Warside review

There are two methods for enjoying Nintendo’s exclusive titles on non-Nintendo hardware. For some, emulation offers a way to enjoy the exploits of Mario, Zelda, Kirby, and Samus. But for others, an alternative approach involves playing clones like Warside. London-based Lavabird’s effort is about as close as a developer can get to imitating Advance Wars without getting a cease-and-desist notice from Nintendo’s attorneys.

Like Intelligent Systems’ beloved Game Boy Advance title, Warside’s campaign begins with a succession of missions that serve as a tutorial to turn-based, gridded combat. Here, you’ll learn the fundamentals of movement, attacking, and building capture, as well as the capabilities of infantry, armored, air, and naval units.

Resisting Innovation

Expectedly, Warside doesn’t impart all of rudiments, expecting you to learn the majority of specifics on your own. Across the 23-stage campaign, you’ll discover details like the tide-turning abilities of each commanding officer or how to exploit a CPU that struggles to protect critical assets like heavy armor or supply chains. Anyone who enjoys strategy games might experience an upset or two when one of Warside’s levels feels like a puzzle game. Except for this occasional conundrum, it’s a light cerebral workout.

If you’ve played any of the Advance Wars games or copycats like Wargroove and Tiny Metal, then you probably already know how units adhere to a rock, scissors, paper-style system. There are several minor differences here. But save for strengthening and speeding the procedure of seizing structures (diminishing the ebb-and-flow of protracted battles) most of the changes weaken the experience.

Battling Small Inconveniences

Although eliminating a need to confirm an attack order might shave a second from each turn, the decision means that an unintentional button press can force you into restarting a twenty-minute fight. Warside also eliminates the traditional in-game encyclopedia. Not only are these databases helpful for explaining unit abilities and drawbacks but they habitually flesh out the personalities of faction leaders. Given Warside’s bland storytelling, this is a missed opportunity to inject some novelty into a wholly predictable plot.

Elsewhere, there are other oversights. I won’t fault Warside for not having cross-play ready at launch, since only the PC version has been released. But I can’t overlook a campaign that ends unexpectedly and doesn’t even provide players with the number of stages stated on its Steam page. Likewise, there’s mention of passive CO abilities, but I didn’t see any of these a week after launch. Elsewhere, there’s only a modicum of difference between the game’s quartet of factions. And while there’s some variation with mission types, with a bit of escorting and guarding, most of the time you’re just slaughtering CPU opponents.

Conclusion

Fortunately, Warside isn’t a complete loss and there are signs of advancement. At present, the game’s online component is functional. Competent matchmaking can bring a pair of digital generals to a public or private battlefield, although across six matches, I experienced one mysterious disconnection. There’s also a map editor that allows you to create your own skirmishes. It’s fairly easy to use, with conveniences like automatic meshing of terrain tiles. However, some usage hints would undoubtedly help the component feel like a completed product. Except for solemn-faced commander portraits not jiving with the game’s cartoonish visuals, Warside’s artistry is commendable with it’s chibi commandos and tanks that resemble toys.

Although the two-person development team has been regularly patching the game, Warside still has a way to go. If Lavabird is able to deliver on the declarations of its Steam page, consider raising the score correspondingly. But with several missing features, the title should have been released as part of the Early Access program.

Warside was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.