Advance Wars: Dual Strike - DS Game Reviews


	Platform DS Genre Strategy Publisher Nintendo Developer Intelligent Systems ESRB E (Everyone) Released August 22, 2005

- Absolutely packed with strategic gameplay - Save progress between turns - A wide range of units - Many options for multiplayer including user made maps - Stylus makes for easy battlefield manipulation

- An extreme time killer

Review: Disciples II: Dark Prophecy (PC) Review: Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business (PC) Review: Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
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Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Score: 9.1 / 10

I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for turn-based strategy games. Some of the most compelling and engrossing gameplay experiences of my life have been wiled away on games like Disciples II: Dark Prophecy and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business, so bear that in mind when I say Advance Wars: Dual Strike kicks ass in the broader sense of good games, it’s also right up with the best of its genre classification. However, even with my bias showing – I’m an exhibitionist at heart – I’m not alone in my opinion.

Amazingly enough, I missed the GameBoy Advance versions of the Advance Wars series so I can’t really draw on any previous experience to tell you if it’s better than the previous iterations – but it should speak volumes that Dual Strike is so good I plan on seeking out the previous titles.

The Black Hole Army has risen anew after only a few months have past since they were last beaten. To combat the threat the forces of Orange Star, Blue Moon, Green Earth, and Yellow Comet have pooled their resources to form the Allied Nations. And it’s up to the gamer to make sure the Black Hole Army gets sent back to wherever they come from with the use of superior tactics, a bit of luck, and the new CO swapping, which is where Dual Strike gets its name from. (Although both screens are used, you’ll spend most of the time sweating over the action on the touchscreen, only consulting the information displayed on the top screen, with the exception of two front battles.)

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The action in the Campaign mode ramps the challenge up at a quick pace, with just enough in the way of prodding to make the learning curve less steep than it otherwise might have been for novice players. The story, although somewhat forgettable, is peppered with some of the indirectly hilarious dialogue I’ve ever heard in a videogame. One of the CO’s will often end his sentences with “Word!” Is it just me or did that bit of slang go

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the wayside about ten years ago? At any rate, it’s funny and it’s kept to a minimum – sets up the mission, special points of interest, closing the mission – so that it doesn’t distract from the reason you’ll be playing all hours of the day and night to play “just one more map.”

It begins simply: start with a handful of units, capture cities and installations, and attempt to drive back your opponent. Then the Chess Mentality kicks in. Each turn is weighed with consideration of what your opponent will do, which unit should be moved and where, what the next objective should be and the units to be produced to accomplish that objective. Should I make a dash for the airfield so I can start producing aerial units or push south to deter a possible attack? Even when I became comfortable with Advance Wars: Dual Strike I often checked the upper screen to get a handle on various attributes of the units – from the lumbering tanks to the nimble and fragile infantry – and ensure they were well stocked with ammo and gas. (Yes, you’ll have to make sure your mechanical units don’t get stuck on the battlefield, or worse, sink to the bottom of the ocean or drop out of the air.) Then you have to be on the look out for the most opportune moment to activate the available CO abilities which can either crush your opponent or turn the tide of the fight in your favor.

“Quick” games seem to be an impossibility – it was not unusual for stages to last longer than an hour particularly for the larger conflicts. Once the troops are out in the field and there are several “fronts” involved keeping a firm handle on the action can be extremely engrossing and time consuming. Fortunately, developer Intelligent Systems allowed progress to be saved between turns rather than waiting until the end of a scenario.

The Campaign will take hours and hours to complete, but Intelligent Systems created four other modes: War Room, Versus, Survival and Combat.

War Room lets the gamer face off against computer controlled opponents on maps chosen by the player and played with a few other user-set variables. It doesn’t change up the formula at all and it’s more like practice for battles during the campaign. However, it can also be a real test of your tactical skill (and luck) since the player can also stack the deck against himself.

Versus allows four human players to test themselves against each other using one DS unit. It’s another take on the previous two modes, but it’s great for car trips.

Survival mode is almost a game unto itself. In Survival there are three sub-modes: Money, Turn and Time. Simply put each mode puts a restriction of time, turn or money on the clearing chosen map. This puts an extreme amount of pressure on the decision-making process. For the hardcore player, Survival will separate the men from the boys.

Lastly and maybe the most radical departure from the turn-based action is Combat, where you engage in less-than-strategic gameplay by blasting opponents in real-time. It’s not quite as fun as the turn-based action in the rest of the game, but it still manages to provide some thrills. (This should be in no way connected to how Advance Wars for the GameCube is going to turn out.)

But Intelligent Systems didn’t stop there. They also added a map editor so gamers can share their maps with friends! Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a full-featured package any way you look at it.

And since you’ll be looking at it for a while, I’m glad to say that the overall look and feel of the game is great. The presentation is somewhat on the cartoony side but the maps and units are easy to see -- the screenshot here don't do it justice -- and order around with the stylus (though the action can be controlled with the buttons and directional pad, it’s just easier with the stylus.) The animated battle scenes are reminiscent of the Metal Slug series and they can be turned off in the options menu to speed up the pace of the game.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike does just about everything right – in fact, the only thing I can really complain about is that it sucked up (well, currently still sucking-up) huge blocks of my time. If you’re a fan of turn-based games, Dual Strike is at the top of the heap.

- Omni

(August 30, 2005)