Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

"A Definite Buy For Any Fan Of Strategy Games"

Having already owned and thoroughly played Advance Wars, I planned on skipping over buying Advance Wars 2. The game I had planned on purchasing was out of stock, and being the impulse buyer I am, I selected this game instead. ''What's the harm I thought? I really like the first one.'' Once I plugged in this glorious pack and started playing, all the fun of first playing Advance Wars two years ago came flooding back...

Story
9/10
Lots of people may trash this part of the game, saying it has no decent story, just enough to make you want to continue on battling through the campaign, and that's partly true. I personally have found the story very interesting. The conversations that go on before,in, and after battles is very cinematic. It gives you a real feel for the game and the 'struggles' that the players are going through. The characters relate and express their wants and concerns with other players, making for a very well done 'real life' feel. The story is interesting enough that it won't be boring on subsequent trips through the campaign.

Music
10/10
I couldn't help but give this part a 10/10. Who can resist the toe tapping tunes of Sensei's music, the pulse driving music of the Black Hole's CO's, or the old world feel of Kanbei's music. All the CO's have very well done music that seldom gets annoying. The only time you may curse the music is on stages which, and believe me you will, get stuck on over and over. Then the music gets very annoying and you'll probably turn the sound down so you can concentrate.

Graphics
8/10
Not much as changed over the couple years since the beloved prequel came out. Why couldn't they made new graphics?? Oh well. That shouldn't detract from the game and it doesn't. After you get over the initial and very short frustration with the graphics, and you really get down to hard-core gaming, you won't care and you'll probably forget.
Even though most of the graphics haven't changed, some have. The trees and cities have different looks to them. Especially the tree, they look more like real trees than before.
Plus when you capture a HQ, instead of the HQ just changing to your color, it completely changes into your HQ. A nice touch. A bad thing for all of you who used to always watch the battles: I eventually turned off all animation because it dragged out the battles too much, and now I even more early turned them off for this reason, it can take up to 3 or 4 seconds for it to go back to the main battle screen. A definite slow-down. The saving grace for graphics is the ability to customize the CO's. You can change their color. *Shrieks with joy*. Initially not being extremely thrilled with the idea, it is kinda neat to see your custom CO in full uniform when they use their CO power. One more thing, don't think you can make them whatever color you want, you can only pick from 8 different schemes. Whenever you blow up a Sea unit, a Air Unit, or an Land unit, a splash of water, a spreading explosion, or a classic Blowup explosion comes up respectively, instead of the same slow black explosion. Very cool. All the graphics are more sharpened that before, not to mention one of the best intros I've seen in a LONG time. The Main Menu is alot more animated that before. The graphics are more modern and pleasing to look at than before. Basically a big improvement.

Multi-Player Fun
9.5/10
Being a seasoned winner myself ;) I have played quite a few games and there is no down-time in between turns. While reading the instruction book I happened to notice that instead of that one lame map to play Single-Pack on, there are now five. While Advance Wars still supported the same graphics on that map, on Advance Wars 2 the animation is horrible, you have no rules options or anything. A big disgrace! I would rather have one good map than five cruddy ones. That is the reason I took .5 off the score. I had such high hopes for that :( Anyways, Advance Wars 2 is a wonderful game to play with your friends. It a game you'll play until the next one comes out.

GamePlay
10/10
This could easily be the best Gameplay any strategy game has had for 10 years. So many thing you can do with so little buttons! Nothing control wise has changed except for a few on the graphics. Every button does the same thing it used to, making it very easy to pick up and play for the Advance Wars veteran and newbie alike. The buttons and control scheme are very good and are in no reason for any complaint. The computer AI is almost human. Yes I know that's kinda stretching it a little bit, but good golly! Sometimes the computer AI whoops your butt so bad, you feel like you're playing a real person. It takes hundreds of hours for the computer AI to get predictable and even then the different CO's have their own different strategies. They never do the same thing twice. There are some new features that add to the fun. Missile silos are neat things that Infantry or Mechs can use to shoot a missile that does three damage to friend and foe alike. Lots of different units now have new strategies that can be implemented thanks to Super Co Powers! These things are really cool! Every CO's excluding Strum has two Co Powers. Every Co has their same returning power and with a whole new one.
The new Co's add alot to the GamePlay since they have 2 new powers. New strategies must now be implemented in order to win. New enemy only units join the fray. Some examples are Cannons, small and LARGE!, Laser Cannons, and huge missile silos.

Challenge
10/10
Welcome to the shining crown of Advance Wars 2! This is were the buying instead of renting really pays off. As I have said before, the challenge in incredible and extremely long lasting. Don't expect to get bored with this soon. With you people who thought they had exhausted the fun out of the Regular and Advanced Campaign, let me tell you something. The new Advanced campaign features challenges beyond logical reasoning. Its not recommended for everyone. Some of the maps are now flipped vertical from horizontal and vice versa. Most of them have all new maps. As for the ending, I wouldn't know if it changed(I'm stuck on one mission!) The challenge isn't really an issue to discuss, just know one thing. It's huge and massive and it's never going away.

Replay Value
10/10 (Infinite??)
This is, again, not really an issue. You'll be playing this game for at least a year maybe two if you have friends to play with. The Advanced Campaign will keep you busy for months alone. Don't take the following statement lightly. The Regular campaign isn't any pushover either. The point earning system gives you a better understanding on how you did on a map, being that its out of a hundred, instead of those little bars. If you're ever bored, pick this up, select a four player map, put the computer all on a team against yours, and try to win. Go on, I dare you. You won't be bored anymore!

Story - 9/10
Music - 10/10
Graphics - 8/10
Multi-Player Fun - 9.5/10
GamePlay - 10/10
Challenge - 10/10
Replay Value - 10/10

Final Score - 10/10
Yes I know that doesn't average to quite 10, but I couldn't help but give it a perfect score.

Rent or Buy?
If you absolutely hate strategy games, try renting this first, and you may be converted into a strategy lover. If you even remotely liked the first game, buy this as soon as you can. You'll never regret. Take my advice, this game is worth every penny you'll have to pay and then some!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/03