A great Turn-Based Strategy game that is packed with many interactive features that ensure gamers never get bored.
Before playing this game, I was hooked on the game Ancient Empires II on the mobile phone, and upon hearing that it was actually inspired from AW, I had to get this game, and I was not disappointed.
AW is just what it is: an advanced war-game. You play as one of three COs of the Orange Star defence: Andy, a mechanic, Max, a master of direct-combat, and Sami, a pro with capturing buildings and indirect combat. These three all have strengths and weaknesses. For example, Max who is good in direct combat yet weak with indirect combat, plays out these characteristics in a battle as well: his troops all have 1 less movement space, yet his direct combat units have more attack.
Playing the game, you unlock battle levels that pit you against the Black Hole army, who plans to invade the region of Orange Star, and the other neighboring regions as well. Upon starting the game, you go through a few easy levels that have instructions, and this is a great chance to learn about each unit and CO. The rivals have a Black Hole CO commanding, always in the midst of their evil plots, which are rather well-conceived, and not over unrealistic like its fantasy tag would suggest. However, the easy part stops here, especially for newbies to the Turn Based Strategy genre. Often, the BH army starts the level with a superior weapon, such as a giant cannon or a factory that produces workers for free. It is your task to destroy these weapons and subsequently use your newfound advantage to either destroy all of the opponents, or capture the enemy HQ.
Capturing is a simple process. Only ground units can capture. Each building has a "health" of 20, and units can hit it for its remaining health's worth. For example, an Infantry with 7 health which starts to capture a building can reduce the building's health to 13. Thus, it will take 3 turns to complete the capture.
The battle system is another great point about the game. Each unit has a specific movement and vision range, thus increasing the strategy needed to win the harder levels. When you attack the enemy, or vice versa, a battle animation scene comes on, displaying the attack clearly. (you can opt to turn off this animation to speed up proceedings, but it adds depth to the game) Depending on units used, the defending unit may retaliate. A unit's attack is also dependent on its remaining health, and this is a realistic feature of the game, making it such that the unit who attacks first will always come up stronger, provided unit stats are even.
So, you've finished the story mode. Let me tell you that that is not the end! You can go to the Battle Shop, using points you gain from winning battles to purchase maps to play, or design features for your CO, which adds interactivity to the game. The feature I like best, however, is the ability to create custom maps! This feature is often found lacking in games of this genre, but AW shows in this feature why they deserve to be the best TBS GBA game ever. You can save as many maps as you like and even play it in multiplayer mode, letting your friends enjoy the fruits of your creativity.
I could see no blatant flaws in this finely-crafted game, but unless you don't mind losing time and again to the sharp AI until you find ways to beat it, don't buy this game.