their quality work and they did not disappoint with this title. Great game play, a huge fun factor, high replay value, good graphics, and a killer soundtrack all culminate here to form one of the best games out there for the GBA.