Advance Wars Series Comparison

When Advance Wars came to the Game Boy Advance in 2001, it made a big splash.  The original game is often considered to be one of the best games of the Game Boy Advance and one of the top turn based strategy games of all time.  It’s like a gigantic chess game with different terrains, units, and more.  But how does it compare with the Advance Wars games that followed it?  Specifically, we’ll look at Advance Wars (GBA), Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (GBA), Advance Wars Dual Strike (DS), and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS).

Advance Wars:

Pros:

Simplest game of the series for Newbies

First game in the series, so there is no need to play any others to enjoy this one

Very challenging Hard Campaign (hardest of all AW games)

Cons:

Worst AI of the series

Limited selected of Commanding Officers (COs)

Worst graphics of the series

No Super CO Powers

Verdict:

A great game for an introduction to the Advance Wars series.  However, for advance wars enthusiasts this game is near the end of the totem pole.

Advance Wars 2:

Pros:

Graphics on par with Dual Strike version (which is saying something since this is a GBA game)

Best characters of the series

Ability to get Gold Menus for completing the task perfectly (bragging rights)

Improved AI over Advance Wars

Sweet new unit (Neotank)

Most fun battle of all time (The final battle is great)

Cons:

Next-worst AI of the series after Advance Wars

Do not need to play Advance Wars, but your experienced will be greatly enhanced if you do (the story is tied closer to Advance Wars than Dual Strike is to this game)

Verdict:

My favorite game of the series.  However, to fully experience what this game has to offer, you should play Advance Wars first.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Pros:

Extra modes are fun (combat, survival)

Largest collection of war room maps and commanding officers in the entire series.

A few sweet campaign mission that have an actual timer so you have to make your moves fast

There’s a stealth fighter

Adds a history tracker to get achievements

Cons:

The campaign mode is pretty weak.   The final battle is atrociously easy.  Hard mode isn’t that hard.

The new Black Hole (the enemy army) is super lame…it’s commanding officers annoy me.

All of the new commanding officers were my least favorite in the series.

The dual screen battles are usually more annoying than fun.

Skills are okay…but you shouldn’t be able to use them in campaign.  That’s like…cheating.

Same with the ability to pick any CO you want for most campaign missions after beating it the first time.  You can even pick Black Hole COs (wtc)

Verdict:

For most people, pass on this game.  The Advance Wars enthusiast will want to pick it up to play survival mode, but most people can pass on this game.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Pros:

The balance of the units is much better (navy units actually matter!).  Tons of new and unique units in this game.  Miss the Neotank but that’s it.

AI in this game is top notch

Adds many new terrain squares

Only game in the series to feature an online mode (which is actually quite good)

Units level up

The took out some of the bad things found in the last game (skills, Dual screen battles, ability to pick COs during campaign, etc.)

New CO scheme is interesting to try

Best version of the map designer in the series.  Can share maps online and download others.

Cons:

Loses some of its charm, since the series used to be cartoony and approachable and this game is post-apocolyptic and all gray and stuff

Along with stripping out some of the bad things of the previous game, they also took out some of the best things.  Hard mode!  War Room!  (This is now embedded in the campaign).  Battle Maps!

After taking out all that…they left the ability to change your COs colors…let’s see what shade of gray do I want?

They changed the scoring system so it’s no longer out of 300

Verdict:

Definitely worth a pickup, whether you’re new to the series or a veteran.  Just take it as a different experience as the other ones.  My biggest complaint is there is no hard mode, so for expert players you’re just trying to beat your scores or beat people online (although today you’re hard pressed to find anyone online unless you get their friend code).  This game is more for adults, the other games were approachable by anyone.

Recap:

Advance Wars – Get if you’re wanting to get into the main series from the beginning.  8/10

Advance Wars 2 – Get after Advance Wars if you’re looking for the best experience possible. 10/10 contingent on Advance Wars, otherwise 9/10.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike – Get only if you want to see the original trilogy’s ending.  6/10

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin – If you can only get one game in the series, get this one.  9.5/10

Recommendation:

If you like strategy games, buy Advance Wars, then Advance Wars 2, then Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.  You can skip Dual Strike unless you’re an advance wars enthusiast.

If you’re unsure, buy Advance Wars: Days of Ruin or Advance Wars 2.