Don't
let the title turn you off. Super Army Wars is not
nearly as generic as it sounds.
Super
Army Wars is a side scrolling, 2D, strategy game with
a good blend of action. There are some micromanagement
elements to take care of but not to any annoying depth.
You have a lot of decisions to make and lots of shooting
to do. The way you organize your troops and outline
your battle plans will determine your success in these
16 challenging missions.
One
of the biggest disappointments with Super Army Wars
is that there is no two-player mode. The replay value
would be incredible. As it is, the game is budget
priced so you really can't complain - but I will try
my best. The password save is a pain in the arse and
the 2D graphics are somewhat limiting. Other than
that, Super Army Wars is a great addition to the GBA
library.
I
would really like to play this game against another
player. I'm so good at it that I just want to show
off and make some people cry. The CPU does a reasonable
job of replicating a human opponent. It takes advantage
of your poor decisions but not in an unfair way. It
teaches you to cover yourself in virtually all directions
which in this case include up, down, in front and
behind.
Your
objective is to take the fortress of the other army
by moving your troops into their territory. You will
have choppers, jets, jeeps and tanks at your disposal
in addition to foot soldiers outfitted with weapons.
The opposing army is equally matched so it all boils
down to strategy and shooting skill.
Along
the way you will encounter neutral forts. Taking these
over will result in acquiring money which can be used
to purchase more troops, weapons or vehicles. You
will want to take out as much of your enemy's airforce
as possible. Jets can do considerable damage when
they release bombs and choppers can drop enemies far
into your territory. You have to be careful when shooting
these aircraft down because they can land on your
army and wipe out a great deal of them. At the same
time, you may want to sacrifice a jet and a pilot
to take out a large section of the enemy's army when
you have nothing left to loose.
Some
of the more interesting weapons include heat seeking
missiles and the V2 rocket. Ammo is not unlimited
so you have to make every shot count. This is where
a great deal of strategy comes in to play as you balance
your budget in relation to your skills and your enemy's
progress. You will need to protect your ground troops
with tanks so that they can be used to reclaim territories
and capture new ground. This can make them vulnerable
to attack from air so you have to make sure you're
covering all angles. You can even dogfight with the
enemy's jets but once you're up in the air you become
a target for both sides because it's just as easy
to hit one of your own aircraft due to the 2D layering
effect which keeps you in the same dimension as the
enemy even if you're further away.
Utilizing
a variety of environments such as the sand, surf and
frozen wasteland, the graphics deliver a relatively
realistic portrayal of such terrain. There's not a
whole lot of detail to the graphics or animation but
what is included here is good. The sounds of vehicles,
guns and explosions are crisp and loud, perfectly
suited for a game of this caliber (pun intended).
I
could think of a lot worse ways to spend twenty bucks.
Super Army Wars is the kind of game that we need to
see more of on the GBA.
|