Note: In the spirit of this game’s legacy as a pack-in with the first game, this is a direct continuation of my Advance Wars review:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Uni/review/161217/
Black Hole Rising might seem like a standalone expansion, but it’s really more of a map pack. Eight new CO’s were added along with the ability to use a CO power before it had fully charged, but other than that, there's only one new unit and all other mechanics stayed the same. Instead, the focus was placed on improving the depth of the campaign scenarios. Building up units and hiding behind a wall of artillery isn’t as viable when mission timers are thrown into the mix, and even when given an unlimited amount of time, there are other factors to force your hand. The most common of these are situations where the objective is to destroy defensive emplacements rather than rout the enemy, shifting the focus towards pinpoint strikes. These scenarios often put players at a disadvantage compared to the enemy’s starting spread of units and structures, so turtling would lead to getting snowballed instead of doing the snowballing. While this goes some way to address the tactical stagnation of the previous game, it has its own downsides. Namely, it creates a difficulty curve that looks more like a seismograph than a gentle slope, being heavily dependent on the way the AI happens to react in any given situation. The best example is in the final mission, where I quit out of my first attempt after the enemy formed a defensive line I had no way of penetrating within the deadline. Then, on my next attempt, I recognized that they hadn’t built defense against air units near the objective this time around, so I sniped it without destroying a single unit in a third of the allotted time. It was the perfect sendoff after the previous mission, which had a similar little exploit which let me finish without touching an enemy unit. The final missions were certainly the culmination of everything I had learned up to that point, but unfortunately, what I had learned was how to exploit the holes in each scenario for easy victories.
This is the main thing that separates Black Hole Rising from Advance Wars, how the success of each mission tends to weigh more on the micro of individual units than the macro of steadily accruing economic advantage. The problem with that is the exact sort of mindless objective sniping I just described, with the randomness of the enemy’s movements being what determines success. However, do keep in mind that missions with these tactical shortcuts represent a lower percentage of the total than the boring or simplistic missions did in Advance Wars, and Black Hole Rising has the additional advantage of giving players options on what missions they want to complete. It’s a case of the highs being much higher and the lows being a little lower, with bad missions being much more frustrating and random than the ones in the first game, but the good ones are even more satisfying to overcome.
All that said, the majority of each game’s DNA is shared, and it’s well established how wonderful their style is, be it through visuals or music, which work wonderfully within the GBA’s limitations. The bright colors and distinct visual design hold up perfectly, and their soundtracks are among the few on the GBA which sound fantastic even with the substandard hardware. Despite my griping about some boring missions in 1 and “that one level” missions in 2, I still definitely enjoyed my time with both these games. I would love to see the remake include an untouched classic mode alongside a reimagined version with better scenario balance, and I think there would be valid reasons to choose either version. I want the games to be preserved, but I also want the series to be revitalized for a new generation, who shouldn’t have to worry about the AI cheating by peaking through the fog of war. I truly believe that this series has yet to reach its full potential, so let’s hope the remake can deliver. Nintendo can be pretty unforgiving with sales expectations for their IP, so let’s hope the people at WayForward mastered the games well enough to know how to move some units.
https://www.backloggd.com/u/Uni/review/161217/
Black Hole Rising might seem like a standalone expansion, but it’s really more of a map pack. Eight new CO’s were added along with the ability to use a CO power before it had fully charged, but other than that, there's only one new unit and all other mechanics stayed the same. Instead, the focus was placed on improving the depth of the campaign scenarios. Building up units and hiding behind a wall of artillery isn’t as viable when mission timers are thrown into the mix, and even when given an unlimited amount of time, there are other factors to force your hand. The most common of these are situations where the objective is to destroy defensive emplacements rather than rout the enemy, shifting the focus towards pinpoint strikes. These scenarios often put players at a disadvantage compared to the enemy’s starting spread of units and structures, so turtling would lead to getting snowballed instead of doing the snowballing. While this goes some way to address the tactical stagnation of the previous game, it has its own downsides. Namely, it creates a difficulty curve that looks more like a seismograph than a gentle slope, being heavily dependent on the way the AI happens to react in any given situation. The best example is in the final mission, where I quit out of my first attempt after the enemy formed a defensive line I had no way of penetrating within the deadline. Then, on my next attempt, I recognized that they hadn’t built defense against air units near the objective this time around, so I sniped it without destroying a single unit in a third of the allotted time. It was the perfect sendoff after the previous mission, which had a similar little exploit which let me finish without touching an enemy unit. The final missions were certainly the culmination of everything I had learned up to that point, but unfortunately, what I had learned was how to exploit the holes in each scenario for easy victories.
This is the main thing that separates Black Hole Rising from Advance Wars, how the success of each mission tends to weigh more on the micro of individual units than the macro of steadily accruing economic advantage. The problem with that is the exact sort of mindless objective sniping I just described, with the randomness of the enemy’s movements being what determines success. However, do keep in mind that missions with these tactical shortcuts represent a lower percentage of the total than the boring or simplistic missions did in Advance Wars, and Black Hole Rising has the additional advantage of giving players options on what missions they want to complete. It’s a case of the highs being much higher and the lows being a little lower, with bad missions being much more frustrating and random than the ones in the first game, but the good ones are even more satisfying to overcome.
All that said, the majority of each game’s DNA is shared, and it’s well established how wonderful their style is, be it through visuals or music, which work wonderfully within the GBA’s limitations. The bright colors and distinct visual design hold up perfectly, and their soundtracks are among the few on the GBA which sound fantastic even with the substandard hardware. Despite my griping about some boring missions in 1 and “that one level” missions in 2, I still definitely enjoyed my time with both these games. I would love to see the remake include an untouched classic mode alongside a reimagined version with better scenario balance, and I think there would be valid reasons to choose either version. I want the games to be preserved, but I also want the series to be revitalized for a new generation, who shouldn’t have to worry about the AI cheating by peaking through the fog of war. I truly believe that this series has yet to reach its full potential, so let’s hope the remake can deliver. Nintendo can be pretty unforgiving with sales expectations for their IP, so let’s hope the people at WayForward mastered the games well enough to know how to move some units.