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Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp review — slick remake of a strategy classic

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2 years ago

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Before the Fire Emblem games claimed the crown as Nintendo’s premier turn-based strategy game, there was Advance Wars. First released stateside at a calamitous moment — on Sept. 10, 2001 — Advance Wars was a continuation of a series born on Nintendo’s Famicom, but it seemed perfectly at home on the then-new Game Boy Advance. The lengthy, turn-based battles were ideal for the pick up, play, and pause nature of the GBA.

But Advance Wars fans haven’t seen a new entry in the series since 2008’s Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, a Nintendo DS game that took the cute, colorful combat of the series in a much darker direction.

Thanks to Shantae and River City Girls developer WayForward, a new generation of Nintendo fans have a chance to experience Advance Wars in a sleek, remade collection known (somewhat clumsily) as Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp. The Switch duology brings back the charming, cartoony roots of Advance Wars, and delivers the slickest versions of the first two GBA games.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is, like the more popular Fire Emblem games, composed of turn-based battles on grid-based maps, in which players build and command military units across land, sea, and air. Players strategically move infantry, tanks, planes, submarines, and battleships to take control of cities and factories, as part of an international conflict. Missions often play out like chess matches, where players (and their enemy) have a set number of units and shared goals: wipe out the opposing army, capture their main headquarters, or meet some other map-specific victory condition. Battles in Advance Wars are slow and methodical — but thanks to a number of variables to consider like terrain, fog of war, and the special abilities of commanding officers (COs), they are rarely dull or predictable.

 

 

 

 

Image: WayForward/Nintendo

 

Unlike some strategy games, there’s no frenzied resource gathering — cities give players funds each day to spend on new units, and factories and airports, when present on a map, offer reinforcements. Players instead need to be more mindful of striking distances, movement ranges, terrain advantages, and the strengths and weaknesses of individual units. For example, a tank is highly vulnerable to bomber planes, but those planes are vulnerable to anti-air units. Infantry can easily move through forests and mountains, and can capture structures, but they are no match for tanks or helicopters. Short-range units need to position themselves out of the firing range of artillery and rocket launchers. Submarines can be powerful stealth units, but the ability to dive underwater and out of sight means they eat up fuel. As you plunge further into Advance Wars’ battles, its strategic depth starts to show.

Further layering the game’s intricacies are the COs: cartoonish, archetypal characters that have passive strengths and weaknesses, and can unleash special abilities once they’ve charged them up. Re-Boot Camp introduces each CO at a comfortable pace, starting with Andy and Max, an inexperienced young CO who can magically repair units, and a beefy, confident veteran who can give his units an attack boost, respectively. Enemy COs — who can be played in later missions and in the game’s Versus mode — have even more powerful abilities, like Olaf’s Blizzard, a snowstorm that inhibits movement, or Eagle’s Lightning Strike, which basically gives him two turns in one. Some of the abilities can feel overpowered or unbalanced, but Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is not particularly difficult; you can often limp your way to victory. There are two difficulty modes: the easy Casual setting and more challenging Classic setting, if you find your enemies to be pushovers. The game’s questionable AI certainly makes its share of lunkheaded mistakes, just like it did in the early 2000s.

 

Commander Nell says “That takes care of that!” in a snowy battle scene from Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp

 

 

 

Image: WayForward/Nintendo

 

WayForward and Nintendo have dramatically improved the look of the first two Advance Wars games, turning the battlefield into something resembling a tabletop war game, where action figures and brightly colored toys do battle, bloodlessly. There’s a disconnect, though, between the cel-shaded, pleasantly cartoonish COs and the plasticky toys they fight with. The animations that accompany COs unleashing their special powers, while nicely animated, slow down battles to an annoying degree. But the overall polish and presentation here is hard to fault; this is a very pretty update of two 20-year-old games, and the charming personalities of the game’s commanders have only improved.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is an expansive package. It includes two full story campaigns spread across dozens of missions (though only the first Advance Wars campaign is unlocked from the start), online multiplayer battles against friends, local multiplayer, and a War Room where players can play and replay individual scenarios. There’s even a custom map designer with a dead-simple set of tools for creating and sharing homemade battlefields. For newcomers, it’s a massive amount of content; for returning Advance Wars fans, it’s a highly polished way to replay dozens of familiar scenarios. Having played hundreds of hours of Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising on lengthy commutes two decades ago, Re-Boot Camp felt like revisiting a classic remastered film — I knew all the moves, all the beats, but it was a comforting replay nonetheless.

The new Advance Wars, just like the original, arrives at a strange time. Nintendo appeared to recognize this last year when, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it delayed Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp indefinitely. But the toylike soldiers exaggeratedly stomping cities into submission and cartoon characters being wiped out by artillery fire feel disconnected from the real-world war that gave Nintendo pause in 2022. In other words, it’s less off-putting than one might think to have fun with an urban military wargame right now. If anything, the return of Advance Wars feels like a link to a simpler time, made better with age and reverence for a long-ignored, still-great franchise.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp will be released on April 21 on Nintendo Switch. The game was reviewed using a pre-release download code provided by Nintendo. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.

 

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Slack researcher discusses the fear, loathing and excitement surrounding AI in the workplace

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23 hours ago

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October 21, 2024

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence‘s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.

Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.

Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.

Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?

A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.

Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?

A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.

The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.

Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.

Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?

A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.

Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?

A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.

Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?

A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.

Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.

The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.

Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?

A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Biden administration to provide $325 million for new Michigan semiconductor factory

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23 hours ago

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October 21, 2024

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.

The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-in-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.

“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”

A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.

After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.

Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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The Internet is Littered in ‘Educated Guesses’ Without the ‘Education’

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2 weeks ago

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October 8, 2024

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Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.

The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.

Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.

The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.

Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.

On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.

The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.

More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.

Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:

  • You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
  • This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
  • In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!

Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.

Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.

There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.

Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.

Successful people tend to be secretive.

Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.

Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.

Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.

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Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

 

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