Famicom Wars (1988)

Disclaimer: I didn't force myself to soldier on through this game but did complete the first two missions and called it a day on the third which introduced aerial units. I normally don't write reviews on stuff i abandon or don't complete, but I technically did see all the game has to offer save two naval units (i think)

First some background on some stuff i play(ed): I enjoy TBT and TBS games and have played Conflict series, desert commander, and other stuff like this, and it plays similar and is conceptually on the same ground as those games, however it has some shortcomings.

First some good things, the intro video is pretty cool with a giant tank rumbling and the screen shaking. the animations sound and music are quite nice. Once you go into a battle and come back out it will even resume the part of the track it was last playing (wow, i don't think I've ever seen that feature before for a nes game or similar game from this generation of consoles.) unit mix and economy isn't bad and even nice in the way you can get a cheap unit or go for a better one. Supplying your units with supply trucks seems to work well (you cant just spam endless units) and keep things in balance.

The trouble is that everything in this game is just so mechanically tit for tat. (I thought some of the entries in the W40k franchise were bad in this regard, such as Space Hulk which is pretty effing dry, but this game is worse!) AT least in the beginning of the campaign, every map is mirrored and purely symmetrical. The third map where I quit was segregated by a river that is somewhat of an ordeal to actually cross, invade, and conquer. So this means that its hard to find an actual 'edge' against your enemy. From the very first missions they are slow, methodical, and take a considerable amount of time to complete as you slowly push along. By the introduction of far-moving air units results in you no longer being able to resort to artillery (with armor supplement) to slowly creep and conquer. Your upgraded version of bomber planes will be easily taken down by cheaper fighter planes, and both are vulnerable to cheaper anti aircraft gun. 'pushing' against this island was messy and chaotic. I was just churning through cash against an opponent who had as much territory as me. Even sending wounded units back to heal at the air base, etc STILL COSTS MONEY... I'm not sure if there is even an advantage to doing it.

I could probably mix it up and just spam the island with more cheaper units and whittle them down until the numbers are in my favor but imagine that might take over an hour... It was okay for an evening but plenty of other things to play.

Famicom Wars might have provided the first sprinkle of strategic combat that would later be popularized in later games like Advanced Wars, but an agonizingly slow pace and extremely punishing AI make this either a curiosity for the 2-player mode or a hard pass.

Players can take control of two warring nations, Red Star and Blue Moon. There can be either two players or an AI option with two difficulty modes. During each turn, the player may build units at their base, move units, supply them, and capture buildings for more resources. The more resources captured provides more money per turn. The game is won when an entire enemy's units are destroyed or if their HQ is captured.

There are some nitty-gritty details to that process - there are a surprising amount of units that theoretically, should be applied to each task. There are infantry/stronger infantry, tanks/stronger tanks, carriers, supply trucks, long distance missiles, anti-air missiles, and special air and sea units. It's kind of confusing as to what choice is going to fit the occasion, as strategy is not well taught or well understood and some mistakes will likely be made (accidentally stepping into a line of long-term rocket fire, not capturing buildings fast enough, realizing that some units can barely dent others, etc).

This, even at the lowest difficulty, will often put the player at a disadvantage to the AI which will ruthlessly make moves without much of a mistake and often lead to very frustrating games that either result in a drawn-out win or a drawn-out loss. There's a variety of maps that the player can try out to compete against players or bosses but when plenty of strategies come down to overusing some annoying units (howitzer rockets, AA guns) and capturing buildings fast enough, it can get pretty dicey as to if what the player is doing is the right thing to do.

As for length of battle, these battles can get LONG. Better players will obviously win in less moves, but expect these matches to get up to an agonizing hour if not more. There are animations that are pretty cute - the little fellas that capture buildings and fire at each others' tanks are nice the first couple of times but it's a blessing to turn animations off after awhile. The music is fun and heroic at first but after a really lengthy match it gets old.

Famicom Wars starts out an interesting enough system of strategic combat that would be improved in later releases, but here it's just slow, frustrating, and way too tough to catch onto. We might have lives to get back to but the AI will be here all day if it needs to.