Intelligent Systems has always been known for its strategy game IP, with Fire Emblem naturally being the most popular, but that esteemed series might never have made it West were it not for the more colourful and militaristic antics of the Advance Wars franchise. Unfortunately – despite its similarities to Fire Emblem and its high critical acclaim – Advance Wars never quite hit the same levels of popularity as its sibling and hasn’t received a new release since Days of Ruin on the DS, way back in 2008. In the void left behind, the responsibility of carrying on the series’ legacy has been left up to the fans, which is what brings us to the current eShop launch of Wargroove. As a spiritual successor to Nintendo’s popular series, Wargroove manages to satisfy in nearly every conceivable way, offering a diverse helping of high-quality single and multiplayer content that’s sure to keep fans entertained for dozens of hours.
Wargroove begins in the land of Aurania, where the peaceful Cherrystone Kingdom must always be on guard against the frozen, undead hordes of the Felheim Legion in the west. The story mostly follows Mercia, a princess-turned-queen who has the responsibility of the throne suddenly thrust upon her when an agent of Felheim assassinates her father King Mercival and instigates a fully-fledged invasion. Although it isn’t exactly a groundbreaking story, it’s absolutely packed with a diverse and colourful cast of memorable characters from a handful of different factions that manage to keep each mission engaging, even beyond the stellar gameplay.
These characters all have surprisingly deep backstories (accessible through a handy Codex, which is fleshed out as you play) which strike a nice balance between humour and more serious themes. Our favourite character is a Felheim commander introduced early on named Ragna; an extremely angry (and equally incompetent) zombie woman stitched together from pieces of great military leaders who is prone to temper tantrums when the Cherrystone army easily beats her. Characters like Ragna keep things interesting and stop the story from going stale, but we appreciate the effort the developers have placed in creating a world with such a rich and fleshed-out history; it’s tantalisingly easy to see how many future games could be set in this world.
Naturally, you’ll be spending the bulk of your time examining grid-like maps from a top-down perspective, painstakingly moving units around in a delicate dance for victory. Battles unfold in a turn-based manner, with the goal usually being to either seize the enemy stronghold or defeat the enemy commander, and play a bit like a much more in-depth version of Chess. There are dozens of different unit types that both teams can use, and they all have specific functions that make them extra effective against certain units and terribly weak against others. For example, a Knight can travel six spaces and hits harder than a typical swordsman, but is incapable of crossing mountain ranges and can’t capture villages or barracks. Organising a well-balanced team and distributing those units wisely across the field is utterly integral to your success; mistakes are usually not crippling, but they are costly, and too many ill-placed units or poorly thought out offensive runs can lead to a defeat all too quickly.
Another neat touch is that every unit has its own unique strength which allows it – under the right conditions – to inflict additional 'critical' damage on the enemy. For example, standard foot soldiers gain a boost when they're fighting next to their commander, while archers perform critical hits if they attack without moving in the same turn. Knights, on the other hand, only enable their 'critical' when they've moved a certain number of squares before attacking, while spearmen are more powerful when fighting in pairs. Because each unit's 'crit' is accessed in a different way, it makes things even more tactical. Add in commanders – your most adept units which have access to the titular 'Groove' powers that offer both offensive and defensive benefits – and things become even more interesting; these units are capable of taking down several 'standard' units on their own, but should they fall in battle, the game is over.
Though the goal is usually to defeat a certain enemy unit or location, a secondary goal that’s just as important lies in how many villages your team can capture along the way. Every map is scattered with a collection of neutral villages; once aligned with a team, these villages then generate a set amount of gold for the war effort which is spent on recruiting new units at an allied barracks. The more villages you take over, the more options you have to bring units onto the field in higher quality or quantity, and a good strategy for taking down an opponent can be found in crippling their income sources to effectively 'starve them out'.
A big part of what makes Wargroove so enjoyable is how there are different ‘levels’ to every battle that ensure you make every decision with the whole fight in mind. When a battle starts, do you recruit a bunch of cheap units that can fan out and take villages faster, or do you instead invest in just a few powerful units and try to rush the enemy before they get too entrenched? Once a few rounds have passed and each team has amassed its own collection of units and villages, it’s wise to shift focus to where you want to apply pressure and focus your resources. More diverse units start appearing on the field, so team composition becomes increasingly more important, along with thinking about the kind of tasks you want each unit to carry out. Through all this, there are no right or wrong answers – multiple strategies could all feasibly carry you to victory – and watching your gambles play out turn by turn, adapting as you go, ensures that you remain constantly engrossed. Battles can take anywhere from twenty minutes to over an hour (don’t worry, you can save and quit at any time), but it’s remarkable how easily the time seems to slide away when you get in the zone.
