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Outstanding War Strategy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 21
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Days of Ruin is the second Advance Wars title released for the DS, the first being the now hard-to-find Advance Wars: Dual Strike. With over 120 hours logged on the first game, Dual Strike provided excellent entertainment for under 25 cents per hour. Based on my first 5 hours on this new release, I'm sure I'll get the same value out of Days of Ruin. One can easily spend over 100 hours completing every map, mission, and rank in the game.

Days of Ruin is functionally similar to the original, keeping most everything that made the original so addictive. Still, Days of Ruin departs from previous Advance Wars titles in enough ways to keep the new game fresh. As previously, a campaign mode provides a story-line series of increasingly difficult maps for the one-player gamer. Multi-player modes are also available including a Nintendo Wi-Fi mode that allows you to challenge players around the globe. The artificial intelligence of the computer players is enough to challenge anyone, but the ready availability of human players makes the replay value of this title nearly infinite.

Bottom line:
Outstanding value.
Outstanding fun.
Outstanding replay value.

The latest and greatest Advance Wars

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Being a veteran of the 3 prior games (Advance Wars 1 & 2 for the GBA and Dual Strike for the DS), my expectations are very high for the latest title in this fantastic strategy franchise. I'm happy to report that this Advance Wars satisfies most of those expectations. The addition of several new units adds even more depth to an already deep gaming experience. Surprisingly, a few units were taken out as well to keep things pure and simple, and I applaud the developer's brave decision which ultimately is for the best.

A new take on war gives this game a fresh feeling, although feeling familiar at the same time. It sheds it's cutesy, almost comical approach to war, for a more serious and rugged post-apocalyptic setting.

The addition of the CO system adds an exciting new layer to the already deep gameplay. This time around you can actually have a CO out in the field in the fray with your army. The dynamics of boosting your CO bar in order to use your CO power have been modified dramatically.

The online portion is also fleshed out: you can battle with others online, and you can upload and download maps from Nintendo WiFi Connection to keep the gameplay experience fresh through the addition of new maps. Voice chat through VOIP is also present, but you can only do this with people in your friends list, so don't expect Halo-like trash talk fests. :)

The only drawback is the lack of unlockables (which to me was icing on the Advance Wars cake). Overall this is a worthy addition to a very high Advance Wars pedigree, and a title that's worth adding to your videogame library. 5 stars.

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*Addendum*: So far I have clocked in 51 hours into this game, and I see no end in sight. I am completely hooked, even more so than the three previous games combined. I find myself downloading recommended maps every day and creating new ones every few days while whistling Gage's and Brenner's BGM. This is truly the best Advance Wars yet.

Spectacular

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: January 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Proving that change can be quite good, Nintendo's long running portable turn-based strategy series Advance Wars gets a fresh coat of paint with Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. Taking a more mature themed storyline, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin still features pretty much the same tried and true gameplay that fans of the series will come to expect and will be quite easy for them to pick up and play. Besides a more mature themed storyline, Days of Ruin also features a more comic-style artistic design scheme and a less cartoony feel to it as well, making it a pleasure to look at as well as play. Sadly, the Shop that was in previous installments of the series has been done away with, but what we get instead is some spectacular multiplayer and Wi-Fi options that only up the replay value even more so than ever before. The single player mode, which has been shortened when compared to Dual Strike, is still great as well, but the multiplayer options are where the most fun is to be had. While there's really nothing new in terms of the overall gameplay mechanics of Advance Wars, Days of Ruin remains a spectacular strategy game that delivers on all fronts. All in all, fans of the Advance Wars series will should cry with joy once they pop in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin, which is undoubtedly one of the best installments in the series, and one of the best strategy games and multiplayer experiences you'll have on your DS.

The Best Just Got... Not Quite as Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 23
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In an earlier review I declared the Advanced Wars the best games ever for the GBA and Dual Strike met or exceeded everything the previous two achieved. So Days of Ruin had a lot to live up to and.... didn't.

Let me start with what I didn't like. After three iterations of Advanced Wars I grew rather fond of the cast of Commanding Officers but DoR ashcans them all replacing them with a whole new cast of characters. It reminds me of when Capcom decided to swap out almost all the Street Fighter characters in SFIII. It just doesn't feel right. There is also a much smaller selection of CO's compared to Dual Strike and you don't even get to choose your CO during the main campaign. There are no more dual commanders, commander advancements and even the shop is gone. Another thing I have to take an issue with is the music. It's a blaring beat on a short loop that grows maddening after a while like Chinese water torture. At some point I had to completely turn the sound off on my DS or go crazy. Finally, this is the most verbose Advanced Wars ever and it can get tedious. I just want to fight not read a novel.

