"Days of Ruin Puts the War in Advance Wars"

I still remember when I first played Advance Wars. It was about five years ago when I got a hold Advance Wars 1, and I was hooked (though I sucked). Since then, Advance Wars had been on a pretty straight road, with a new unit in Advance Wars 2 and a lot more new units and tag powers in Advance Wars 3. Well, at least until Days of Ruin. Starting off, you'll notice everything has gone from bright and happy to dark and grim, but it won't stop you from enjoying the game.

The story is completely independent of the first 3 games, with no mention of Black Hole or the 4 nations. Earth is pelted with meteors and a good portion of the world's population dies. All established order goes down the drain and crime is rampant. The game focuses on Will, an army cadet, who is rescued from raiders by Brenner and Lin, two army officials intent on helping other survivors. The three then go around with their regiment looking for survivors - while fighting many battles, of course. With the sudden rise of apocalypse scenarios in recent media, such as "I am Legend" and "Jericho," the concept is drying up. However, compared to the linear plots of the first three games, this is a lot more intriguing and interesting. 9/10

Other than the grim plot change, the graphics have went from childish to more realistic, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. The new graphics fit well with the new style of the game, as infantry actually look like infantry, and the terrain looks a lot better. The graphics also look more like graphics you would see on a DS rather than a GBA, as with AW3. If I did have a complaint, however, it would be that woods look too much like grass and recons look too much like sedans. 9.5/10.

But in the way the first three games shined, so does Days of Ruin: gameplay. Most of the gameplay has been changed to IMO make battles more strategic. The Neotank, Megatank, Piperunner, Black Boat and Black Bomb were all removed. However, it adds a slew of new units, such as a biker unit, a new uber tank unit, an anti-tank artillery unit and more, as well as new unit features (i.e. units can get levels, giving them better attack and defense and battleships can fire right after moving). COs also no longer have broken, game-making powers, so what CO you are will not make a terribly large difference. Instead, COs will command individual units and augment units near them. There is also new terrain, such as fire, which is impassable but gets rid of fog of war in the surrounding squares. These changes may seem a bit extreme, but they're fairly easy to adapt to (unless you need CO powers like fat kids need cake). Days of Ruin also has incredible replay value, and although it lacks a War Room and a Hard Campaign, it is compensated by many available side missions in the campaign and an incredible online multiplayer mode. The multiplayer itself is probably reason enough to buy the game. 9.5/10

As for sound...not much to say. The sound effects do their job, just like in the first three games. However, I hate the music, as it reminds me of AW2's music (which had bad rock). It's not like I can't turn of the music, so it wasn't that big of a deal. 8/10

The game may have had many major changes, but many of them were made in order to make the game better than its predecessors. With its great gameplay and low learning curve, I can safely say Days of Ruin will definitely exceed the expectations of anyone who plays it, AW veteran or not.

P. S. - Use cheats in multiplayer and I will smite you!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/24/08

Game Release: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (US, 01/21/08)