I admit it. I was abit late in jumping in on the bandwagon with the whole Advance Wars thing. In fact I wasn’t playing Advance Wars until the DS and Dual Strike, but once I got my first taste of it I began to like it. That’s why I went back in “time” gaming wise to try out the original two GBA versions of Advance Wars, the original and it’s sequel (which I still need to get ahold of).

And I am glad to announce that what Advance Wars fanatics have known for years is all true, the GBA games are as fun and must haves for both GBA and DS owners as the latter games are must haves for DS owners!

The original Advance Wars still has the same great gameplay of the original, with most of the bells and whistles that started it all off. Of course less

though (as it’s the original) but seeing how the game originated is great.

Storymode you’re in control of one of the four Lucky Charms of war (Orange Stars, Blue Moons, Green Earths and Yellow… somethings). You get right down to the dirty of it and learn the basics of warfare here (but if you need more learning of the basics if this is your first tour of duty with Advance Wars there’s a tutorial section to sink your teeth into here as well).

There’s of course all the boards to play in the War Room (which you can purchase from the shop as you play the story mode and rack up points to buy said boards). These boards should all be familiar to you, if you played Dual Strike, since a lot of them made it into that version of the game. Now I don’t know if there’s any

boards unique to this version (I admit I still have a long way to dig into this game to unlock every last little secret and extra of this version) but that’s one of the joys of the game… tucking into it and really giving it a good go playing all the boards and really getting the most out of it.

The gameplay is addictive as always, and quick to learn (you should be able to pick this up fast out of the box or whatever it’s stored in when you buy it) making for a quick immersion into total warfare fun! There is multiplayer but unless you own one of these little GBA gizmos like the Majesco Wireless Link (which you constantly have to be careful of as the antenna is easily prone to bending and possible breakage) you’re primarily going to focus on the single player mode.

When

it comes to turn based strategy games this is one of the best franchises you should be playing right now on the GBA SP. An all consuming addictive combat system, quite abit of boards to unlock and play through, several commanders to unlock and play as (with their own pluses and minuses to playing as them), and both a story mode and free mode of gameplay to try out (and, if you have friends who also own a GBA SP and the means by which to link them) plus multiplayer? This isn’t one of the best GBA game series out there now without good reason, and this game has a ton of good reasons to enjoy it.

Advance Wars (the original that started it all) gets the score that it rightfully deserves, a 5 out of 5. If you can find it, find it. Play it. Enjoy it.