Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising Critic Reviews

The increased difficulty and lack of a Tutorial mode may turn off newcomers to the Wars series, but the fun, depth, and replayability of this game make it a killer ap for the GBA just as much as the original.

From my perspective, I prefer the original on the sole basis of storyline, because it provides for a greater variety of enemy CO's and aids in creating a close bond with your own CO's. Either way, it's still a great game and is co-owner of the crown when it comes to "Best Game Boy Advance game."

Attractive graphics, endless gameplay, engaging strategy, new features, and multiplayer out the, ah, missile silo... what more do ya want, a parade?

One of the best games to hit the market this year, portable or otherwise.

Packaged with a new, longer campaign, an expanded roster of COs, a bunch of new maps, and a new constructible unit, the game boasts plenty of original content.

An incredibly fun and addictive turn-based strategy game that even with its minimal improvements definitely overshadows what the original contained.

Though there haven't been as many improvements made to the game, Advance Wars 2 still manages to shine... as it is a polished title that simply needs little improvememnt.

Strategy and suspense play a greater role this time around, not just because the CPU is more intelligent, but also because each new cast member brings different abilities to the battlefield.

It might look old-fashioned, but Advance Wars 2 is incredibly satisfying, pleasingly intelligent and never less than tremendous fun, even when it gets horribly hard.

Everything a fan of the series could want. There are more opportunities for dual army control (like the final battle in the original) as well as much more challenging maps to defeat.

Full of all the exciting, addicting gameplay of the first game, and best of all, there's more of it. And it's more challenging. And there's a map editor! And there's...

There aren't as many unit types as I would have liked, but the improved mission diversity more than makes up for it.

No GBA owner should be without it, and anyone getting their hands on a new GBA for the first time should make playing Advance Wars 2 one of their first orders of business.

Definitely one of the meatiest handheld games out there, and if you let it, it'll absorb you as intensely as some of its larger siblings.

This is one of the few times where a sequel overshadows its predecessor. Even though the Advance Wars series will be seeing some time on the Gamecube sometime in the future, Black Hole Rising is still a blessing of wonderful quality, floating in a sea of mediocre ports and lacking games.

Portable gaming at its best.

Sure, it's a classic, but it's so obviously a £35 mission pack, and is probably double the price it should have been. Unless you were utterly captivated by the original and spend every day pining for more, or never owned the original, it's hard to justify why you should shell out for it.

The game is made for players looking for more of the same, not for players looking for "more." It's such an incremental improvement over the original that the number 2 in the title honestly doesn't deserve to be there.

Despite the map design issues, the gameplay is solid and is definitely not a rehash of the original Advance Wars. The additional characters, new story emphasis, and diversity of the scenarios make Advance Wars 2 feel like a brand new game.

Advance Wars 2 doesn't take any hard turns from the formula established in the original... and this is one of those rare cases where an overall lack of innovation is probably a good thing in the end.