For those of you that manage to beat the campaign, there’s no shortage of other content on offer to keep you coming back, all of it offering up some variation on the core strategy gameplay. For example, as you progress the main story and encounter new commanders, new levels are unlocked in an Arcade Mode in which you run a gauntlet of five battles on random maps to see how far you can get. Not only does this allow you to better familiarise yourself with each commander’s unique skillset, but successfully completing the run unlocks extra goodies like new music tracks, concept art, and lore entries. Similarly, Puzzle mode tasks you with ‘solving’ levels by laying out specific scenarios and asking the player to achieve victory in one turn. This tests your knowledge of unit strengths and weaknesses, as well as how good you are at manoeuvring different terrain types and weather effects.
For the more creative ones out there, Wargroove also contains an amazingly extensive level editor that allows players to create their own maps and even their own campaigns, complete with cutscenes. The level building tools are a little bit hokey to begin with (and sadly don’t feature touch screen support), but are simple enough to master, allowing players a surprisingly high amount of creative control; it wouldn’t be a shock to learn that the developers used a version of these tools themselves when building the game. You can control placement of virtually any character or tile type in the game, arrange a soundtrack from unlocked music, set special rules for when victory is triggered, and so much more; the developers are functionally handing over the keys and challenging you to make a better game than they could.
Once you’ve finished a map or campaign, it can then be uploaded to the global server for distribution, and you can then download other player’s creations and try them out. As you’d expect, this adds a nearly infinite level of replayability to Wargroove long after the credits have rolled on the main campaign and other side content. Plus, the endless creativity of the internet never fails to impress, and already we’ve seen some surprisingly in-depth efforts that play with the core game mechanics in interesting ways.
Multiplayer naturally doesn’t just stop there, however, you can also play locally or online with up to four players, on either official maps or anything player-generated. As you’d expect, there’s full support for all control types, even for those who just want to use one controller and pass it back and forth between turns. Once more, this creates endless opportunity for replayability, and while there’s no ranking system to speak of, it’s still generally more fun to battle against human opponents than against the AI.
In terms of presentation, Wargroove goes for a rich, pixel-heavy art style that wouldn’t look out of place on the Game Boy Advance, characterized by chunky, colourful character sprites on the battle screen and more realistic and detailed ones during cutscenes. It’s not a particularly innovative look, but it absolutely nails the same level of charm and detail as the writing; a strategy game such as this is at its best when it goes with a simple art style, and Wargroove utilises one that helps to give it some memorable identity. In much the same thinking, the soundtrack is similarly charming, consisting of a series of soaring, fantasy-themed tracks that fit well with the setting. We wouldn’t say that Wargroove is a showstopper in its presentation, but it still does a great job nonetheless and comes close to exhibiting the same level of craft seen in GBA instalments of Fire Emblem and Advance Wars – which, we imagine, was the developer's intention from the start.
Conclusion
As far as strategy games are concerned on the Switch, Wargroove is one of the best titles you can find on the eShop. Extremely deep and diverse strategy gameplay, ridiculous amounts of replayability, and charming presentation all combine to make this one an easy recommendation to anybody looking for a deep and cerebral experience for their Switch. Advance Wars may only exist nowadays in our memories, but Wargroove stands as a worthy successor to the franchise; if Intelligent Systems does ever decide to revive its cult classic series, it’s going to have some stiff competition to contend with thanks to Chucklefish's efforts.
Comments 87
Already pre-ordered and ready to go!!
Seems that it was worth the wait! Happy for all who've been waiting for it for so long.
I'll definitely be picking this up. Either at launch or down the track at some point. Got quite a few eShop titles to pick up over the next few weeks (Planetarian, Away, Tokyo School Life, Nekopara Vol.2) so I'll be keeping pretty busy. In case my backlog wasn't big enough.
Yep! First finishing The Banner Saga, but will be downloading this once I'm finished with that.
"... don’t worry, you can save and quit at any time"
Say no more Sir.
Should be a compulsory feature of every game.
Having said that, I've got about 5 Fire Emblem games to work through before I need to get this, so who knows when I'll bite...
Glad to see this one seems to live up to the hype. I always preferred Fire Emblem to Advance Wars, but I still really liked AW! Hope this one gets some traction.
