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 - FunFun turn based strategy game. I play it often. The optional objectives add a nice replay value. Feels like Age of Empires. Rating: - If I could play it again, I might enjoy it more.Like others who said their game locked up or would not restart, mine did after literally 4 days of ownership. I played the tutorial and got to the part of the siege of 3 Castles. While playing, it froze, but I was able to restart but after playing a few more minutes, trying to save and quit completedly killed the game. This game is not ready for live release, the code is unstable and far too many people have had broken cards. The use of the small screen and cramming layers of characters was nice, but in the beginning it was hard to navigate and figure out how to move the units around. Overall, the game play is nothing like the PC version and it does require much time to play. I may get another copy but something tells me I should look for another title to buy. Rating:  - Deeper than Advance Wars, but...This is an absolutely fantastic game in many respects. It is far deeper than Advance Wars while still being accessible (and there's a perfectly constructed tutorial with its own campaign to lead you through every aspect); you need to worry about building placement, research, two different resources, units with special abilities, heroes, and a multitude of different civilizations all with unique units and heroes. The units are perfectly balanced, each having strengths and weaknesses vs other units and buildings, and the heroes have their own special skills that can be used every turn; some boost the attack and movement of some units, some heal, some do direct damage, some reduce defense, some add gold to your treasury, some make units do more damage vs buildings, etc. There are a wide variety of maps to choose from, along with a large number of unlockable maps and units. The research is a very fun aspect; all the researches do very different things; some make a certain type of unit less expensive, some increase your sight, some increase damage or defense of a type of unit, and a variety of other neat little advantages you can research. It's very open-ended, as there are a whole lot of research choices, and you can choose one each turn. After a certain number of completed researches, you can advance to another age (there are four total), making your units stronger and giving you a whole new realm of research to explore. It's also cool how you can have up to 4 players per map, so you can have a hotseat (pass the DS) match for up to four players, or if you like, a multiple DS match (although the connection can sever, dropping the game). There are several issues that hurt, though. There's no way to save multiplayer games. The graphics are a little underwhelming. The units are three-dimensional, which I don't think was a good idea because they're very low-poly. They're not exactly ugly, but they're not going to win any awards. Another problem that I found was that the campaign missions are extremely long and difficult, often taking several hours. This isn't helped by the fact that the game tends to progress very slowly, much slower than Advance Wars because of things like heroes and research and buildings to worry about constantly. With regards to that, the campaign is usually very fun, with some very cool stories for each of the civilizations and lots of scripted events (a personal favorite was the last mission of the Japanese campaign). I'm sure some people won't mind its slower pace, but for me it's just a bit too slow. Finally, and this is a big one: it's buggy. I've heard terrible stories of missions that would not end regardless of the completed mission objectives, and the fatal error that makes your game card unusable. My game has locked up after ending a turn. I've heard that almost all of this, however, can be avoided by turning off battle animations and making your profile name at least four characters. Anything less than four characters can literally destroy your game cartridge. So, overall, it's a very good game with a few severe flaws that bring down the score a star. With the issues it has in mind, I still recommend it. I like it more than Advance Wars because of the depth and historical aspect (with quite a bit of reading material in the game's library), along with the lengthy campaigns and different strategies to try each skirmish and mission you play. Rating: - Fantastic Gameplay Destroyed by a Software GlitchAfter twice returning dead cards, I gave up on this game. With the first card, I played for a while, then tried to save my game. The DS made a horrible grinding sound, and I shut off the power. While the DS itself was unharmed, the game card would no longer load. The second card did a bit better. I managed to save the game twice without incident. But on the third try, the game locked up. After shutting off the power and turning it back on, the game would no longer load (the DS could tell Age of Empires was inserted, but produced a black screen when I tried to load). I decided to get my money back at this point. This is a real shame, as I was quickly getting addicted to the gameplay. From a couple of hours' play, this seems like the best turn-based strategy game since Civilization 2. The game forces you to balance your civilization, devoting resources to research, trade, and infrastructure, instead of just sending troops to the slaughter. The introductory Joan of Arc campaign also does a great job of teaching gameplay while telling an entertaining story. If an updated release comes out which fixes the self-destruct bug, I'd buy this game again in a heartbeat. Rating: - It's okay.This game is okay. It's fun to unlock items, completing difficult maps, and learning about old heros. However, the game has some flaws. I've had this game for only 3 weeks, and the screen has frozen four times. If you buy this game, be aware of this and save often - It's not the DS's fault, try not to get frustrated with it. The graphics are fine, but could be better. The only thing different about this and the PC games, is that there are no custom maps.
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