Full Feed
In-depth Advance Wars: Days of Ruin CO impressions
One of the most crucial decisions in an Advance War game against a real opponent concerns appointing an appropriate commanding officer. In Advance Wars: Dual Strike, players determined on which map the scuffle ensued, which helped in CO selection. The same can’t be said for Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, where Worldwide WiFi matches occur on random maps and have different conditions. It is essential to know the new COs and their capabilities - which is where this list comes in.
The following is an in-depth review and ranking of eight of the 12 playable COs in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. I’d have liked to have covered all 12, but I have only clocked 23 hours in the game and reached chapter 20 in the campaign so it is impossible. Each of the characters’ pros and cons concerning their abilities are listed in an attempt to help players jump right into WiFi with fair warning. There are absolutely no spoilers for the story mode, but people who like to begin a game with no prior knowledge concerning characters may want to stop reading here.
The new COs are listed from absolutely essential to almost useless. Boosts granted by the COs spheres of influence, known officially as the CO zone, are gaged by stars since that is how the game describes them.
- Forsythe Forsythe is probably the best bet for any situation based on his versatility and ease of use. His CO zone is the largest in the game that I have encountered so far. Any kind of unit within a five space radius of him receives a single star boost to both attack and defense. He has absolutely no CO power, but the indiscriminate range and capabilities of his standard sphere of influence make up for it. Plus, even though he’s an old man, he doesn’t have that old man smell!
- Brenner Brenner is pretty useful, and a great choice for beginners. He has one of the larger CO zones, which covers units within a three space radius of him, that adds two stars to the defense of all units in that zone. His CO power is also incredibly useful, as “Reinforce All Units” heals all damaged units by three. Brenner is essentially Andy from Advance Wars: Dual Strike. If CO gauges weren’t such a chore to charge, he’d probably be number one on this list.
- Gage I like Gage, and not just for his pretty, androgynous Japanese rock star look. (It helps though.) Even though he isn’t one of the best COs, I enjoy deploying him on WiFi missions. His modest CO zone assists all naval and indirect-attack forces which are within two spaces of him. It also boosts the forces attack by two stars and defence by one. His CO power, “Longshot”, lets indirect units hit two spaces further than they normally would. Think of him as the new Grit. He’s nearly identical to the next CO on this list, but his superior CO zone boosts earns him a higher spot.
- Isabella Isabella is extremely similar to Gage. The two are practically interchangable, so the reasoning behind choosing which of them to deploy is asthetic. Isabella’s CO zone is the same size as Gage’s, and boosts the defense and attack of all units by one star. Their CO powers are even similar, since “Deep Strike,” also lets her indirect-units attack two spaces further than normal. “Deep Strike” also allows her indirect-units to move two spaces further than normal as well.
- Waylon Waylon looks like one of those men who wear too much cologne. You can practically smell it dripping off of him. Despite that, he is a fairly competant CO, provided the map will have an airport. Like Tasha, who sits securely at the bottom of this list, Waylon’s abilities only cover aircraft. Unlike Tasha, his abilities are useful. His CO zone covers air units within two spaces of him and boosts their attack by two stars and their defense by three. “Wingman,” his CO power, also manages to be fairly useful, as it boosts all of his aircrafts’ defense.
- Will Will is a mediocre CO. He’s a likable, cute character, but not really up to par with the other COs in the game. His CO zone is average, but unnecessarily specific. It only covers direct attack ground units, and even then only gives them a two star attack bonus. His CO power suffers from the same failings. “Rally Cry” also only applies to direct attack ground units, and all it does is lets those units move two spaces further than normal. The only time I would recommend Will is if there was a need to capture a certain amount of bases within a set time limit. His abilities are reminiscent of Sami’s.
- Lin Lin disappoints me. She is one of those COs where you expect more because she looks so darn cool, only to be let down. Her CO zone is a joke, it only covers units which are directly next to her. Thankfully it doesn’t discriminate and gives a two star attack and defense boost to any unit next to her. Her CO power, “Scout,” should have been useful in the maps with fog, since it increases ground units vision by two and reveals enemy units in forests or reefs within her vision. For some reason, I keep feeling like the flare unit is more useful than her CO power. The flare is certainly easier to use. Lin is like the recent Mortal Kombat games, they look good, but leave you unfulfilled in the end.
- Tasha It’s a good thing Tasha has looks and personality, because she certainly doesn’t have any useful battlefield skills. Like Lin, her CO zone’s influence only covers units directly next to her. It gets even worse, as it only boosts air units. All air units next to her receive a whopping four star increase to attack and a two star increase to defense. With that kind of CO zone surprise, you’d expect a fantastic CO power as well - don’t. “Sonic Boom” extends the movement range of air units by two. Since you’ll never know if airports will even be available on the random WiFi map, Tasha should stay on the sidelines. Waylon makes Tasha obsolete once he’s unlocked.
