It’s time to roll out the tanks and conquer your opponents again in this latest installment of Advance Wars. But don’t expect more of the same (at least in terms of presentation). This time around, all of the old cast has been dropped, the visuals have been enhanced and the game’s story has become much more serious. Long gone is the light hearted nature of the older games and instead, Intelligent Systems has attempted to create a better, more involved (yet none less fantastical) story.

When pondering the motive of my favorite 2nd party developer, it seemed difficult to understand why the game’s attitude was revamped. The previous three installments in the series were incredible additions to the world of turn based strategy, each keeping to a tried and true format yet adding extra additions to make the game fresh for veterans and in my opinion, the lighthearted story was perfect for the game (existent yet non-obstructive to the gameplay). By the time Dual Strike came out, hardcore fans of the series were in heaven with the amount of modes, characters, maps, missions, additions (skills, new units) and overall by how much gameplay there was to be had within this one game (I personally have logged 183+ hours into Dual Strike alone). Dual Strike was a game that appealed to hardcore fans in the same way that Super Smash Bros. Brawl appeals to Nintendo fans by giving gamers enough gameplay to keep them busy for years (though Brawl also appeals to fans in many other ways).

So the question still resonated in my mind: Why would Intelligent Systems decide to change the format if fans like myself were completely happy with the old one? The answer is that Advance Wars: Dual Strike did not sell very well, which is a huge shame to me. I personally hate it when a developer puts their heart and soul into a title and it fails to sell well on the mass market. Take F-Zero GX for instance; the game was by all accounts a masterpiece on the GameCube but unfortunately, the legion of casual gamers didn’t seem to agree and were not interested in buying the game (neither F-Zero GX nor Advance Wars: D.S. appear on the list of top selling videogames for their respective consoles).

So despite my thoughts about the format change and the appeal to the mainstream market, I nevertheless garnered my excitement for the game and attempted to review it on as unbiased of a playing field as possible. Thus the major question that comes to mind this time around is “Can Intelligent Systems succeed in making Advance Wars: Days of Ruin fun for both the mass market and the hardcore gamer?

Spoils of War

The story begins in a post-apocalyptic world where meteors have wiped out most of the world’s population. The main protagonist of the story, Will, is discovered and saved by a small faction of troops known as Brenner’s Wolves. From this point on, Will begins to learn that the war between the nations of Rubinelle and Lazuria is still in play even after the desolation of the meteors. Brenner’s Wolves must find a way to rescue any survivors while ending a war that has lasted for decades.

If you aren’t caught up on the basics of Advance Wars it would be far too difficult to run through everything from the basics (you’ll have to look elsewhere for this info). However, the changes/improvements may shed some light on the game’s actual format. First off, CO powers and effects are much less of an emphasis in Days of Ruin than in the previous two installments to the series. This is one improvement that I am quite happy with as in previous games, the CO powers could potentially sway the battle in as little as one turn (Dual Strike powers in Advance Wars: D.S. were the ultimate way to change the battle flow).

In Days of Ruin, CO Powers cannot even be used until late in the campaign and CO effects (passive effects that existed in the previous games) have been replaced with CO zones. CO zones only exist around a unit with a CO inside (you can only have one of these at a time and they cost 1.5 times the price of the actual unit). These zones increase as you attack units within the zone and your CO meter also increases as units are expended in this zone. This format is much more strategic than the previous format where CO meters increased regardless of the location where you attack your enemy.

Another major improvement in the format of Days of Ruin compared to previous Advance Wars titles is the addition/exclusion of units and recalculation of every unit’s price, strength, mobility and skills. Units such as the neotank, black bomb, black boat, piperunner, and stealth bomber have been omitted from the game while units such as the duster (a highly cost effective yet weaker plane), sea plane (highly effective yet difficult to produce), bike (high mobility infantry), anti-tank (indirect unit that can retaliate and is effective against all tanks), and gun boat (highly mobile sea transport) have been added to the game. Units such as the Megatank and Med Tank have much lower prices but are less effective overall while units such as infantry are more expensive and mechs are less expensive. Units can also gain up to 3 levels, one for every enemy they destroy, which make them stronger overall on attack.

