Kotaku
Intelligent Systems has reinvented Advance Wars. They're stripped it to the bone, giving it a mature bent that borders now on dark, brooding and violent. Gone are long-standing Commanding Officers Andy, Sami, Max, and Eagle. Gone are Orange Star and Blue Moon. Gone are a series of precocious teens and sassy officers in capri pants ordering thousands of units to their doom, ultimately ending in a root beer party commemorating the dead. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a post-apocalyptic war game that is expected to get a T-rating, so leave your soda at the door.
The story of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is one of a world in chaos following a cataclysmic meteor storm that leaves 90 percent of the population dead. The scattered survivors live in a diseased, war-torn world controlled by roving bandits and power-hungry warlords. The tone is muted, the dialogue dreary, the characters devoid of smiles.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin also takes the series back a step, gameplay-wise. The Dual Strike CO powers from the previous Nintendo DS Advance Wars are gone, and CO powers in general are said to have been toned down. The tides of war won't turn so easily this time.
Also absent from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin are dual screen battles, with maps and information occupying the top, gameplay shown in the bottom.
Days of Ruin does add some new units to the series, though, bringing a Motorbike unit to the list of infantry units. Motorbikes can capture buildings and factories like other infantry, but they have better range and better firepower. A new Flare unit, incapable of attacks also joins the ranks, cutting through the fog of war—now a permanent dust cloud kicked up by meteorites. The Duster, a new air unit that wasn't available for hands-on play is also promised for the final version.
Actually playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is much speedier than its Nintendo DS predecessor. The team has refined the interface so issuing orders takes fewer steps, resulting in quicker battles. The game's assets have been completely redone, giving the maps and enactments of your firefights a new look.
While our play time with Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was limited to only a trio of chapters, we were introduced to many of the game's characters. Leading man Will replaces Andy and Jake, with tactician Lin, a morose female officer, his companion. Captain Brenner, a "grizzled war veteran", leads the Independent Legion to which Will and Lin belong.
Most of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin's gameplay remains tried and true, it's simply boiled down to the core formula. Players of previous Advance Wars games may initially be unsettled by the frequent references to murder, pillaging and destruction—there's even a line from a barbarian named The Beast who wants more ears to add to his ear necklace—but the storyline feels more engaging than the light-hearted fare of games past.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin boasts a feature set that should have fans excited. Wi-fi multiplayer battles over the Nintendo Wi-fi Connection are finally here, bringing voice chat with them. Also coming is the tentatively titled Map Center, making map creation and sharing a worldwide affair. Players can take their map designs, upload them, and rate and download others via the Map Center, adding hundreds of maps to the 170+ already included.
It may be a big change, but Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a welcome addition to the series and one that should breathe new life into the game.
Comments
Looks great, i loved the 1st one on DS but never got it. Gonna get this one. This game was made for wi-fi, it should have VoIP.
Wow - just wow. I've loved playing through the Advance Wars series, and this looks like a whole new reason to fall in love. Incidentally - how's the music? One of the best and most varied bits of Advance Wars?
Interesting, thanks for the insight on the new angle on an old franchise.
WiFi MP + Map Center = Nintendo has to actually try in order to fuck this one up. Sounds awesome.
Ok I'm sold. I'll take eight!
My bad didnt see the VoIP part.
Oh crap, oh crap... Yet another reason to hate myself for losing my DS!
-mike
Huzzah! The precocious, sassy, teenage generals were what annoyed me the most about Dual Strike. I shall look forward to this.
I've been playing this series since the original Game Boy days when I had to import them. Can't get enough of it !
I'm definitely sold. I was cautious before, though optimistic, but now I'm completely sold.
Give. It. Now.
Well, I'm still saddened by the lack of the previous AW cast, the WFC support with voice chat and map creator has sold me.
hmmm im a huge AW fan, i wonder how wifi will work. If its like any other ds games players will drop out 5 minutes into it. I will miss the characters and co powers though.
Eh, it's probably gonna be great, but I would have liked to get an AW game with all the old characters and online play.
A fresh plot and characters will do good for the series, though. The story was getting a little pointless.
@Chrinkster: I totally agree with you... some of the battles just turned into a protracted stalemate until someone threw down a fully charged CO power (and usually the next turn the other player/AI would do the same keeping the stalemate going).
I like the idea of a gritter, more refined storyline and streamlined gameplay, but I enjoyed the charm and features of Dual Strike. Definitely on the radar, but I'm in a "wait and see" holding pattern on this one.
How do you know when a series has lost its way?
"This time we've made it darker." - *insert dev name here*
Still, Advance Wars has always been a pretty pure gameplay experience, so how wrong could they go? I'm thinking, not very.
I be buying it, but I can see I won't be enjoying the story much. I liked advanced wars because its wasn't all dark and serious, which is honestly absurd for a war theme game, but still... my chibi soldiers ;_;
CO Powers is what made Advance Wars fun and awesome to utilize. If that's been toned down, then I wonder what else will go.
WiFi multiplayer would be nice, too.
@Tonx: Sorry, I didn't get a good opportunity to listen to the music. It's not really a big priority of mine, but I'll make more of an effort in the future. I'll try to give it a listen at E For All.
