Wargroove
PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
As the old saying goes, there are two types of people in this world: those who love Advance
Wars, and those who haven’t played it yet. Chucklefish is evidently in the former group, since
Wargroove is as indebted to Nintendo’s turn-based strategy classic as Stardew Valley was to Harvest Moon. The degree to which it borrows from its inspiration is quite brazen, even if it comes across more as earnest tribute than calculated cash-in. For its part, Nintendo seemed to have given its unofficial endorsement by offering Chucklefish a slot in one of its Direct broadcasts – possibly to appease those waiting for the series to return. Still, there’s a difference between one person making a personal love letter to a beloved game, and a developer/publisher releasing what at times feels like a fan mod – albeit a very accomplished one. Either way, if Eric Barone clearly understood what made
Harvest Moon tick while adding just enough to give his farming sim a fresh spin, Wargroove lacks the deceptive simplicity and exquisite balance of Advance Wars. It’s a generous game, yes, but often to a fault.
If at first glance the fantasy trappings make it look more like Intelligent Systems’ other strategy series, it’s only superficially similar to Fire Emblem – and besides, that didn’t have nearly so many dogs. Everything else – from the gridded maps to the dinky units, the user interface to the split-screen attack animations – is, to all extents and purposes, Advance Wars reskinned, only this time instead of infantry, tanks and jet fighters, you get spearmen, knights and airborne witches, and rather than anti-air guns and rocket launchers, you have ballistae and trebuchets. Not every unit has a direct analogue, not least since Wargroove has many more types. There’s an extra wrinkle, too, with critical hits dealing extra damage when a unit attacks from a specific position. Soldiers, for example, should be kept by their Commander’s side where possible, while Cavalry units need to travel six spaces from their start point. And you should avoid roads when an enemy’s Fell Bat is nearby.
The campaign makes a decent fist of showing you the ropes, gradually introducing new units and features. You’ll find yourself facing a new and deadly enemy type, only to be immediately given the tools to deal with it. In the early game you’ll be informed of how terrain types can affect movement range and attacking and defensive stats. You’ll get the opportunity to send canine scouts scampering up mountains to clear the fog of war, while being reminded to keep them protected, lest the mist descend to cloud your view once more. And you’ll be apprised of your current commander’s titular power: it takes a few turns or kills for them to get their groove on, but you’ll find everything from obstructive vines to the ability to summon a ready unit in an adjacent tile. In a few cases, you’re limited to a small number of units, such as a mission where you follow a friendly spirit while the undead rise up in pursuit. But generally you’ll want to capture towns to earn funds with which you can produce new units at base – or else save up for healing moves and hexes that cost hard cash each time they’re used.
After a strong start, however, everything escalates a little too quickly, and battles start to drag before you’ve reached the halfway mark. Maps are comparatively large, and it can take several turns just to get to the frontline. While some skirmishes play out like puzzles, others devolve into long, attritional exchanges – not least since units can also heal up next to captured towns by spending a small sum equivalent to damage taken (albeit weakening the town’s defences in the process). Having your CO on the battlefield allows them to have a more direct impact, but since you need to keep them alive at all costs, one small mistake can undo half an hour of careful progress. Factor in that fog of war doesn’t seem to have any impact on the AI, and the game’s habit of suddenly dropping in new waves of enemy units for which you couldn’t reasonably have prepared, and you’ll see the Defeat screen more often than seems fair. At times it feels as if you’re being taught how to fail a map before you get the chance to beat it.
Wargroove also pilfers Advance Wars’ least appealing tendency: rather than actually make the AI smarter, it unbalances the map and starting units to favour the enemy. But where Intelligent Systems tended to wait until the final missions before really ramping things up, the difficulty curve spikes regularly here. Sliders to reduce enemy damage dealt or to boost your cash reserves feel less like a sop to beginners so much as a necessary corrective to wonky balancing. Still, if you’re not the kind to stubbornly persevere with a stage until the trick to getting through it becomes clear, you might well consider this a blessing.
Multiplayer doesn’t solve all of these problems, though Wargroove does feel altogether fairer when the playing field is level. The customisation tools are exemplary: there’s a flexible stage creator that doesn’t just let you build single maps, but also allows you to assemble them into a campaign, with an overworld into which you can slot and connect your creations. Yet the underlying game could have done with the time and attention spent on all these features and options. Taken on its own merits, it’s a challenging turn-based strategy, with plenty to admire. As an homage, however, it’s a reminder of the value of design by subtraction. We once suggested Advance Wars had the most refined ruleset since chess; Chucklefish’s approach is akin to assuming chess could be improved by adding a dozen pieces and making the board twice as big. It’s a game that follows the steps of another while changing the rhythm – and in doing so, never settles into its own groove.
Rather than make the AI smarter, it unbalances the map and starting units to favour the enemy