The final gameplay improvement (in my opinion) in Days of Ruin is the inclusion of online multiplayer. Intelligent Systems has allowed players to save up to 50 maps on their game cartridge (create your own or trade with other players online) and you can even play matches online. This opens up the game for players who want to test their mettle against others around the world and it also allows friends over great distances to play. The only problem with online multiplayer is that a typical match takes far too long than the amount of time one person would want to spend playing the game (in hot seat multiplayer, matches sometimes took several hours to play and this would be far too lengthy of an experience for players to endure in one online sitting).

Casualties of War

Aside from unit prices and mission format, another major change to the game is that the war room is instead comprised within the actual campaign. As you progress through the campaign, several “training missions” will be unlocked (these are the war room missions) and as you finish either campaign or training missions, you will unlock more training missions. This format is an interesting approach at integrating the war room into the main game but I feel like the previous format is superior as it feels more like a side mode that you can begin at any time and have a large choice of missions from the start. Regardless, Intelligent Systems did include almost as many War Room missions as there were in Dual Strike (38 in Days of Ruin, 44 in Dual Strike) and I personally felt like some of the missions in Days of Ruin were more creative overall.

Other similarities between Days of Ruin and Dual Strike include a history mode where you can earn medals for doing certain things in the game (very similar to the format in Super Smash Bros.) as well as hot seat multiplayer so that you can play your friends at any time. If only these above factors were considered, Days of Ruin would seem to be better than Dual Strike. However, despite a robust campaign and almost as many War Room missions, Days of Ruin loses the appeal that Dual Strike had in the sense that it lacks in depth. Sure, having the ability to play people online does open up some options but in terms of single player, the game is far less appealing.

For instance, after you beat the game, you will not be rewarded with a hard campaign like in previous titles. Also, there is no shop for players to unlock characters and maps at their own pace (instead, the only unlockables include COs that are awarded as you play through the campaign). All of the newer game modes added in Dual Strike such as the survival and combat modes, as well as dual strike battles (simultaneous yet separate battles on each of the two touch screens).

Skills is another feature that was left out of Days of Ruin, which was an element in Dual Strike that added RPG elements into the game including CO levels and a whole arsenal of skills to equip on your COs. Plus, there are far less COs in Days of Ruin than there are in Dual Strike (12 to 27 respectively). In short, Dual Strike wins the war of replay value and depth.

Visualizing the Attack

To go along with the new cast of characters and storyline, Intelligent Systems also completely revamped the game’s graphics. Also, when playing on a mission, players can zoom in on the action for more enhanced visuals. The cut scenes still consist of hand drawn anime caricatures and the more serious plot helps to bring more emotions through the cut scenes. However, the story is still a little lacking and just doesn’t feel as strong as the stories from the Fire Emblem series (another turn based tactics game by Intelligent Systems).

As for the music, I was very impressed with the instrument selection (the quality of instruments sounds better than those from Dual Strike). However, though the sound quality is better, I still feel as if the songs from Dual Strike are more memorable (I can recall how almost every CO song sounds from Dual Strike but there are only a few I can remember from Days of Ruin). Also, Dual Strike had a total of 67 songs overall while Days of Ruin has only 50.

Tactical Summary

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin provides several improvements to the Advance Wars series while skimping on some of the overall depth. Additions such as online multiplayer, the ability to save up to 50 maps, better balancing of unit pricing and strength, improvement on the CO power/CO effect system, and much improved visuals are all notable improvements. The problem is that the game seems to cater well to the mainstream audience and doesn’t do as well in catering to the hardcore fans of the series. With only around 60 hours worth of single player gameplay, this game falls short in comparison to the 150+ potential hours in Dual Strike. Still, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a strong addition to any gamer’s D.S. library and will last for a while if you’re up for some online battles.