Well......now I know what to expect I will pre-purchase this and it should be ready to go for the family vacation starting Friday night
@gcunit Yep, no arguing with that!
So glad I can get my AW fix again on my Switch.
Hype!!!! Can’t wait til February now. All paid for. Come at me Wargroove
I want it! So happy one of my most anticipated games finished being good... After so many delays I expected the worst.
Day one!
I want that baby!!!
I'll have to check it out more. Looks like it might be pretty neat. Though, I could save some money, & get one of the Fire Emblem GBA games on WU VC. Don't know, both look like they might be fun for me.
Sooooo excited for this.
don’t worry, you can save and quit at any time
I really like how this feature is implemented on every game on the Nintendo Switch, as it embraces the on-the-go factor nicely. Even Octopath Traveler does have a savepoint within every screen, so you can advance the story quite nicely.
At the same times, all the ports are missing out on this. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Hollow Knight from time to time, but not being able to save is a detriment for me (granted, it's part of the design of the game).
For the game:
I really feel tempted, but still got to finish Mario+Rabbids: Battle Kingdom and there is the next Fire Emblem on the horizon, so it all boils down to time management, especially with me being engaged in hunting Power Moons in Oddysey and grinding in Octopath Traveler...
I love advance wars so I’m really tempted to get this. Don’t know why we haven’t had a new one in so long.
As a Advance Wars hardcore enthusiast, let us see this game tomorrow!
This. This is why calls for an Advance Wars sequel isn't required. Yes, some Advance Wars fans may find Wargroove a basic and unambitious attempt to stand on the shoulders of games like (for example) Advance Wars, but, a game like Wargroove proves ANY series stagnant needn't be the death.
Always enjoyed Advance Wars more than Fire Emblem but it's been so long I don't know if I could stomach a tactics game, as per how my tastes change over time. I wasn't a fan of Into The Breach for example but perhaps nostalgia will play an important role towards enjoying this title.
So, you CAN save during missions? IGNs review specifically stated that there is no mid-game save feature.
I was on the fence about this but I’m thinking I’m going to pass. I’m glad that everyone who’s been waiting for this is finally getting to play it soon though.
@SwitchVogel Just to clarify, by multiplayer you mean competitive not co-op right? Are there any co-op modes?
@Pazuzu666 I couldn't disagree more. The fantasy setting of Wargroove does nothing for me. I want tanks, battleships and fighters not knights and catapults. I have never understood why AW fans think this game fills that itch.
Can not wait!!! So excited for this. - Chucklefish does good.
@Mr_Pepperami Dude, jump in! Look at the love pored into this thing. - I’d be all about another AW game too, but since there’s not one... it’s great something like this (with all the care and respect that’s been put in it) finally exists! - This game feels like a WIN. ...#MGGA ...Making Games Great Again???
Nice! They're earned all the praise they get, because they actually bothered to basically do something many Nintendo fans have wanted Nintendo itself to do for a long, and they've done it right too. Kudos.
This game is the closest thing what we ever going to get to what Knight Wars might have look like.
Yay thanks Chucklefish. I'm sold
Sucks that this is releasing during Kingdom Hearts III's launch week. But I'm still buying this because Advance Wars is still one of my all-time favourite game series. It's great that Wargroove basically took everything good from that series and made this spiritual successor. Even the level creator, which several Advance Wars games had. I also like that they incorporated a bit of Super Mario Maker in that it can be uploaded to the internet for others to download and play. I remember Advance Wars had something similar but it required a GBA Link Cable and a friend having the game to download their user-generated maps directly. I'm definitely sold on this!!
I'm sold, this sounds great!
Great review. Looking forward to this one, but I think we'll wait until school is out for the summer for those hour long levels. And if it happens to be on sale during E3, well so much the better.
With Civ VI and Into the Breach already in my library, I was really looking for every excuse to skip this. Oh well... * signs into eshop *
Most of the reviews have been coming in good for this game so I guess I'll be buying this though I will probably wait a bit as I have to much to play as it is.
Looks good, will be tempted to get it on sale at some point!
Excellent, I’m looking forward to this
Yes! I'm so glad to see it getting really well reviewed after a long wait. Very proud of and happy for the dev team.
Review playing it now for a swedish gaming site, and I must say that this game is a true and shining gem. It takes the best from Fire emblem and Advance War and make it their own. Loads of stuff to do and a really decent AI. Love the graphic style to!
