Advance Wars is a surprisingly fun and addictive title ascending to the ranks of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. You begin the epic battle with some simple field training. The field training is essential in progressing, discussing and presenting the basics of the game. Later on Nell, your field training CO (Commanding Officer) introduces you to Andy, another CO.

Eventually you gain more commanding officers, each with different abilities. CO Andy's ability for example is Hyper Repair, which slightly heals and powers up your troops for a limited time. You gain this power when your meter is filled, which in order to accomplish this you must fight and progress.

The gameplay is unique and you must pay attention to each individual aspect of the battle or otherwise if you screw up one small thing you may end up losing the battle. This makes battles very engrossing, sometimes too much so.

Besides controlling a CO, you control an array of other units such as a small groups of soldiers. Each group is represented by one army unit on the field map. When you fire, an action sequence is triggered and you can watch your troops battle it out with the opposing forces. You also begin to fight against new and interesting characters. While progressing through the game, the difficulty is risen. In turn some battles go on for an obnoxious amount of time.

The graphics are astounding; the anime-esque figures are pleasing, well drawn, and have numerous comical facial expressions. The maps are not over-detailed so you may understand what is happening on the often-cluttered battlefield. The sound, while appropriate, has 16-bit quality, which does not always fit the mood of the game.