Ever since Advance Wars was released back in 2001, the game’s perfection in terms of gameplay could not be matched, from any other game of its kind. So this begs the question of how can you improve on a game that’s gameplay is flawless? I’ll explore this and much more in my review of “Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising”.

The graphics here are crisp and clear. but they arent the best GBA has seen. I really loved how different the commanding officers are in the game. The Great animation along with memorable CO’s (commanding officers) works out just fine. The only actual gripe I can think of with the graphics this time around is that they removed the facial expressions from the CO’s after they engage in a battle. Though the gripe is more of a novelty complaint than a graphics complaint, I was still saddened by the removal.

The engine for Advance Wars 2 is the EXACT same engine used in the original Advance Wars. Now that being said, I must stress the fact that the original engine was flawless. It was fun to play while at the same time maintaining turn based strategy elements. It is evident that a “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” attitude was put forth into the sequel.

The game is a turn based strategy game that allows you to choose a commanding officer from certain armies and battle against other commanding officers. Thankfully, there are 19 commanding officers that are all divided into 5 different armies. In campaign mode, you have objectives to accomplish in order for you to complete your mission. In versus mode however, you either must destroy all enemy units, or use an infantry unit to capture the enemies’ headquarters. After you are finished moving or building units, you open the menu and choose “end”. Now it is the opposing officer’s turn to move or build his or her units. The game is a blast to play and requires a lot of thinking on the hard missions.

The campaign mode in Advance Wars 2 is significantly more difficult than in the original. I have beaten both Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2, and after beating Advance Wars 2, the first seems like a walk in the park. The AI is much smarter than in the original, which is most likely why Advance Wars 2 is a lot harder than its predecessor.

Intelligent Systems only made a few subtle changes in the actual gameplay so it wouldn’t disappoint fans of the first game. One of the biggest changes is the inclusion of special buildings like missile silos, factories, pipelines, weather stations, and even a death ray! Although only missile silos and pipelines can be used in versus matches, the inclusion of these new buildings certainly add depth to both the campaign mode and the versus mode. One of the other changes in this version is the new “Neo Tank” added for all of the armies to use. The Neo Tank is without a doubt the strongest ground unit in the game. I was disappointed that more units weren’t added to the sequel, but the game is still a blast to play. You can also link up with 4 friends to play on either a single cartridge battle, or a multi-cartridge battle. Although single cart battles only allow you to choose from 5 different maps, it is still a lot of fun. Multi-cartridge battles are a blast to play because you can play on ANY map in the game, or even a map that you or your friends created!