
	Platform DS Genre Action / Strategy Publisher Eidos Developer Secret Stash Games ESRB E (Everyone) Released Q3 2007

- Fun mix of action and strategy - Easy to get into

- The touch screen controls are awkward


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Glory Days 2

Score: 8 / 10

When Omni first told me that I was going to be reviewing a game called Glory Days 2 for the Nintendo DS, I thought it would be a game about a middle aged man who can’t let go of the time when he was in high school and scored four touchdowns in one football game. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that this is actually a game that is part Choplifter, part Defender, with a touch of strategy thrown in. Despite the initial shock, the game actually turned out to be quite fun, and is definitely one worth hunting down.

Glory Days 2 takes place during war time, with each mission starting out with a letter from a soldier to his family or vice versa talking about duty, honor, and how proud they are to be fighting for their country. It’s reminiscent of some of the dairy entries players come across in the Ace Combat games; however, the language used feels like the writers on this game were trying too hard to make everything sound grand, and overly important. It’s as if all of these soldiers have advanced degrees in literature and are up for Pulitzer Prizes. The language should have been dialed back a bit.

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Despite this, the gameplay itself is very nice. As was mentioned before, Glory Days 2 is a mix of Choplifter, and Defender with some strategy game elements. Players can zip around the battlefield, bombing and strafing the enemy in order to clear a path for ground forces to meet their objectives. It is also possible to rescue troops, drop paratroops, and land soldiers behind

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enemy lines to seize bases. All the while, players need to keep an eye on their cash flow so that they can create new units that will help in the fight. Gaining control of contested outposts can augment this, as well as rescuing friendly units trapped behind enemy lines. These will increase the amount of money that players have coming in, thus increasing their ability to make units. It’s a nice level of strategy that adds to the game without being overly complicated or slowing down the rest of what’s going on, allowing players to focus on the faster paced visceral action.

Presentation-wise Glory Days 2 gets the job done. The visuals are cartoon-styled, if a bit simple, but the frame rate is solid, without any hiccups. The sound and music work adequately as well, with the expected fast-paced tunes to accompany the action.

One area that could have used a bit more works is the touch sensitive controls for running missions. These were often awkward, and unresponsive, as compared to the standard directional pad and buttons. Thankfully there is the option to control either way, but the touch controls didn’t really need to be there, and subtract from the experience.

Nonetheless, there’s a lot of fun to be had in Glory Days 2. It tugs at players’ nostalgic sensibilities to some degree, while adding some nice, but not overwhelming, strategic elements. If you want a portable game with a nice amount of action that also makes you think a bit, you would do well to try this game.

Jeff Nash

October 3, 2007