On the plus side there are some great new units including motorcycles to get troops to cities faster and flares to temporarily get rid of fog of war for a section of the map. My worry is that the more units they add the more complicated the game gets and the whole allure of Advanced Wars is in its simplicity. The Duster, for example, is a new aircraft that can attack both air and ground units. Isn't that what the helicopter is for? There are also additional training missions during the main campaign that can be a lot of fun. Actually the training missions are sort of a replacement for the purchasable missions. In this case you have to earn them rather than buy them. The CO powers have been toned down and made more difficult to use. Whether this is an improvement or not is debatable but I think the CO powers had become more annoying than useful. The single best improvement is the addition of unit advancements. As a unit destroys enemy units it can advance up to veteran level with slight increases in power.

Days of Ruin takes a departure from the previous three games with few improvements. The world differs, the commanders are new, and even the style of art has changed dramatically. What remains the same is the gameplay which continues to be excellent. My feeling is that games in a series should always improve and unfortunately, in almost every way, Dual Strike was superior to Days of Ruin. Because of this I cannot in good conscience give DoR anything higher than four stars.

Takes the best of Advance Wars and improves it, the worst of Advance Wars and trashes it.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you enjoyed the first three Advance Wars, there's no doubt you'll like this one too. While I did enjoy the games, I was not fanatical about it and I would eventually stop playing it after a few weeks or so.

I swapped out Dual Strike for Days of Ruin and I must say this is the most addicting Advance Wars to date. They basically took everything that I felt were flaws or problems with the series, and fixed it up and improved upon what was already good.

Some things to know:

* No more cheap AI during Fog of War! That's right! Now the computer is actually AFFECTED by the fog just like you are! This makes the game more realistic and the computer doesn't have a cheap edge like they used to!

* A better CO system. If you liked the insane CO powers, you may not be happy with it but I personally felt it was too overpowering. The powers are still there, but innovated in a way that is more realistic and requires you to rely more on strategy rather than Meteor Strike or Power of Money.

* A much better storyline. The days of "What's a tank?" and "Come on you Black Hole monkey faces!" are gone with more realistic dialouge and a much better story as a result. This game goes for a much more realistic feeling all the way, and it's great to finally have an Advance Wars game where the storyline and dialouge doesn't suck.

* A better unit balance. New additions and removal of units such as the Neotank and Megatank make everything more fair, and less reliant on building hundreds of the most expensive units. I have not seen better balance since the first Advance Wars, in fact I would say it's much better. Some new additions like the bike and anti-tank are great and come with pros and cons that even them out.

* Design maps mode is better than ever! You can now store up to 50 custom made maps and even adjust the size of the maps (from 5x5 to 30x30)! There is also an addition of a new paint tool that allows you to fill whole regions of tiles that are the same with one go making the design process far less tedious.

* The music is great too. It's mostly a mix of rock and techno and while the soundtrack isn't perfect, there are some really neat songs. My personal favorite is Waylon's theme.

Wonderful graphics, music, gameplay, storyline, and BALANCE. It's definitely worth the $30, and I would grab a copy before it starts becoming hard to find. I have yet to play the multiplayer so I cannot comment on that, but I can tell you with confidence this is the best Advance Wars to date! Just beware that you may be in for some long sleepless nights once you get hooked. ;)

Best tactical strategy game on the DS, but just shy of perfection

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I like tactical strategy games in general (e.g. Panzer General, Final Fantasy Tactics, Heroes of Might & Magic series), and I adored Advanced Wars: Dual Strike. I play exclusively 1P games, I don't use the multiplayer functions of this game at all, so I write my review from this perspective.

Clearly, AW:DoR is the best, most refined AW game to date, and so far, it's the best strategy game I've ever found for the DS. It definitely deserves a full 5 stars, as I've been glued to it non-stop for about a month. If you enjoy strategy games at all, pick up this title, you definitely won't be disappointed.

And yet I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed. The two major improvements were to the touch screen control system and to the online capabilities, both taking greater advantage of the DS platform. Unfortunately, I'm just not that interested in either advancement. I do not use the touch screen for this game at all, I definitely prefer the direction pad and buttons (though I have to admit, the touch screen option is very well done and fun to use). I also don't use the wireless options of any DS game. It's not that the wireless options are bad, just that I prefer single-player games in general as there's no need to coordinate schedules, no delays at all. The DS in particular is an excellent system to fill dead time during bus or air travel, neither of which work well with other players. The multiplayer options of this title are actually very tempting (not only can you compete against your buddy in another location, but you can voice chat while doing so!), but multiplayer gaming just doesn't fit well into my busy life these days.

