That sheeniness gives an even greater toylike quality to the bombers and warships. Yes, it didn't make a great first impression for me, I have to admit, but over time I have come to enjoy elements of it at least. Gone is the chunky pixel art, replaced by sheeny 3D models of glossy tanks and gormless soldiers. There's new stuff this time around, though, mainly a new art style, which has been pretty unpopular from what I've seen. Both were originally made for the Game Boy Advance, and I have a memory, I think, of having them bundled together on a cartridge back then. The new Advance Wars on Switch is actually two old Advance Wars - Advance Wars itself and its sequel, Black Hole Rising. It was a mixture of: next time I'll do this then that then this! A mixture of: I'm dead here already, so what happens if I try something weird just to see what happens? The bright paint, the revving of engines, the fog of war being pushed back like snow banking and shifting in front of a holy snow plough! And is there anything in turn-based tactic games better than the corrugated click you get from taking the Advance Wars movement arrow for a quick chug across the map? Availability: Out on Switch on 20th April.Developer: WayForward, Nintendo, Intelligent Systems.The mark of a great tactics game, though? Even as I continued playing, grinding my way towards a defeat I had already seen quite clearly, I was having an excellent time. Somehow I knew I had screwed it up, which is the mark of a good tactics game. I would lose the airport and before I could take it back they would have whacked a perimeter of other units around it - junk units, sure, but time-wasters on a map in which tempo was everything. But deeper, somehow, I also knew that I had just blown the entire thing. At the time, I had a twinge that this was very bad, and a hope that I could still turn it all around. Yes, busy pressing my advantage and all that - or so I thought - but it allowed an enemy I had seen but not worried about to start taking the airport back. Heading off for the front line, I left a newly captured airport undefended. Brilliantly, I knew it at the time, as well. Day 9 I think, and I made a mistake that cost the whole battle.

Nintendo's turn-based classic is back in a generous new compilation.

Tank battle heroes switch