"The War isn't over yet..."

OVERVIEW:
The Advance Wars series has never been known for its depth, and until recently, featured a cartoon version of war with colorful graphics and childish commanders. The real draw of the series was its simplified, turn-based military strategy, playing out like a giant board game. Its intricacies are easy to understand but difficult to master, and unlike real-time strategy, each player can fully plan their next move.

Days of Ruin is no exception to this winning formula, and makes quite a few positive changes, including a complete series reboot. The commanders no longer possess superpowers, and are slightly more realistic. The setting has been changed from "Wars World" to the future Earth, which has been decimated by a meteor impact. Finally, new units have been introduced, and older ones have been streamlined.

GAMEPLAY (10/10):
Gameplay is the major aspect of Advance Wars. The game itself takes place on map grids, ranging in size from small to large. These grids contain natural features such as mountains and rivers, as well as cities and factories. A diverse assortment of units are able to be built, or are preassigned to your commander. These units are intricately balanced and range from weak infantry to powerful airplanes, tanks, or ships. It is up to the commander to decide where to move their units, and which ones to build, depending on their remaining monetary supplies and tactical situation.

Days of Ruin has streamlined gameplay immensely by deleting a number of useless units in favor of new, more tactically efficient ones. Gone are the expensive, gas-guzzling stealth bombers, impossibly powerful Neotanks and silly-looking Black Boats. In their place, there are Seaplanes, motorcycle infantry, and armored artillery. The battleship can now fire after moving, and the Megatank (A.K.A. War Tank) has extra ammunition to make up for its low movement range.

The War Room returns, albeit in a modified incarnation that ties into the Campaign mode. Also included is Free Battle mode, which lets you play over 100 maps against a friend or the CPU.

Multiplayer has been expanded to include not only other cartridges, but Wi-Fi as well. Maps can be traded online and there is a 2-player random battle mode. There is no longer any Download Play, however.

MUSIC (10/10):
Advance Wars DS's unnecessarily jovial music has been replaced by a new and improved selection of rock music. Is there anything else you need to know?

GRAPHICS (9/10):
The graphics have been improved immensely, and look much less pixellated as well as more realistic. A slew of new animations show sinking ships and launched missiles. However, they are still a bit blurry. The maps have been changed back to their earlier, top-down look.

STORY (6/10):
The story has always been weak in Advance Wars, and Days of Ruin is no exception. Though it does make a concerted effort to improve, it still follows a number of cliches from earlier games. There are at least two "kid commanders" (and even a kindergarten commander, how does that work?) as well as a young male main character whose buddies are a tough, older guy and a young, Asian woman. He finds a hot girl who lost her memory....yeah. There are also Olaf and Von Bolt rip-offs, though they are a bit more threatening. The plot is considerably darker, and even involves *gasp* killing people!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/08

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