Gamertell Review: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Title: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Price:$34.99
System(s): Nintendo DS
Release Date:1/21/08
Publisher (Developer):Nintendo (Intelligent Systems)
ESRB Rating: “E10+“ for Everyone 10+
Pros: Interesting new direction, great story, fantastic new units, WiFi compatible, stylus control actually works
Cons: Fewer COs, hard to charge CO powers, overly challenging at times
Overall Score: 9.5/10
I was prepared to despise Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I had a whole little litany composed in my head, extolling the virtues of Advance Wars: Dual Strike and raining fire down upon Brenner’s Wolves. It was going to be a beautiful symphony of indignation.
Then I played Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I loved it. I ended up caring about the characters, and loving all of them almost as much as I loved Jake, Sasha, Colin, Hawke and Lash.
It is totally different than the other entries in the series. It has been stripped bare. Literally. There are fewer commanding officers, there are fewer CO powers, there are fewer extra menu options and there are even fewer colors. Instead it is a more realistic representation of warfare.
Despite that, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is incredibly entertaining. The overall message is even very optimistic, despite the dismal tone that accompanies assorted events throughout the game.
Gameplay – 9/10
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin begins with Will, whose military school was destroyed when meteors fell. He then dug himself out of the demolished cafeteria. He is picked up by Cpt. Brenner and Lt. Linn, of Brenner’s Wolves. Together they go searching for survivors.
The game itself feels as though it is split into three different sections, as there are three different opposing forces throughout the game. It is a clever way to set things up, as the progress helps you bond with the characters in your troop. It also helps prepare you for the real villain, who is only revealed near the end of the first section.
There are also some new units tossed in. They are the bike, flare, duster, gunboat and anti-tank. My favorite is the anti-tank, which is a direct and indirect unit that specializes in tearing apart any mechanized unit. The flare lights up areas in fog situations, and the bike is an extremely mobile unit for capturing cities. The gunboat is a transporter with a single shot. The duster is an all purpose plane which can attack ground units and other air units. The anti-tank is best though.
I had only one complaint. The CO power system is broken. You don’t get to utilize it in the story mode until around 15 battles. After that point, you are allowed to load a CO into a unit at a factory or your HQ. Then you wait 15 minutes (or more) fighting as unit to charge up the CO power. By the time it has charged, you no longer need it. Also if the unit with the CO is killed, the gauge is reset. The CO powers are practically pointless.
The silver lining to that complaint is the CO’s new sphere of influence. Units around the the CO are stronger and perform better. In fact, the CO Forsythe has no CO power, and instead has a larger and stronger sphere of influence.
Design – 10/10
Days of Ruin is the best looking, and sounding, entry in the series. The characters, while still cartoonish, seem more realistic. The military units also have a bit more realism injected into them. There are no more blobs or pipe-runners.
Like in previous entries, each CO has their own theme that plays during battle. They tend to fit the character’s personality, and most of them are quite catchy. I especially enjoyed Gage and Forsythe’s personal themes.
Battle is unchanged for the most part. You move a unit within attacking range of your opponent and attack. There’s one difference - the stylus actually works this time! It is easy to play the entire game with just the stylus. Its almost more comfortable to only use touch screen controls.
Features – 10/10
There are two hallmarks in Days of Ruin - map creation and Nintendo WiFi Connection compatibility. The map creation in this entry is sublime. Creating advanced and complicated maps is effortless. Since you can share maps online, it makes you want to create more.
The WiFi battling is unbeatable. It is the best, strategic, DS WiFi battling experience. You can fight against people around the world, or your friends. Sadly, voice chat is only available in battles with friends. I engaged in two very different Worldwide matches January 19, 2008. (I also won both!) A WiFi battle is a one-on-one fight. An interesting twist is the map you are assigned to is random, and revealed once battle starts.
Overall – 9.5/10
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is the first must-have game of 2008. If you own a DS and you don’t also own a copy of this game, then you aren’t a gamer. It doesn’t have all of the special features and colors of previous Advance Wars titles, but still manages to be phenomenal game. It’s a great way to start to start 2008.
Editor’s Note: The overall score is not necessarily an average. Sections might have been weighted to reflect the importance of some features over others.
Look [Advance Wars: Days of Ruin Photo Gallery] Site [Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]
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Personally, Im glad that they toned down the CO powers in this new iteration of the series. In the last game, they were seriously overpowered. I cant count how badly it threw me off in my TBS skills. It got to a point where the Dual Strike powers became a cruch, hurting much of the strategy and challenge out of the game. I understand you want to make the game accessible, but dont make it THAT accessible. I am a little dissapointed in that system of charging the CO powers… but it doesnt even remotely bother me in the long run. This game really is one of the best on the DS, and a must have for all DS owners. Good luck tryin to find one for a little bit though, theyre selling like hotcakes.
on January 21, 2008 at 09:36 PM - LINK