Up until the
new millennium hit, Nintendo wasn’t known for producing killer strategy games.
In fact, they weren’t known for producing any strategy games, a void that most
gamers never thought about filling. “Nintendo doesn’t make strategy games,” we
thought. “They make Mario, Zelda, and Metroid” – all action-oriented games.
But in the
early days of the Game Boy Advance, the Big N launched a series that took the
turn-based strategy genre by storm: Advance Wars. This handheld masterpiece
provided the harshest, most unforgiving challenge known to man while introducing
a new kind of turn-based strategy. It was cool, clever, and left my days in
ruin. Time didn’t seem to matter when playing Advance Wars. The primary concern
was getting through the current battle. After that, the next battle and so on
until the need for sleep finally prevailed. Upon waking, the fight began all
over again.
Most games lose
their luster pretty quickly. If you had told me that the Advance Wars series
would last long enough to be worthy of a fourth installment, I wouldn’t have
believed it. Yeah, it’s some developers release sequels regardless of quality.
But to be worthy – that would mean the series hadn’t lost its addictive lure.
Advance Wars:
Days of Ruin, the second DS iteration and fourth in the series, is a game that
looks and feels like more of the same. To change things up a bit, the
development team at Intelligent Systems added more than extra content – they
included things that are truly different from the series’ past.
The
Unrelenting War
The days of
standard, tough-as-nails battles are over. No longer are battles limited to
winning with the best strategy and the strongest army. Now you’ll have to be
willing to throw yourself into the arms of the enemy in order to save a comrade.
When your army is stuck with troops and ground vehicles, and your enemy is
prepared for an aerial assault, you will be forced to make a tough decision:
should my ground troops shield the tanks for now, which will hopefully last long
enough to be used when they’re really needed? Or should I protect the soldiers
at all costs, even if it means losing my most valuable vehicles, none of which
(that I currently have) are capable of defending themselves against aerial
attacks?
Players must go
to great lengths to preserve the battle as a whole to overtake the enemy. Aside
from suicide missions, where your men are used to shield one key ally, the game
doesn’t box you into one strategy. Any strategy could (potentially) lead to
victory. But while there isn’t one right way to win any particular battle, there
are an overwhelming number of ways to lose.
Battle sequences are now
displayed on both screens.
The animations haven’t left the frame-by-frame style
behind,
but the new, darker color display looks rugged and cool.
The enemy AI is
top-notch – getting ahead does not guarantee that you’ll be victorious. In
general, that’s usually the opposite. The harder you push forward, the smarter
the enemy becomes. They’ll change tactics, unit types, formations, and defense
strategies on-the-fly. At best, I am usually capable of beating a mission after
one loss. The initial play-through gives me the chance to see what the enemy is
up to, see how it’ll react to various assaults, and formulate a better strategy.
But in most cases I couldn’t get away with just one loss.
There were
times when, after struggling to keep up for an hour or so, I realized that the
battle would soon be too much for my team to bear. I could keep fighting, but
the enemy was slowly gaining the upper hand. It’s a strange feeling – on one
hand I hate losing, so much that I’m tempted to scream into the DS’s two-inch
screens. But at the same time I am excited – exasperated by what just happened,
but intrigued and encouraged to try again. This is the feeling the Advance Wars
series is known for creating. Fire Emblem, the other Nintendo strategy
series, is the only other game that can compare.
The new camera zoom feature allows you to play from a closer
view.
Anti-Attack
Among the
series advancements are an increase in unit types and an increase in units per
battle. Larger and deadlier tanks have taken the place of the rounded beasts of
the last game. Motorcycles allow ground troops to pass through roads faster but
prevents them from climbing mountains. Anti-tank and anti-aircraft vehicles are
now an integral part of most battles. Their use is an essential part of each
army’s defense. You’ll need strength in strategy and in numbers to wipe them
out, which is one of the reasons why battles often exceed the 30-minute mark.
Before diving
into an enemy’s death trap, you’ll have to build multiple, ultra-expensive
vehicles that can be sacrificed without remorse. If their sacrifice is too much
for your army to withstand, there’s no chance of winning. However, you may not
be able to proceed without their sacrifice. To reach the point where
bomb-dropping planes are expendable, you’ll need to defend against attacks and
keep the enemy from expanding their army as fast as yours.
In Dual Strike,
the first Advance Wars for the DS, players could earn special CO powers.
Unleashing them would either damage enemies, or enhance or heal your allies.
Days of Ruin has that same feature but it works differently. Rather than select
one or two COs for each battle, you’ll equip COs to individual units while
standing on a factory. Once equipped, a special zone surrounds that unit. When
attacks occur within that zone, either with the CO-equipped unit or other units
standing within the zone, points are added to your CO meter. Only after filling
it – which is by no means an easy task – will you be able to unleash the CO’s
special powers.
This change
isn’t necessarily good or bad, but it does force you to focus on the battle and
each unit as a whole. In this game, there aren’t many moments where you can
count on something to bail you out of a tough situation. This might seem harsh
in the early hours of the game, but it makes you a superior player in the long
run.
Unlike most games, whose stories are lousy and can’t be
skipped,
Days of Ruin’s story may be skipped but is worth reading.
Construction, Destruction
True Wi-Fi
gameplay is supported, giving Days of Ruin an extra shot of replay value.
Equally cool is the Design Room mode, which allows you to create an intricate
battlefield (on a grid as large as 30×30, as small as 5×5, and anything in
between) with the same pieces that are featured in the single-player missions.
Using the touch screen, draw environment pieces, buildings, and combat units
right onto the battlefield. It’s an amazing process, and is one you can share
with gamers from all over the world.
If there’s
anything that doesn’t work in Days of Ruin, it’s that you still can’t undo your
moves. Once the turn ends, I wouldn’t want the game to let me go back. But why
aren’t we allowed to retry our latest move? Battles are long, so I’m often in a
hurry to unleash each attack. That urgency can lead to disaster if you click
“wait” instead of “fire.”
In the grand
scheme of things, that’s a small price to pay for the insurmountable joy that
comes with this game. Days of Ruin is a stellar strategy game that will, like
its predecessors, leave your days in ruin.
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Gameplay: 8.8
Superb missions, new
and improved units, memorable strategies – this is the foundation of Days of
Ruin. The unrelenting challenges are unforgettable. Enemy AI isn’t only there to
put on a strong offense, it is also equipped to regroup and try new things when
victory begins to head in your favor. It’s a game of endurance, and is one you
will be happy to endure for more than the many days it will take to finish each
battle.
Graphics:
7.4
The camera zoom
feature (which allows you to play from a closer view) is cool, and the
dual-screen battle animations are a decent update. But overall the graphics
haven’t changed much since the series began on the Nintendo DS. This version
looks the best, no question. But its enhancements are minimal.
Sound: 5.0
Annoying and
repetitive. While most Nintendo classics have at least one song that
everyone knows and will never forget, the Advance Wars series has yet to achieve
that status.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Cutthroat strategy
gameplay.
Concept: 8.0
Days of Ruin isn’t a
reinvention of the series, but it’s just enough of an expanded and mind-boggling
sequel to immerse players once more. In addition to the many single-player
stages, Days of Ruin also contains several trial stages, whose vastly different
content often focuses on one or two unit groups and/or strategies.
Multiplayer: 8.0
While the Advance
Wars series is still carried by its single-player missions, the online, offline,
and map-designing multiplayer features are excellent.
Overall: 8.5
Days of Ruin is
strategy game bliss. Its super addictive and exhilarating combat make it one of
the hardest games to put down. You will hate it every time you have to stop.