Read [Kotaku] Site [Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]
Keep up with the latest gaming goodness! - 
Subscribe to our feed
E3 2010
"Don't miss any of this year's E3 announcements. We've got it covered like a warm, pixel-powered Snuggie."
WWDC 2010
WWDC is now the largest Apple event of the year, but what does Apple have in store for us at WWDC 2010? The iPhone HD? iPhone OS 4.0? Safari 5? A new Apple TV? Stick with Appletell for complete coverage and in depth looks at the new products and technologies as they're announced.
Important Importables
Jenni Lada brings us information about all of the groovy new gaming imports from around the world.
Really? You dislike the Tactical 1 square CO effects that much?
Firstly, you’re gonna really hate Tabitha then…0 CO range.
Secondly, this applies to Tasha more than Lin, as Lin can do a spectacular job with indirect fire units, the CO abilities are great for a “push” attack, using them on the front lines, breaking open holes, and using other units to pound the artiller and rockets (and anti-tanks in this game) flat, even if that means without CO bonuses…
Thirdly, Tasha is far from useless (granted, you’re right about random maps…but in friendly, pick your own maps). When you play friendly games, especially the pass-and-play rounds, you can easily use her CO power to outmaeuver then enemy and smash up some of those Indirects that are so dangerous, much better than Waylon’s defense bonus, as most air units drop dead after 1-2 rounds of getting attacekd anyways. Plus, that inate 40% attack bonus will easily destroy threats better than Waylon’s 20% attack boost. Going back to my point of the undurable planes, Tasha’s 14% defense drop is going to harm her less than Waylon’s 20% attack drop.
Finally, I’d like to point out what I LIKED about this impression. You definately hit Brenner’s points right on the dot. Granted, he feels more like the Advance Wars 2 Andy (No attack boost), but he does definately fight strongly along with the other “big guns” of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin…
on January 23, 2008 at 02:21 PM - LINKYour totally right man, Forsythe and Brenner are awesome! Chalders a cheap Co though in my humble opinion. CO Square range is 3 and all units in it get 5 hp each turn plus 50% attack boost….ouch.
on January 25, 2008 at 06:19 PM - LINKCaulder is definately the most overpowered CO in the game, quite possibly in Advanced Wars history! 3 square CO radius with a 60% attack/defense boost (5 stars + CO zone auto veterancy) and gives his unit an 80% attack/defense boost (5 stars + CO unit auto veterancy) AND heals all units 5 hp per turn. Fortunately, he doesn’t have a CO power. Unfortunately, he doesn’t need one. That said, you can’t use him on Wi-fi so the game isn’t completely broken. I personally like Tabitha because if you stick her in a War Tank her 5 star boost to attack and defense + 20% co unit veterancy + 10% co zone boost she can pretty much hold a front line down by herself.
on February 27, 2008 at 01:20 AM - LINKAlso, putting Tasha in a flight of bombers is just plain brutal. They pretty much 1 shot anything and everything and with her co power you can rush in through missile minimum range and take out a target without fear of reprisal. She definately is at least on par with Waylon if not better.
@ Braden: I’m more of a diversify and swarm kind of Advance Wars player, so a single space tactical advantage doesn’t offer much to me. You do make some good points.
@ Colin: Forsythe and Brenner are both really awesome. :D
@ Aaron: I agree with you on Calder, he’s not fair at all. I agree with you on Tabitha, if you’ve got the right map she can really wipe the field clean.
on February 27, 2008 at 03:53 PM - LINKTasha “obsolete”?!?! Has anyone checked the CO effects on the charts? Tasha has four stars attack up, and two stars defense. Waylon has 2 attack up, and three stars defense. Since to attack is better to defend in this game, Tasha was given a smaller CO range to keep it fair. I’m personally more of an offensive guy, so I always use Tasha, besides the three times I tested Waylon. And, heck, if we’re here to talk about “obsolete” CO’s, why are we not all using Caulder?
on March 20, 2008 at 05:07 PM - LINKThat may be true Jack, but if your opponent has a massive army built up with plenty of troops, the plane carrying her could easily be shot down, taking away the CO effect and forcing the person using her to rebuild the CO gauge again.
Caulder can’t be used in online play, which is why we’re not ‘all’ using him. If he could, I suspect quite a few people would choose to use him as a CO.
I personally prefer Waylon’s defense boost as it comes in more handy when missiles or anti-aircraft vehicles head for my planes.
on March 20, 2008 at 05:22 PM - LINKCaulder can be used on friend Wi-Fi battles. Get as many friends as possible, but they probably won’t remain so for long.
on March 20, 2008 at 05:34 PM - LINKIn all my experience, Tasha has only been shot down once because a jet came out of the rain. When I have Tasha there is no “massive army”, because she’s killed them all. Again, the “better” one is whether you are offensive or defensive.
Sorry to any pro-Waylon peoples if I was overly aggressive.