Never played Fire Emblem but I did really enjoy the Advance Wars game that came out on the DS in its early days. I never liked strategy games prior to that but I remember something about Advance Wars just made it accessible to me, and I like that it had a solid single player campaign too. Playing strategy games against people who enjoy playing strategy games isn't fun for me. Anyway Wargroove seems like it's perfect for me
@Quincy it certainly looks like a wonderful tribute plus it has a dog wearing combat irons so how can I say no to that. 😂
Well this is the closest we are going to get to Advance Wars. Well there is Tiny Metal as well. Shame it's a download only title, but I guess I can bite the ammo on this one.
@ReaderRagfihs
It's a place where you get to build indirect Bombers.
@Reignmaker Glad you’re joining in. - I also have Into The Breach and loved that too. ...What did you think about Civ VI? ...I’ve yet to get it, but it looks solid.
@pilotmkn exactly. Advance wars was all about modern warfare and this game has a pre-modern fantasy setting which is alright in it’s own terms but not for an Advance Wars style game. As if you satisfy your thirst fir a post apocalyptic game like Fallout with Elder Scrolls games.
Already pre-order it, but first need to finish Tales game, and then choose which to play first: dragon marked for death or wargroove. Loving this switch times
@RadioShadow Tiny Metal is close, but not quite there. If they would add naval units, ammo/fuel, APCs and commanders it would be an extremely good modern substitute
Good to see this looks excellent. It’s reviewing well elsewhere too, 86% on Metacritic.
Day one for me. Just what I’m in the mood for.
“mistakes are usually not crippling, but they are costly”
That’s the line I was looking for. I hate being harshly punished but still want a challenge. This sounds like the right balance.
As for downloading other people’s maps, fantastic! Really looking forward to seeing what the community comes up with.
@EasyDaRon I sort of agree. I won't write off a game b/c of a retro look, but c'mon, this is 2019, not 1993. Plus, the Switch is loaded with games that look like they were from the 90s.
I'm so flippin excited for this and hope it sells well enough that Nintendo/Intelligent systems sees both can coexhist and they can get cracking on an new advanced wars.
@rockodoodle Because you and your kind don't understand, if it comes down to this it isn't an matter of year we live in but an matter of the Artstyle itself. If i look at Tiny Metal, yeah it's cool and such, but it simply doesn't offers the same charme which the Games offered with this Retro-Pixel Look. (And by the way Advanced Wars was 2001 not 1993.... if you try to insult the artstyle than please do it properly...).
And that's also the Issue with the modern Harvest Moons compared to Stardew Valley... besides the Gameplay, the look pretty generic and not very charming, while Stardew Valley offers an Artstyle which fits perfectly to what it want to offer...
How long is the campaign? One of the things I loved about advance wars is the number of missions and that you can replay to get better medals / scores.
I have no interest in creating my own levels or content...
Do you need Nintendo online access to download content from other players?
Is it Friday yet?
Nice. Great to see another quality strategy title land on Switch.
I'd hate to buy this then it come out physically
I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. Love the idea of a campaign creator!
Well, it's been a long time since I felt comfortable pre-purchasing a game, but something about this feels right.
I pre-purchased this game the moment it was an option. While I didn't doubt that choice, it is always nice to see a review that confirms my hope of an awesome Advance Wars spiritual successor!
I have been waiting for this game since 2017 when it was announced. The pre-order went live a little while back and I bought it then. I'm so glad to see it has lived up to the hype.
~Excellent~
By: Huge Advance Wars series fan.
@TheLightningYu well, like I said, it's not a deal breaker. I just kinda like games in 2019 to look like they were made in the last decade at least. And the system is flooded with with the retro look type games. That said, this particular game definitely looks like it's worthwhile. Might get it on Friday. If not, I will get it on sale.
@EasyDaRon
People love blatant copies (you can also call it stolen work if you will) as long as it is labeled "homage" or "inspired by" or "love letter".
@frogopus I am not expecting all that much- hell, I was very impressed with the WiiU in general as far as graphics. I just think that some of these games could look a little crisper and cleaner.
Must have this game. I miss the advance wars series. Wargroove looks like it'll fill that roll nicely. ^^
@rockodoodle graphics don't make a game. Plenty for examples, especially on the Xbox console, of game that look beautiful but are just terrible to play. That or terribly optimized.
