Advance Wars
Image: Nintendo

One game we're looking forward to finally getting our hands on here at Nintendo Life is Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp. As mentioned in the title, it includes both of the Game Boy Advance titles, with a number of new features such as online play now included.

The first impressions of the upcoming Switch release have now started to surface online. We've even shared our own "hands on" here at Nintendo Life - calling it a "slicker, shinier and sassier" take and we're definitely looking forward to getting stuck into the rest of the game when it arrives later this month. You can read our full thoughts below:

So, what did other outlets have to say? To kick things off, The Verge entertainment editor Andrew Webster said the first few hours of the remakes were a welcome return and the games were just as good as they were back in the day:

"I’m jealous of anyone who gets to experience these games for the first time, but for me, booting up the original Advance Wars again was like slipping into a comfortable old sweater. Even if it looks different now — the games have been given a slick makeover, and the more detailed battlefields now actually look like they take place on a tabletop — it’s adorable. I especially love much more expressive characters that make reading through the storyline a lot more enjoyable."

Wccftech's news editor & staff writer Nathan Birch enjoyed it, even if it doesn't "reinvent the wheel":

"Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp doesn’t mess with the classics, bringing a pair of rock-solid old-school tactical strategy games into a new era with just a few tweaks to make the experience more approachable. While I have more to play, part of me does wonder what the audience for this package is, as the hardcores have already played these games to death, and newbies may not be enticed by their retro trappings and WayForward’s inconsistent visual makeover. I have no doubt some new recruits will be convinced to join the battle, but I’m not sure how big this new army will be."

God Is A Geek summed it up as a "faithful remake" in its own hands-on preview, but did note difficulty spikes. Here's what Editor-in-Chief Adam Cook had to say:

"Advance Wars 1+2: Re-boot Camp, so far, seems to scratch an itch I didn’t know I had. Failure isn’t met with frustration, instead it’s greeted with a smile, and a hurried restarting of a battle with a want to do better. I may still be relatively early on in the campaign, but despite having played these games over twenty years ago, they feel fresh again. The cartoon-aesthetic feels right for the characters (mostly), and some of the music absolutely slaps...I can’t wait to dig deeper to see more of what it has to offer."

The Gamer was also reminded just how challenging this classic series can be - with Lead Features Editor Jade King mentioning how it has "little interest in holding your hand":

"Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a fun yet familiar delight so far, faithful to the original games while enhancing its visuals to not only feel current, but imbued with an extra dose of personality that alleviates the otherwise bleak subject matter. It’s fun and challenging while understanding the appeal of strategic mechanics with little interest in holding your hand."

And VGC's Editor-in-Chief Andy Robinson also enjoyed revisiting these classics, noting how it kept much of the original's design with a "big glow-up" to its presentation:

"In its opening missions, Switch’s 2023 remake – helmed by California-based WayForward – appears to do a great job of maintaining what made the original Advance Wars great. In its opening hours at least, its design stays incredibly faithful to the original, while its presentation has achieved a pleasing glow-up, with the sort of beautifully animated characters, bursting with personality, that players have come to expect from the studio behind Shantae."

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on 21st April 2023.

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