Metacritic Games

Advance Wars (GameBoy Advance)

A deep and complex strategy game, and a virtual smorgasboard for strategy fans of all levels of ability. An excellent interactive tutorial drills would-be officers in everything they need to know to achieve victory on the battlefield. Once you're commissioned as a CO in the Orange Army, you can dive into one of the game's many modes. The story-driven campaign mode takes you through a series of increasingly challenging missions, leading to a showdown with an awesomely powerful enemy army. Even after you've waged multiple wars, the extremely shrewd AI will continually surprise you. [Nintendo]

Nintendo
Strategy
Players: 4
E (Everyone)
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Released September 10, 2001

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

92 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 GamePen
Its combination of easy controls, high replayability, and large depth, will keep players coming back for more for a long time to come.
100 Into Liquid Sky
One of the best aspects of Advance Wars is the sheer amount of things you can do. If you choose not to play the Campaign mode, you can still fight and earn battlefields in the War Room, or can get friends together and play multiplayer on either one GBA or link up to four GBAs at one time.
100 Yahoo! Games
Handheld game or not, the depth and complexity of Advance Wars is astonishing.
100 Nintendojo
There’s no question. You must play this game, at least through the field training. It’s just so amazing.
100 Gaming Age
There is a perfect blend of simplicity and complexity that makes this game so highly addictive.
100 GBA Central
From trying to unlock every CO to buying all the War Room and Vs. maps to trying to earn the best rank possible, there are enough features in this game to make three games. Advance Wars is pretty much perfect in every category.
100 Electric Playground
A deep, quite cartoony and consummately Japanese turn-based wargame with depth, character and replayability to burn.
99 IGN
Incredibly intense and amazingly addictive...especially when you learn every little nuance of the game design.
98 Gamer's Pulse
Nearly flawless, Advance Wars is the most challenging, deep, and interesting handheld title available.
95 Gamezilla!
Regardless of whether you’re an aspiring Gen. Douglas McArthur, you are going to love this game.
95 Gamenikki
A simply addicting combination of the best RTS and strategy elements make for one hell of a gaming experience.
95 GameSpy
One of the top strategy games of the year, on any platform.
93 netjak
Probably one of the most in depth and well balanced strategy based games that will probably ever grace any portable system
92 GameSpot
Deep and easy to learn, and it contains a level of replay rarely witnessed in handheld gaming.
92 Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)
Frighteningly addictive.
90 GameCritics
Unfortunately, while Advance Wars devotes the entirety of its gameplay toward a military simulation, there is utterly no thought put towards the moral implications of armed combat. To be honest, such an aspect is not to be expected, as the subject is rarely broached in video games.
90 Total Video Games
For a handheld, the AI of your computer-controlled opponents is surprisingly diverse and complex.
90 Pocket Games
Looks uninteresting at first glance, but proves to be a highly addictive title after a long learning curve. [Winter 2001, p.42]
90 Nintendorks
It's brilliant and fun turn-based strategy with more replay value than you could possibly ask for. This isn't boring turn-based strategy where you spend 15 turns setting up your troops to fight the inevitable battle, no sir.
90 Ferrago
Offering a perfectly balanced and finely tuned experience that proves both addictive and immersive. A very complete and attractive package, overall, and one that everyone will enjoy.
90 Nintendophiles
The replay value is great and this game will last forever.
90 GamePro
The character designs are awesome, the soundtrack is solid, and the controls are perfect... It strikes the right balance between pick-up-and-play and in-depth strategy.
90 Hot Games
A true sleeper out of left field, packed with depth, style and replay value.
90 Gamer.tv
In terms of sheer depth and pure gameplay, there really is nothing else on the GBA to touch Advance Wars.
90 All Game Guide
Ingeniously designed, Advance Wars manages to be both in-depth, and instantly accessible, simply because it presents the game in easily manageable chunks.
80 GamerWeb Nintendo
A very polished package despite featuring just above-average strategy antics.
80 GMR Magazine
Once you get sucked in, it's hard to pull yourself away. [Feb 2003, p.97]
73 Electronic Gaming Monthly
I never had so much fun NOT playing a game. You see, whether you share one GBA or link several up, you don't get to do anything when it's not your turn. [Oct 2001, p.156]

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