| Advance
Wars 2 – Black Hole Rising
Admit it. You’ve played Advance Wars more
than would normally be considered healthy. We all have. We’ve
wondered about Nell’s relationship with Olaf, we’ve
asked ourselves how anyone as downright stupid as Max ever got
to be in charge of armies, we’ve wanted to slap Andy round
the back of the head and we’ve had those ‘special’
thoughts about Sammy.
 
I've certainly dreamed of me, sami and
my victorious big cannon
And, chances are, once you’d got over
the honeymoon period you’ve probably discovered the, very
real, limitations in the single player game: the AI that is obsessed
with destroying APCs; the strategic advantage that the computer
player has on every single map; and the constant interruptions
from Nell telling you things that you already know.
So now Europe finally gets to sample the delights
of the sequel, the charmingly titled Black Hole Rising (they didn’t
get any native English speakers to approve that did they?) and
the only real question you need to ask yourself is this –
Have they fixed it?
Almost.
Certainly, the obsession with APCs has been
pretty-much removed but, having played through the first game
do you really need to play through half a dozen missions which
serve no purpose other than to tell you how to deploy troops?
Do you still not know how the power meter works? A minor quibble
perhaps but, having cleared the first set of missions in campaign
mode, you then have to sit through them again for the Blue Moon
missions. And then again with Yellow Comet.
And the AI is as broken as it ever was. Clever
level design helps to hide this but, since almost every level
revolves around identifying the weak point (which is often clumsily
pointed out to you in the briefing) and then exploiting it, the
AI is shown up to be the dullard that it really is. COs will rush
at you in the straightest possible line, often leaving their HQ
unguarded and unheeded, or getting caught on a bridge, or chasing
a couple of lone infantry units down a road leaving your tanks
free reign to wreak havoc among their back lines. Difficulty is
imposed more by overwhelming numbers than by any outward sign
of intelligence.
Still looks sweet but exactly they same
sweet
There are things that are very much improved
from the first game - a longer campaign mode, with more varied
mission objectives is much welcomed, and the larger range of COs
adds a lot of variety to the War Room once you’ve exhausted
the campaign. And the multiplayer game is as brilliant and hectic
as it ever was. But the failure to fix the problems with the first
game, the addition of only a single (at best unnecessary and at
worst useless) unit and the insistence on treating you like a
retarded goldfish leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
This game is less of a sequel than it is a remix.
If you are still loving Advance Wars and just want a few new maps
and COs, or if you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last
year then go for it, you won’t regret it. Advance Wars is
among the GBAs very best titles but if you’ve grown tired
of the charms of that first game, or indeed you’re looking
for something very new Black Hole Rising will not rekindle the
flames.
RODENT CASH RATING -
£20
 "No
better than before"
EDITOR'S NOTE
We have a review policy here that's pretty
straightforward: we only review a game if its damn special or
if it's utterly hopeless. We don't really care about the stuff
in the middle; we are very happy to let Official Playstation Magazine
describe just how 'okay' the latest Harry Potter game is but that's
not for us. Special or shit, and then nothing else.
We all here agree that Advance Wars was
one of the finest videogames, on any platform, of 2001. It was
quite simply magnificent and utterly addictive. That's why we
felt it was still important to bring you a review of its follow
up, even though that follow-up is neither special nor shit.
I bought Black Hole Rising because, well
because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Not sure it was
worth bothering to be honest. If you haven't got the first game
though then Black Hole Rising is the better buy of the two. I'd
be tempted to get a cheap second-hand original Advance Wars off
eBay though.
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