As a 1P game, AW:DoR is the best 1P strategy game that I have yet found for the DS. But it's just not better *in every possible way* than the previous title, Dual Strike. This is disappointing, and I considered rating the product 4 stars. But given how well designed it is, and that I've enjoyed 100 hours of gameplay already and look forward to more, I feel it deserves the full 5 stars.

The rest of my review is a detailed wish list of ways the 1P experience could be improved, along with some praise for noteworthy improvements over Advanced Wars: Dual Strike. If you're not interested in those details, my bottom line is that I highly recommend this as the best strategy game available for the DS today.

Wishlist for improvements:

The campaign is linear, with no optional side quests to explore. I miss the little secret labs, and the ability to unlock special unit types for later in the campaign! I wish there were more optional goals, side quests, and perhaps some strategic choice about how the campaign proceeds.

The game no longer keeps track of your score for the extra "free play" maps, nor do you get medals for solving them, nor do you win points for solving them, nor do you have to win access to unlock them. In short, the designers basically gutted all the reinforcers that made playing the extra maps fun! This is my single biggest complaint about the new game.

I wish free play maps came pre-configured for different default scenarios (e.g. this one has fog of war, this one has snow, this one uses these COs, etc.). It's great that the game allows you to tweak all settings for every free play map, but provide interesting and unique defaults for each map so you can more readily compare your experience with others. (Note that this also undercuts the fun of trying to complete a "checklist" of beating all "free play" maps, because now every map has identical defaults unless you expressly choose otherwise.)

Like other reviewers, I miss the Shop. Basically, the previous game required you to rack up points by playing the game, which could be spent to unlock various things (maps, CO uniforms, etc.). Human nature being what it is, having to win these little things is more fun than being given them up front. In this title, all the free play maps and CO outfits are available immediately, which is slightly disappointing.

The one multiplayer / community aspect I'd love is some sort of scoreboard, or score comparisons with your friends. This would allow me to play at my own pace w/o having to coordinate schedules with others, while still competing on the big board.

But even given the above limitations, the 1P game is still better than AW:Dual Strike. I love the new CO system, whereby the CO is attached to a specific unit. I prefer having a single CO over having tag team pairs like before. I like the fact that the units have been streamlined (stealth units weren't that interesting), though I would like the occasional oddball unit in the campaign mode. I love the fact that units can gain experience -- an excellent gameplay mechanic. I love the new tutorial screens, as well as the strategic advice screen. All in all, this game is extremely well done.

