Advance Wars: Dual Strike

"A must-buy title for all DS owners"

Let me start off by saying that I have been a huge fan of the Advance Wars series. I got both titles for the GBA when they came out and absolutely loved them, so of course I had to pick up Advance Wars: Dual Strike the day it came out. I must say, I was not disappointed after playing this game for even five minutes. I'm still impressed after a month.

Graphics: 9/10

Although the graphics in this game are definitely not the best the DS could have produced, they still look nice enough. A change they made for this game was tilting the camera angle a bit, making the sprites look even better. The CO's and units themselves look fine, some looking a little better than others. The transition from battle screen to map is good, and everything looks fluid.

Gameplay: 10/10

The most important feature of any strategy game, especially a game like this. This game adds new units, new CO's, and new maps, as well as a completely revamped campaign that is extremely interesting. Campaign takes place in a new environment, Omega Land, and stars two young CO's (Jake and Rachel), and the defense of their country against the Black Hole army, which is under the command of a new leader. The campaign is long, and offers great variety. After completing campaign the first time, you unlock hard mode, for all the veterans looking for an extra challenge.

This game still retains all of the old Commanding Officers (minus Sturm. Too bad.), while adding new ones for every faction. Each commanding officer has special abilities, from increasing the statistics of your units to receiving additional funds every turn to buy units with. Each CO also has a CO Power, and a Super CO power, that can be unleashed after your CO bar is full. These powers do everything from damaging your opponent's troops to allowing your units to move twice in one turn. The different CO's all serve to add a level of depth to the game, forcing you to think about which CO you wish to use before the battles.

The newest feature of this game is ability to use two CO's and switch between them mid battle. By switching between CO's, you can play your strengths and weaknesses depending the CO's you use. But there's more! If both of your CO's SCO power bars are full, you can unleash a Dual Strike. These dual strikes take your current CO and use his SCO power. After that CO's units are done with their turn, the game switches CO's, uses the second CO's SCO, and allows your units to move again. Utterly devastating when used correctly, Tag Powers can change the tide of a battle.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike also utilizes both of the screens. For certain battles, you are forced to battle on two fronts, one on the top screen and the other on the bottom. In other battles that only happen on one screen, the upper screen is used to display how many units and cities you and your opponents have, as well as the status of the CO bars.

As you can see, the gameplay in Advance Wars is very deep, and is enough to make any strategy fans drool.

Controls: 7/10

The controls of this game aren't hard to understand, just hard to use. Your first option is to just use the control pad and buttons to control your units, but why use that when you can just do it with the touch screen? The touch screen does the same thing, but you just tap the screen instead of clicking buttons. The downside of the touch screen, however, is how hard it is to use. While tapping on your little guys and making them move and attack, you are extremely prone to tapping the wrong thing and being unable to correct your move. This can become really frustrating really fast, encouraging some games to dismiss the stylus and just use the buttons.

Sound: 9/10

The sound in this game is great. Gunfire, rockets launching, stuff blowing up, all those things sound great. The beauty of the sound, though, is all the CO's theme songs. All of them suit the CO's very well, and are pleasant to listen to.

Replayability: 10/10

There is so much variety in this game; it will take forever to finally finish everything. This game keeps going until you get tired of playing it. There are a large amount of pre-made maps to play, as well as the ability to make your own. To top that off, you have a ton of CO's to use and you can hook up your DS with your friends and play against them. Never gets old.

Recap:

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Controls: 7/10
Sound: 9/10
Replayability: 10/10
Total: 45/50 x2 = 90/100

If you have a DS, this game is one of the few so far that are must-buys. If you are thinking about getting a DS, this game is worth it.

Final Score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05