2008 Woodie Awards
Advance Wars Days of Ruin
Britton Peele
Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: La Vida
While the "Advance Wars" - or more appropriately, the "Wars" - series has been going on for quite some time (20 years in Japan, seven here in North America), it hasn't changed a whole lot during that time.
Sure, new features, units and game play elements have been added with every incarnation, generally making for a better game every time it appears, but the series always has maintained a certain level of "cuteness" factor. For a game about war, "Advance Wars" always has had very anime-style characters, who seem to find themselves in funny or awkward situations almost as often as they find themselves on the battlefield. Couple that with upbeat music and you had a somewhat odd - though extremely good and addictive - turn-based strategy series.
That changes with "Advance Wars: Days of Ruin" on the DS. As the name implies, this game is much darker and much more serious. The art is still obviously from Japan, but it's grittier, with a more mature look. The story is also much more serious, beginning immediately after a meteor shower throws the world into chaos. However, while the characters are, as a whole, more war-hardened and grim - there are still many who have a great deal of humor and charm. It's a pretty good balance, really.
As far as game play goes, there actually aren't any earth-shattering changes. For those unfamiliar with the series, "Advance Wars" is a turn-based game that puts you in control of an army of units. Usually the battles tend to be one-on-one, but sometimes you'll have three or four armies on the battlefield at once wreaking havoc. You can control them with either the buttons or the DS stylus - for curious fans, stylus control is very much improved over the last DS game, "Dual Strike" - leading them either to decimate the opposing forces or capture their headquarters.
Units are varied but in the traditional strategy categories.
You have ground units such as infantry and tanks, air units such as battle copters and bombers and sea units such as battleships and submarines. You either start out with a selection of these units at your disposal, or more often, build them with factories, airports and harbors. Units work in a sort of "rock, paper, scissors" fashion, with units like anti-air working best, unsurprisingly, against air units, but weak against units like tanks.
Sure, new features, units and game play elements have been added with every incarnation, generally making for a better game every time it appears, but the series always has maintained a certain level of "cuteness" factor. For a game about war, "Advance Wars" always has had very anime-style characters, who seem to find themselves in funny or awkward situations almost as often as they find themselves on the battlefield. Couple that with upbeat music and you had a somewhat odd - though extremely good and addictive - turn-based strategy series.
That changes with "Advance Wars: Days of Ruin" on the DS. As the name implies, this game is much darker and much more serious. The art is still obviously from Japan, but it's grittier, with a more mature look. The story is also much more serious, beginning immediately after a meteor shower throws the world into chaos. However, while the characters are, as a whole, more war-hardened and grim - there are still many who have a great deal of humor and charm. It's a pretty good balance, really.
As far as game play goes, there actually aren't any earth-shattering changes. For those unfamiliar with the series, "Advance Wars" is a turn-based game that puts you in control of an army of units. Usually the battles tend to be one-on-one, but sometimes you'll have three or four armies on the battlefield at once wreaking havoc. You can control them with either the buttons or the DS stylus - for curious fans, stylus control is very much improved over the last DS game, "Dual Strike" - leading them either to decimate the opposing forces or capture their headquarters.
Units are varied but in the traditional strategy categories.
You have ground units such as infantry and tanks, air units such as battle copters and bombers and sea units such as battleships and submarines. You either start out with a selection of these units at your disposal, or more often, build them with factories, airports and harbors. Units work in a sort of "rock, paper, scissors" fashion, with units like anti-air working best, unsurprisingly, against air units, but weak against units like tanks.
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