While the artwork complaint is valid, for $20, don't expect artwork to be comparable to other contemporary strategy games. Most hardcore strategy gamers will tell you that artwork is the last thing on the list when deciding if the game is good. The first is gameplay, and this game seems to have a nice and fun tactical gameplay. For $20, I feel I'm getting my money's worth with all the options in the game.
Im sold, but having a big backlog so I wait for a sale.
Greeeeat Ei..................Nine?
There has never been a more obvious day one purchase.
@NoxAeturnus Competitive, yes. I'm sure you could do a co-op mode in the editor, I hadn't even thought of that.
Quality of Life tips:
My advise to anyone planning to play Wargroove:
1. Turned off the voice.
2. Turn off fighting animations.
3. Set handheld mode to 'full'.
4. Set 'show health bar' instead of number.
Thank me later.
Can't wait to pick it up next week when I have some free time again. Everything other than the character art looks great.
My only problem with the art is that the lead character looks more like a boy than a young queen. I'll likely forget that once I get down and dirty into the gameplay.
@SwitchVogel That's a good idea. Sold! Well, sold on it anyway, but now I want to make a co-op campaign, so extra sold.
@Quincy Civ VI is a very well made port, and if you will be hard pressed to find a deeper strategy game anywhere. That being said, I think it works better on PC than console. Still, I'm enjoying it on Switch and reccomend it.
@GaminDadEo
I'm holding out for a physical copy. Here's what they say on their website:
"Are you making physical copies?
Wargroove will be digital only at launch, but we’d love to make a physical copy further down the line if all goes well!"
Ive been craving an Advance Wars game. Fire emblem kinda killed the series though so I will take whatver I can get aka this game.
@Reignmaker Thanks for the insight. Sounds like a win to me. 😎 I wasn’t sure on it so it wasn’t a first day purchase, but It’s getting clear that I’ll end up giving in. ...a bonus is that there’s actually a physical copy out there too.
Spot on review, Mitch! Great work for a great game!
Love how reasonably priced it is and I'm A BIG Advance Wars and FE fan (to the extent that I've imported the Japan-only releases), plus I really liked Stardew Valley. The only thing keeping me on the fence here is how it compares to Tiny Metal? I've had my eye on Tiny Metal for a while now and my only concern with it was how it looked too much like Advance Wars. I wouldn't mind hearing the opinions of those who have played Tiny Metal and Wargroove.
I played the first 6 missions and the game is disappointing so far. Too many small issues to get used to:
Before: Just another fire emblem. Meh. I wanna try one of the actual games before trying something else.
After: LEVEL EDITOR!? I gotta add this to my wishlist.
Just uploaded the Advance Wars games to my SNES mini so easy pass for me 😎
Nice review. The game looks great, I might try someday when its cheaper.
"where the peaceful Cherrystone Kingdom must always be on guard against the frozen, undead hordes of the Felheim Legion in the west"
Game of thrones much?
Hey I’m working on my first campaign. I uploaded a demo of the first map. I hope someone tries it out. I’m very proud so far. Even though I still want to learn some of the editing tools. Really wish there was a tutorial. Anyways please check it out and comment what you think. The code is P3MT4RGF. The name of the map is ( “[NL]” You’ve got a friend in me. ) Thank you for your time, enjoy.
@citizen_zane thanks I'll be holding off until a physical version it'll be worth the wait like Dead Cells was, I broke and got Hollow Knight digitally but I'll just double dip and but it physically as well lol
@GaminDadEo
I'm in the same boat as you with regards to Hollow Knight. I'll be double dipping as well on that one.
Just finished the DLC campaign. The co-op nature of it (I played on my own) really works well as you feel more spread out and can't rely on too many big expensive units as your funds are separate. This was a 10 before the free DLC, now an 11! Can't recommend it enough.
will give my signed copy from chucklefish a go
One of the only review I disagree with. Have had the game for most of the year but writing is cringe worthy, battle objectives and story are so-so and I feel like there are fetch quests within some of the turn based battles. Big fan of turn based games but can't get behind this one no matter how hard I try. I love the graphics and animations! Looks good but plays poorly. Doing a local multiplayer battle with a friend was a complete snooze fest. Sorry to chucklefish but I really wish I didn't buy this game based on the great review from NL. Again, one of the only reviews I've ever felt misled by but then again it's most likely my pov and I respect the reviewers experience all the same! Would recommend FE3H over this any day of the week
@pilotmkn I really dislike Wargroove haha. Just tied getting into again for the third time and it's so boring! Hasn't hooked me
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