Advance Wars DS: More Units, More Balance, More Fun
This game has me absolutely enthralled. I've logged a ridiculious amount of hours on it, and I'm still coming back for more on a regular basis. Now, before I go on, I have to note: I wasn't a large fan of turn-based strategy before playing the original Advance Wars, and I still don't particularly enjoy many games in the genre. With that said, this game is amazing. It improves upon the Advance Wars mold, and makes it an exceptionally better game. The new units are fun, and with one exception, very useful. They're also very balanced, and don't make the game less fun, or much more complex. The new COs are also along those lines, with the exception of one, who seems a bit too powerful. Just ban her in multiplayer games. There are a number of other additions, too--like having your COs gain 'experience', thus allowing them access to interesting new abilities in the single-player game. The campaign is much better than that found in the last game, due to better enemy AI, and generally better mission design. In the last game, the odds were so stacked against you that the dumb enemies had to make up for it. Here, you still always start in worse position than the enemy, and there are a small number of very frustrating missions, but the overall balance is much better, and the AI truly earns its victories. For those of you who haven't played the other games, I reccomend you spend a decent amount of time in War Room (a skirmish-type mode not related to the story) before tackling the campaign, as you'll likely be a bit lost at the beginning. The only really dissappointing part of the main game is the plot, which is simply awful. However, it plays such a small role in the game, you won't notice. There's also a large incentive to replay it several times, due to a hard mode which, instead of simply making the AI better, or their units more powerful, give you entirely different scenarios--it's almost like a whole other campaign. When you're finished with that, there's the aforementioned War Room, which contains dozens of different individual missions, which can keep you busy for quite some time.
Multiplayer returns (obviously), and is still the best part of the game. It benifits from the DS's wireless feature--you no longer need a huge mess of cables to avoid passing around the system. So, for those of you who know 3 friends with a DS, buy this game immediatley. Mulitplayer is extremely addictive, and requires much more intense strategizing--you'll find that human opponents are far craftier than the AI. It's also far more satisfying to defeat a friend, rather than the computer.
So, this game is a required purchase for nearly any DS owner, even those who don't like turn-based strategy. It's a far better game than its prequels, and one of the most addictive titles out for the system, period. I absolutely love it, and I'm assuming most of you will, as well.Read full review