No worries Jack - you weren’t overly aggressive at all. Passionate? Yes. Overly aggressive? No.
That’s very true. CO Superiority is all about your style of play.
on March 20, 2008 at 05:37 PM - LINKCaulder does seem overpowering, but a simple CO effect from tasha, or even better; Gage, can wipe out Caulder’s unit, so don’t sell those Lazurians Short…
Also, Will isn’t exactly useless either, if you have that nagging sense that the enemy has a rocket that’s trained on your units, a recon job will let you know. Even if there is no fog of war, Will’s CO Power can allow you war tank[s] to walk right into the enemy’s rocket, say a friendly “hello” and tear them to shreds.
I wouldn’t underestimate Tasha though, you know how she loves her revenge… O_O
on March 27, 2008 at 03:45 PM - LINKThat is true about Tasha. XD
And you are right about COs. Under certain conditions, some COs really can become more valuable than others. Even ones above which I classified as less useful can become incredibly essential if the conditions in battle are correct.
on March 27, 2008 at 04:15 PM - LINKI totally agree with you, and i would most defenitely (definitely? definetely? spell check) place the COs in the order you chose, everyone has their values, but there’s always a need to kick butt.
Everyone has a personality, and so do the COs in the game…all your strength in this game depends on how you use your army, not the extremely rare CO powers, that were so generously made expensive and tiring by nintendo. ;)
If only I could figure out how to use friend codes at all… I want every single person on this debate to fight, each using their favorite CO, and just have a blast… 4 at a time though…
It’s too bad my wi-fi organization
skills won’t allow it…
BTW= my favorite CO to use so far [seeing as I’ve only just unlocked Greyfield] is none other than the dead man himself, Brenner… how about you guys?
on March 27, 2008 at 09:22 PM - LINKI’m such a geek ^-^
on March 27, 2008 at 09:24 PM - LINKUm, the reason everyone has their values is cause those of us who are good with them can use them to kick butt. Waylon can just defend his butt. Tasha’s the one who slaps him around.
on March 27, 2008 at 09:58 PM - LINKWith the friend code, you give someone your DS’s code OVER THE PHONE/EMAIL, and you get theirs, and someone picks a map,then you go. I don’t have my DS right now, so I don’t have my code. No Caulder.
And, sadly, only two people can play. YOu can have 2 other computers though….
Both of you make some great points.
I definitely agree - no Caulder.
As for friend codes, here’s mine:
Mariye - 395260 7054499
Perhaps we should set a night/time and have a battle royal? :D
on March 27, 2008 at 11:03 PM - LINKI may be wrong, but I believe your code is one digit too long. Mine is 528412264470 , email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
on March 27, 2008 at 11:30 PM - LINKAnd the CO question… well, I’ve been defending Tasha the whole time. (Caulders cheap) I think Penny is the worst CO.
Ah! You’re right. My 4 key stuck. XD
Mariye - 395260 705499
I like using Penny in Fog of War situations. :D
on March 27, 2008 at 11:35 PM - LINKThanks
good i dea… i think my friend code is
ummm… how do you find that out???
I’m so lost…
on March 28, 2008 at 03:08 PM - LINKGo to your friend roster. IT’s on the top.
on March 28, 2008 at 05:23 PM - LINKo wait, i haven’t logged onto wi-fi yet… sorry. I’ll get on that ASAP
on March 28, 2008 at 06:51 PM - LINKMaybe sometime after the weekend we could all battle :D
on March 28, 2008 at 11:20 PM - LINKsounds good to me. I’m getting my f-code today, so sunday would be fine.
on March 29, 2008 at 09:02 AM - LINKEmail me a date and time. I’ll try to get my mic.
on March 29, 2008 at 11:46 AM - LINKBy playing so many hours with this awsome game, i really believe my favourite are definitely :
Penny, Will, Brenner and Lin, especially Lin.
With those guys, I have slaughtered so many tabithas in a row. Of course, it’s a strategy game. Just depends at 100% on your game plan than your favourite CO.
My Favourites : Penny, Brenner, Lin (awesome, Lin the best) and Will
Tactically, Tabitha is a really awesome CO, still the time to grow the CO field by one square take ages.
I’m testing Greyfield, tactically not bad at all.
Enjoy
on April 2, 2008 at 08:25 AM - LINKTabitha’s only made to be a super unit, and the computer doesn’t manage it’s unts very well. You’ll have to play against me with Penny, cause I don’t see how her advantage is that great. I’m assuming you’re using Lin on more than just Fog of War missions?
I really like it how these CO’s aren’t bad with anything, as opposed to the other Advanced Wars.
on April 2, 2008 at 08:58 AM - LINKIf you’d all like to come on and play, perhaps we could all schedule a time say on Thursday where we could all meet up and play Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
Usually anytime between 7-9pm Central time would work for me. :D
on April 2, 2008 at 01:14 PM - LINK