First Look: Advance Wars: Under Fire

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During its E3 press conference today, Nintendo revealed that it is bringing Advance Wars, one of the more popular and acclaimed Game Boy Advance titles, to the GameCube. Like its forebears, Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, Advance Wars: Under Fire will put players in charge of one of two warring sides.

However, that is where the similarities end.

As one would expect, the console Advance Wars has vastly improved graphics over the simplistic visuals of its handheld cousin. Instead of directing polygons from an overhead view, players will have a close-up view of a 3D battlefield brimming with soldiers, aircraft, and armor.

Under Fire's gameplay will also be drastically different. Instead of turn-based strategy, the game will be a hybrid of real-time strategy and third-person shooter. As shown in the trailer, players will direct a squad of soldiers on the battlefield while blasting away at opponents themselves, Freedom Fighters-style.

According to a bare-bones fact sheet provided by Nintendo, Under Fire will allow the soldiers in your squad to become veteran fighters, gaining new abilities with experience.

Given the radically different development demands, it's no surprise Under Fire is not being developed by Intelligent Systems. Those duties will fall to GameCube novice Kuju Entertainment, the UK-based studio behind Lotus Challenge and Fire Warrior.

GameSpot will have more details on this game as they become available.