Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

"You control the fate of millions of little pixels..."

Introduction
War is raging, and you’re caught in the middle of this war. This is the review for the war-game we all love, Advance Wars 2:Black Hole Rising. You will control land, sea,, and air units for a fight to the death! But never fear, you will have plenty of CO’s (Commanding Officers) at your side to turn the tides of war. If you don’t Black Hole and they’re sinister leader Sturm will take over Macro Land....

Gameplay
There are multiple game modes in AW2. There is Campaign Mode, which is the story mode, War Room, this is were the odds are stacked against you and you will still be forced to win. There is also VS mode, were 4 players can go head to head in an all out melee! Finally, there is a Battle Maps, were you an buy new maps and CO’s, and Design Maps, which is were you can make your own deadly creations!

If you have ever played the first Advance Wars on the GBA, you will know how Advance Wars 2 is played. But for the new players who have never played can learn just as fast. You will move your units like your playing chess. There are so many squares on a map and your units can move only so far. As soon as you master this, you will be well on your way to nuking the hell out of your enemies. But, lets not forget, your CO’s have a CO and Super CO Power! These powers will give your troops a boost in what they specialize. Sometimes it will increase your attack and sometimes it will let you capture bases in 1 turn!

You will spend most of your time playing in Campaign mode. You will start in the country of Orange Star and learn the basics of war. As you progress throughout this country you will meet multiple foes and master everything you need to know. But, hidden in each country is the maps for a new unit you can use in war....Neo-Tanks. These are the only new units in AW2 but they are deadly! The Neo-Tank is the strongest ground force you can buy. You will have to capture cities in Campaign to find them. Not to mention, cities give you more money! Neo-Tanks cost a staggering $22,000. When your done getting the Neo-Tanks you will meet some other freaky crap in this game. You will meet up with Giant Black Cannons and Mini-Cannons. You can not get these in the game at all. It is sad, but true. They will take off 5hp of your troops if they get hit. Then when you finally drive the enemy off your borders you will have a factory battle. These battles are the hardest on the Continent that you choose and they will take a long time to S-Rank.

When you are done with Orange Star you will unlock Yellow Comet and Blue Moon. These countries will have harder missions than in Orange Star. The gameplay is still the same and will introduce some NEW CO’s! They will be ready for combat and to defend their countries as well. When you’re done with Yellow Comet and Blue Moon it is off to Green Earth! The Green Earth battles are long and difficult. When you liberate Green Earth, it is off to drive Black Hole off for good!

The gameplay is fun and will never get boring. It will be a challenge to S-Rank everything. Have fun trying!

Graphics
The graphics in this game are not the greatest. But, they are not the worst either. You will be in awe from the breath-taking look when your tank slaughters some infantry. The terrain it self looks rather small, but good. There is a variety of terrain to look at anyways. I can not really say much about these graphics considering you look at them a lot. But, you can always turn the battle animations off anyways. The graphics can get a little repetitive, but that should not convince you from buying this game!

Sound
The sound is so freaking amazing! The CO’s have his or her own special tune that will get stuck in your head for a long time. The sound will go from cheery to dramatic in a split second! I knew from the moment that I turned my GBA on I was going to like have the sound on for once! The sound in this game is simply stunning, so do not even think about keeping the sound off!

Replay Value
There is so much to in this game after you beat it, its not even funny. I am dead serious. I will gave an explanation.

War Room: This is the place were you will be forced to make every move right. You will be vastly out resourced and outnumbered. This mode will make even the most die-hard strategy fans cringe as they watch their troops die. You had better be a very good thinker, or your troops will face the consequences.

Battle Maps: This is the place were you buy new maps and CO’s! That’s all you can really say about battle maps. Hachi, the owner of Battle Maps, will give you some useful as well.

Design Maps and CO’s: Design Map mode is the best feature in the game! Have you ever wanted to make a re-creation of a historic battle? Well, now you can! This will make all players happy to know that you can edit your own CO colors! The CO color platelets are cool to change for your CO.

Link Mode: This is the mode were you and your friends can trade maps and go to war with. This will require at least to GBA’s and 2 AW2 game packs.

VS Mode: This mode kicks ass! You and 3 other friends can fight on 1 GBA! This is the best feature in the game in my opinion. You will spend at least 150 hours in this mode alone!

Final Word
AW2 is a long game that will last you ages. That’s all I can say.

10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/03