It’s always an interesting thing in gaming when a franchise that hasn’t been around for some time returns with a remake or remaster. Why? Because the question always becomes, “Will the nostalgia be enough to sell it?” Another side question that has emerged as of late with titles like these is, “Did the developer even try to make a true remake/remaster?” All fair questions, and with something like Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp, those questions needed to be asked. The tactical franchise hasn’t been on Nintendo platforms in 15 years! Moreover, the game was a remake of the original two titles that came out even longer ago. So there is fairness in being doubtful about some things here.
However, if you were afraid that Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp would be a bad remake, that seems to not be the case. The game comes out on Friday, but the early review scores have dropped on Metacritic. With nearly 50 reviews present when this article was written, the game is scoring 82. That’s a pretty good number for a remake like this, as it shows that dozens of people have positive feelings about it.
We can prove that, too, as 44 of the reviews were in the “positive” column” with only five being in the “mixed” column. So that’s a nice balance to have.
So what did the reviewers say about the title? Well, many agreed that no matter what level of fan you are for the franchise, you will find something to like here. Some praised the “timeless gameplay” of the two campaigns and said you’ll enjoy them and the other modes for “countless hours.”
Others praised Nintendo for not only upping the visual quality of the title, with some help from WayForward but also staying true to the original titles. One reviewer even noted that Nintendo was incredibly faithful to the OG titles and didn’t change much because they didn’t need to be changed in the first place! That’s called longevity.
As for the negative comments, they called out how Nintendo is a little “too faithful” to the OG games from two decades ago. They admitted that while everything looked good and played great, it was nothing new. So if you were hoping to feel something beyond nostalgia, you might be disappointed.
However, to counter that, Nintendo wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. They were trying to bring back something classic. If this game does well? Perhaps they’ll push the envelope with a new title in the line later on.
