Athena Crisis review

Athena Crisis review

As a seasoned gamer with decades of tactical combat under my belt, I must confess that Athena Crisis has caught my attention like a moth to a flame. The game’s striking resemblance to Advance Wars, one of my all-time favorites, is uncanny and yet, refreshingly unique in its own right.


In simpler terms, if a game heavily borrows or imitates another game’s style or mechanics, Advance Wars is often considered the original source of inspiration. Athena Crisis looks so similar to the classic Advance Wars by Intelligent Systems that it might be mistaken for a part of the same series upon first sight.

Similar to its model, this version features maneuvering soldiers across an adorable game map, and accomplishing tasks that range from annihilating all enemy units, capturing their base, or enduring a certain number of rounds, to conducting missions where you must tactically guide your team through each turn to ensure their survival.

Athena Crisis review

In the game, each unit in your team and the enemy’s has a limited number of moves on the map before it can attack or perform an action. You can explore options by clicking on any unit, whether friendly or foe, to discover these move limits and plan your strategy effectively. The goal is to optimize the number of moves and offensive, defensive, and evasive abilities to maintain an advantage. Rash tactics such as a full-scale assault usually result in defeat, as your units become vulnerable to attack or find themselves in unfavorable situations.

Additionally, you’ll encounter modifiers akin to the deceptive cloak of the ever-malicious war fog, offering a concealed refuge for your adversaries. Moreover, Athena Crisis doesn’t shy away from venturing into some rather eccentric realms. Brace yourself for encounters with various fantastical foes, such as dinosaurs reminiscent of Jurassic Park and hordes of the undead. The game offers a delightful mix of map types, all appearing vibrant and lively, resembling an intensified 8-bit game.

Athena Crisis review

Similar to Top Trumps or Pokemon, each unit in Athena Crisis has unique abilities that can be leveraged. It’s about figuring out what strategies work best using your intuition. You’ll also discover special abilities to enhance your battles, resembling a lighter version of Commanding Officer Powers. However, you won’t find massive screen-filling attacks like in some games; instead, expect features such as the ability to buy new units within a level at reduced prices, or boosts to attack and defense.

In Athena Crisis, battles progress more swiftly than in any Advance Wars game, eliminating attack animation sequences and instead depicting tiny pixel units colliding directly on the map. The game is challenging too, as it becomes clear early on that the CPU is quite intelligent, able to anticipate your strategy if you’re not perfectly tactical. If you have experience with games like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem, this shouldn’t pose a significant issue; however, beginners might benefit from spending some time with the in-game tutorial, which offers important, though somewhat lengthy, guidance on how to play Athena Crisis effectively.

Athena Crisis review

As an open-source game that supports cross-platform play and saves, Athena Crisis offers unique features such as a level creator and the ability to make and share custom missions, maps, and campaigns. These elements can be played cooperatively with strategists across the internet, making it more enduring and potentially popular than its predecessors. Additionally, during this early phase of development, there are numerous attempts to replicate levels from the original Advance Wars series, which adds a touch of strangeness to the creative endeavors being pursued.

This game offers a lot for fans of the genre, despite not having the same level of refined design, compelling narratives, immersive world-building, and overarching grandeur that made Intelligent Systems’ GBA games iconic. However, it makes up for this with an abundance of unit types and environmental factors to stimulate your imagination, and numerous play modes that guarantee a rewarding experience. As a result, it’s a commendable attempt overall, offering turn-based strategy enthusiasts countless hours of engaging gameplay.

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2024-10-05 14:46