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 - Solid Game Carrying On a Good TraditionA departure from the standard Advance Wars games, "Days of Ruin" is a more serious-toned game than its cartoonish predecessors. Days of Ruin takes place after a cataclysmic meteor strike that devastated the entire planet. Covered by soot and dust, the survivors of the impact must stay alive amidst the warring factions that seek control of the chaos. To sum it up: imagine if "Advance Wars" met "Mad Max". That's this game. The game follows Will, a survivor of the Rubinelle armed forces, as he teams up with other survivors from his army to protect the citizens against bandits and hostile forces. The basic rules of Advance Wars still apply, and all the units from previous games (minus some of the setting-specific units like the Neotank) are present. There are a couple things that have been changed, gameplay-wise. New units have been added; these include the light recon Bike, the fog-of-war-destroying Flare launcher, the specifically designed Anti-Tank Cannon, the missile-launching Gunboat, the carrier-built Seaplane, and the anti-air/anti-ground plane, the Duster. The most distinct new unit is the Rig, which can build certain temporary structures like makeshift airfields, ports, and radar stations. Also, more conventional units from previous games are available - tanks, infantry, artillery, and so on. Another change is the scarcity of supplies. In previous games, there were counters for fuel and ammunition that would deplete after use (moving depletes fuel, shooting depletes ammunition). In AW:DR, these empty much more quickly to indicate the status of the destroyed world. There is also the added bonus of veterancy for units, granting bonuses in attack and defense for each kill the unit gives. This doesn't carry over between missions, but it goes up fairly quickly. Finally, the use of Commanding Officers (or COs) has changed - to confer their unique bonus on their units, they must be leading them. A unit can have a CO attached to it to make a zone of effect around it where the CO's bonus applies. Defeating enemies with units in the CO zone fills the CO's power bar and allows them to use a special technique that can change the tide of a battle. If the unit is defeated, the CO simply returns to headquarters. Online gameplay is now available as well. The pre-made maps can be used, or design maps can be traded. There is also an option to add friends and make a friends list. The system is simple, but it works pretty well. The graphics have been changed to reflect the more serious nature of the game. The cartoonish, bright, mis-proportioned characters of the previous games have been replaced with a more washed-out, somber color tone and realistic character proportions. As a whole, they are pretty good, though the use of colors like red, blue, and yellow for the uniforms is still sort of disorienting. The sound is pretty good, having been changed to an overall more rock-based sound than previous AW games. As a whole, this is a pretty neat turn for the Advance Wars series to take. I like that it's more serious, though it seems kind of odd to jump straight to "post-apocalyptic scenario" with the new graphics instead of doing a regular wargame first. Either way, "Days of Ruin" is a solid game that carries on a good tradition. 9/10. Rating: - Best tactical strategy game on the DS, but just shy of perfectionI 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. Rating:  - A change of direction for advance warsBuy 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. Rating: - The Best Just Got... Not Quite as GoodIn 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. Rating: - Days of Ruin = Days of FunThis is my first Advance Wars game. That being said I must confess I had no idea what Advance Wars was really about or how to play the games. However, I kept hearing all this hype about how great they were and how addictive they were. I decided to take a leap of faith and try this out. Boy am I glad I did. Days of Ruin is by far one of the most fun handheld games I've played. It's very easy to pick up and learn. I didn't even look at the instruction booklet. I just popped it in and let the on screen tutorial introduce me to the game play. I've only made it through the first 4 missions, but I know I'll be playing for many hours to come.
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