Advance Wars Reboot Camp expectations and thoughts

[Innocentmask]

I've seen the trailers for this remake and I am more than excited to see this release and be played for Advance wars fans and myself included! I would like to put my thoughts into this as Advanced wars is my favourite GBA games of all times second to Fire Emblem. As much as some people prefer the older designs, I adore the redesigns of the characters and units! They are pretty welcome and actually give the characters and the game more life and energy into them.

I want to talk about the redesigns, it may be controversial but its more than tolerable for me. What I like is that characters look slightly older like Andy, Sonja and even Drake. Nell, Colin and Grit have to be the better of the improved looks especially Colin recieving an even more defined character design than what he appeared in AW2 (the trailer only reveals his face but still massive improvement from whats shown). And the expressions are much more fluid and dynamic than ever and I'm glad they brought back the battle portraits from the first game to the second because its much interesting to see their reactions on victory or defeats which also gives them slight character in them. I like the character artworks in the GBA but they do have their flaws like Andy and Sonja looking too young to be military commanders in AW1, AW1 Olaf and Kanbei designs are mediocre than their sequel and the small faces and blandly stiff expressions in AW2 and DS. If I had to choose my least, that would be Jess. Jess looks a little off from what she was supposed to be in AW2 (but be fair, i guess this is because Jess almost looks masculine in that version), and maybe Sturm, Max and Olaf would be contenders but they're okay enough for me. As for vehicles, I think they're great as well, the graphics have definetaly made the details pop out more!

Some things they could work on, the battle animations are slightly slow even with the fast forward option with the units not really attacking at the same time. The Medium tank and small tank look too similar to each other when viewed on map and factory. The borders of the map that some people are talking about I can slightly agree although it doesn't affect me that much. It does feel like a toy board than an actual battle map but its tolerable, it kinda works for me.

Anyways, what do I expect the remake to have, not just a straight reskin, improvements like additional levels and balancing some commanders would slightly detract this game from being just a simple high quality version with 3D graphics and voice acting.

Any Advance Wars fans here thoughts on this upcoming remake?

[vanguard333]

I'm not an Advance Wars fan (I had never even heard of the series until these remakes were announced), but I am interested in these remakes; they look interesting.

I do like what I've seen of the remake's art style. It's kind-of like Link's Awakening Remake combined with Valkyria Chronicles.

[Sire]

Overall, I love what they are doing with Reboot Camp. Everything in it still screams Advance Wars to me, so needless to say I am quite happy with what I have seen so far.

My only potential issue with it are the unit models and animations. It seems they may be going for a "Toy Box" style look, which works, but a part of me still misses the classic AW sprites for the units and their animations. I'm sure I'll get used to it over time though, just like how I got used to Days of Ruin's art style for its units.

Personally, I'm hoping AW Hard Campaign is still comparable to the original, while I'm hoping AW2's campaign gets modified slightly in terms of gameplay and potential difficulty. While I haven't made my way entirely through the AW2 campaign yet (or even touched Hard Mode), I'm not a fan of plain "War Room" type maps with some gimmicks added in to justify calling it a campaign mission. Also, I hear some of the Hard Mode maps in AW2 just aren't as good as the Normal mode variants in terms of design, so I hope those get improved.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I'm looking forward to this. The game is a bit overpriced at $60 USD for two GBA games, but to see any Advance Wars at all again is better than it being totally dead as it has been.

Visually, yes I get the graphics complaints, and Drake's new lack of a chin isn't to my liking. Nonetheless, I'll buy this at some point, I must support FE's pure-strategy sibling.

I'm expecting it'll be a pretty conservative remake, little in the way of new additions. That doesn't bother me, beggars can't be choosers, AW has made a very modest return that is enough. It would be better if this would lead to a new game, ideally a Days of Ruin sequel, but that would require a miracle. I'll settle for Nintendo brushing the dust off this smelly old book they've kept in the attic this one time.

I do think they need to keep the AI the same, which is to say stupid and exploitable. AW1's more significant challenges rely on knowing about these glaring faults and abusing them sometimes. The enemy is given very large advantages sometimes that possibly wouldn't be survivable if it was smarter.

[Alastor15243]

I just hope this eventually inspires a remake of the best AW game, Days of Ruin.

[BrightBow]

So far I see no trace of the avatar, which is promising.

Since that one wasn't in AWII and they were putting those two games together, I wondered if for the sake of consistency, they would put the avatar in AW2 or alternatively remove it from AW1.

I suppose making the first game more like the second would be a good idea in general.
The avatar isn't the only thing where AW1 suffers from FE7 syndrome. There is also the fact that it has those arbitrary requirements in regards to unlocking levels and characters that you would have to look up.
I see no reason not to just allow you to freely select the Cos for the final map. And for the Kanbei maps, they could add a visible turn limit. Or better yet, simply make the Sonya maps mandatory.

Edited February 12, 2022 by BrightBow

[Alastor15243]

Oh man, since this game is gonna be voice acted, I really hope Olaf's voice actor can do the ending of "Toy Box" justice. I want to fucking cry.