Solid game that tries new things, but falls short of expectations

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

~~~THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ THIS IF THAT IS A CONCERN FOR YOU~~~

Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm a big advance wars fan, and I was really looking forward to this game. I give the game's developers credit for trying new things in DoR and trying to take the game in a new direction. Some things that are great additions to the series include:
-Wifi! Its great to be able to play and share maps.
-Actually, thats about it.

The single-player campaign is passable, but to be honest, I did not enjoy it as much as previous installments. This game was advertised as being "darker" and "more mature." Really? Given the E rating, I wasn't expecting blood and guts everywhere, but did they have to add TWO 10-year-old-squeakier-than-ever Lashs' to the enemy team? (for those of you who do not remember Lash, she was the one who thought war was a game, and soldiers were toys.) Prepare for a lot of: "*SQUEE!* TANK GO BOOM BOOM NOW!! BoOOM!" At least previous installments were honest and straightforward about being a bit childish, this one attempts to hide its juvenile story behind more sophisticated drawings. I cannot take a game that contains any of the following seriously:
-A virus that make you *gasp* grow flowers
-Characters that have and randomly lose stereotypical accents
-"WHERE THERES LIFE, THERES HOPE!" (expect to hear that, oh, 60-70 times....per cutscene)
-EVIL, bloodthirsty villains...who decide to play(teehee.) nice and join you. (Mr.Bear said he didn't want to die!)
-Characters so flat that you can see right through them! (I'm serious. if you can't predict the story from the moment you put the game in...)
-Story lacked spirit. Really, there was nothing interesting about it.

Now, you may be thinking "Thats ok, Advance Wars was never really about the story. Its all in the awesome strategy!! I can skip the cutscenes if I want and go straight to the action!" Alright, I'll agree with you here. I could forgive the story that some developer let his 5th grader write it ,if there were a noticeable improvement in the strategic gameplay to make up for it. Sadly, I do not feel as though DoR succeeded on this count either. It is mediocre, hence the 3 stars, but nothing fantastic. Lets do a run down of in-play issues and disappointments:

-I was looking forward to gaining access to new units, but all of those added (carrier, anti-tank, flares ect) did not add much depth to the already existing gameplay.
-Lack of choice. In previous games, you had the ability to select your CO(s) when going into combat. It allowed you to tailor your team and your abilities to the challenges ahead. Upon failing a mission, you could go back, rethink your approach, and try something new. Heck, if you were completely stuck on one level, you could try a different one (typically, 3 or so were unlocked to you at a time) and take a crack at the problematic level later. It did not effect the story, but it allowed you to take a break from a frustrating level. In DoR, this is not the case, only one level at a time can advance the story. (Yes, there are side "training" levels, but they are even more aggravating and uninspired than the regular gameplay and have nothing to do with the story) This customization is sacrificed in the name of a piss-poor story that forces you to use one pre-designated CO per map.I would have loved more user customization, not less.
-The game designers advertised that CO powers and abilities were being reduced placing more emphasis on strategy. This is true for your units, not so for the enemy units. I am not complaining of difficulty here, its not that it is ridiculously hard, just irritating. You scratch an enemy unit, and then they turn around and one-shot yours. Prepare for a lot of "huh? why is my unit dead?"... For the record, simply making all of the enemy units stronger is not a satisfying way to create difficulty, try again.
- One more note on COs and CO powers: they feel more like an afterthought in this game, and may as well not be there. You don't even get them til well into the game! The COs do not lend themselves particularly well to any of the maps that you are forced to play on. Don't expect fancy flight-action when you get to play as an air-specialist! Mostly its a lot of generic play with Wil. Previously, more interesting COs allowed for more creative level design that would allow them to shine. Choosing the correct CO for a level was an important part of play!
- Difficulty could have been implemented through creative level design, this is also not the case. I felt like level design produced dull, repetitive, uninspired, slam-your-head-into-the-enemy-til-he-falls-over-50-turns-later style play with only a few interesting exceptions. I wish there had been more of the interesting ones.
-Lack of hard mode and other unlockables. Part of the fun of the previous games, for me, was unlocking all the nifty stuff in the war room, and trying my luck at the hard mode campaign. This had very little to do outside the single player. Like I did point out, wifi is great, so if you have lots of friends with AW, this may not be such a big problem.

SHORT VERSION FOR THE LAZY:
Days of Ruin had a lot going for it, its still an OK game. You'll probably chug on through it and enjoy it just fine. I suppose I just had very high expectations for this game, and it fell far short. I can only hope that things improve in the future. Shinier graphics and "cooler" (see: stereotyped and boring) characters do not redeem a completely ridiculous storyline, mediocre single player game, and lack of unlockables.

No Hard Campaign / No War room

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This latest addition to the advance wars game series falls far from the expected hype. If you have played 100's of hours on any of the former advance wars games you will find this game way to short with very little replay value. Overall the game was decent and probably would have been a great addition in the series so far, but the lack of a hard campaign makes campaign mode way to short. I beat the whole campaign in less than 50 hours with all S ranks and now there is not much of a reason to play any boards over. Combine that with no war room and where is any replay value ? How hard would it have been to add a hard campaign, or to score the free play boards and keep a record of them ? As for the story line be prepared to sit though page after page of silly dialogue screens. The end report, and good game for the 64 campaign boards or if you want to play against a human player. But the game has very little to offer after you beat the campaign.

More hours I have to find to waste!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: February 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I'm a big Advance Wars fan, having played all of the titles so far. I've been waiting for this for a while. It's supposed to be "darker", which I always thought was weird given the land is not PINK instead of green.

That's right. PINK. As in, I hope you like PINK, because you'll be seeing a lot of it. The future is full of ruined lands, and those ruined lands are PINK (e.g.: light red).

Great game though, as per usual. If you've never played advance wars, you can get any of the games and have a blast. For those who've played them, here are the differences:

-You can play ANY past mission you like after you've defeated it. I LOVE this feature.
-No more battlemaps store! :(
-Online play. Haven't used it enough to comment on it.
-No dual commanders (like the last title)
-Cannot choose COs.
-You may put COs in a unit and take them to the field. They have an effect radius, and gain CO power from enemy defeats within the radius. Then you may use a global CO power.
-Unit can get experience, 4 levels. I haven't noticed a practical difference.

Fun little game, I'd highly recommend!

A change of direction for advance wars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: February 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Buy this game it's a lot of fun with very high replay ability. If you are new to Advance Wars this is a good place to start because of the completely new story and characters. Fans of the series will fall in love with this new edition. The new story is in depth and adds to the addictiveness of the game. The units and structures are similar to the old ones but with a few twists. The new maps and controls are a nice improvement. My only disappointment was that there wasn't as many CO's in comparison to Dual Strike, so it's a good idea to get that one too or keep it if you already have it . The long awaited wifi capabilities are awesome too.

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