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Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
(by Caleb Rumley - April 09, 2008)
I’ve been a big fan of Advance Wars since the series got its start on the Game Boy Advance, and the series has always stuck to its typical, almost childish style of over the top Commanding Officers and crazy dialogue. But in the latest installment, things have taken a much darker turn.
As the story goes, the world has started a new, bleak chapter after a series of meteors have fallen to Earth and destroyed nearly all mankind. As the survivors start to band together, it’s not long until war breaks out over the remaining supplies and a dark fight for survival starts. The new characters are more developed than in the past, and the struggle against the Rubinelle Army is played out with well-written dialogue that is by far the best of the series.
Advance Wars has always been well known for its deep strategies and exciting turn based gameplay. The developers have really done a number with Days of Ruin, adding several new units that change the flow of gameplay. New units like carriers and rigs can help supply other units and even create new ones on the battlefield, and battleships now can move and attack in one turn, which makes for faster paced sea warfare. Thankfully they axed the neotank, and the ground level gameplay has been significantly altered so you no longer have to simply save up for the most expensive units. The strategy has been greatly deepened, and multiplayer battles are just excellent.
The new online elements are the most exciting part of Days of Ruin. You can trade maps with friends as well as play against them in multiplayer battles, with voice chat! The action can be a little slow because of the nature of the game, but as long as you’re not playing someone who takes forever the online action is pretty reliable. Keep in mind that you’ll have to swap friend codes with your buddies to play online, which isn’t always the easiest thing to do.
Days of Ruin definitely takes the series on a darker turn, but the graphics are pretty much the same as the series has always had. I appreciate the new zoom feature, which lets you easily navigate large maps. The battle animations look good, but aren’t anything spectacular. The units look sharp and still have the classic toy soldier look that the series has created.
Multiplayer in Days of Ruin works really, really well. Passing around the DS with a few buddies is a great way to spend an afternoon (because matches can take a while), and the deep strategy allows for several types of play. One of my favorite new units is the anti-tank, which serves as a perfect long distance unit to destroy oncoming ground assaults. As I said before, now that battleships can move and shoot, naval warfare is at a completely new level. Days of Ruin is just full of great strategic gameplay, and it clearly shines in a competitive multiplayer match.
Days of Ruin is a great DS game, and the bold new direction of the series has turned out to be a good move. The game’s rich gameplay makes it one of the best turn based games on the DS. I give Advance Wars: Days of Ruin an 8.5 out of 10.
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