Well, I'm disappointed with the tonal changes, and I'll miss the dual-screen battles, but I'm okay with toning down CO powers. They were fun to use, but I imagine a more balanced game will result from their absence. Besides, Wi-fi battles with voice chat completely tips the scales in this game's favor -- they'd have to really screw up to keep me from buying this on day 1!
very cool... im a fan of all the earlier versions, and this one interests me too. I dont mind the darker theme either. hmmm now about the new fire emblem ds? how about some details there?
I think toning down the CO powers was one of the big things I was looking for in this release, while they were occasionally interesting they usually just acted (in my experience) to extend a losing battle even longer. Matches I could have wrapped up in less than 20 minutes often took 2x longer in Dual Strike for that reason.
So yeah, I'm excited by what I'm hearing so far.
The older characters are still good - but AWDS is a good enough game to keep playing again and again. The War Room is incredibly deep, don't forget. I don't want the old characters - this looks amazing.
I'm a little miffed that Fog of War is 'permanent' though. I like it story-wise, but I can see it slowing down online play.
Yeah, this is definitely the way Nintendo needed to go. A little dark and brooding, while removing the dual screen battles (God I hated them). Back to the GBA way of doing things is a plus in my book.
And WiFi battles? My wife is going to hate me playing this game in bed before we go to sleep for the night.
I don't mind a darker storyline, but takin out the art is one step too far. The Chibi soldiers and the vibrant backgrounds were one of my favorite parts in AW. The map graphics look worse than the GBA AW. I have not seen that much of the battle graphics, but the map graphics really seem to have lost their crispness and quality.
@McWhertor: Thanks - music isn't a big priority of mine either, but each theme in AWDS was amazingly descriptive of the character you (or the computer) was controlling. Character themes from FF VII or Chrono Trigger are right up there in my mind with Advance Wars.
@Tonx: It's not permanent really. I meant more that the planet is in a sort of nuclear winter. There are maps without fog of war.
So, Nintendo only does games for kids, eh? Take that, anonymous mass of people that keep shouting "Nintendo is for kids".
@Shiryu:
Well, not for nothing but this very item kinda shows that it's a news story when they do stuff with a more "mature" slant.
@Shiryu: I bet you feel so badass right now. Go kick a kitten in the face, just to solidify it.
bought
God dammit, I play advance wars for the cutesy soldiers blowing each other up. If I wanted to play a mature turn-based tactical...wait a second, I don't want to play a mature turn-based tactical.
I just hope they have enough strong new features to make up for all the things they are removing. Features that really increase the variety and replayability of the battles. I typically expect more from a sequel, not less.
I am glad to hear about this game, since I'm a fan of the advance wars series .But as some other commenters said, I am curious on how they handled co-powers now.
The main reason I loved Advance Wars Dual Strike, was because now there was an ability to really swing the battle in your favour. Sure, you had to plan a little bit, and I understand if some of the players thought the powers were too overpowered, but overall it felt well.
I remember that on the first advance wars, I tried countless strategies only to end in a stalemate. A true wall of units where none of the two players could get out. The single co-powers couldn't cancel that out.
Alas, that is just my opinion. I do look forward on how they handeled this problem in the new game.
Sounds promising. I like the idea of toned down CO powers as that was a big problem in the previous game. As to the darker theme only some play time will tell. Certainly won't bother me if they've done it well.
It'll be interesting to play the game with CO powers toned down, though I will miss the Dual Strike powers.
This series is the reason I play portable games. I'm liking the new direction, and loving the wifi support.
Sounds like this game is going to have a much better narrative which sounds great. Hopefully the gameplay will be as good as previous AW.
Color me disappointed. I loved the style and tone of the older games. Dual Strike is one of my favorite DS games because of how it stood out from the pack and the fun gameplay. It looks like they're doing away with the things that drew me to the series in the first place.
I'm really not digging the generic C&C/TA/KKND atmosphere.
I'll probably sit this battle out, unless some really fantastic previews come out, or if the demo really blows me away.
But....where's Grit? I mean, I know they have changed the setting, time, enviroments, and characters...
But, Grit is still there, right?
Well, My money is on this becoming the main franchise, but a spin-off series featuring the old characters is likely too. Or not. Who knows? I don't. I'm not a precognitive analyst.
Hmmm it seems nintendo is getting a little more dark... I likes!
Sweeet. I do love the light-hearted and sometimes hilarious old Advance Wars ("Mighty spire of communication, imbue my blade with stabby might!"), but this sounds good too. Hehe, darkity dark dark dark. Be a bit sad if it's in the same continuity though.
Hell, Javier and everything he says is awesome.
Looks awesome!
the Duster = A-10 Warthog, I think - based on screens I've seen.
Huzzah!
Holy crap, Advance Wars on the DS with Wifi, my dreams have come true, thank you thank you.
I'm a little sad that Dual Strikes and two-front battles are gone, but I am really excited for this game anyway. IS knows strategy games better than just about anybody else.
I'll buy this when it comes out.
When is that?
All shitty and dark, what a bunch of suckass.
At least the gameplay will lift it out of Shadow the Hedgehog territory.
BLUE SKY GAMES FOREVER.
@hahnchen: And you've spent how much time with the game? Given the directions that Intelligent Systems has taken Fire Emblem and Metroid, I imagine that they can handle a darker Advance Wars.
@CyberSkull: January, according to Nintendo. I can't remember the specific date, but I think it was the 16th?
@Lezard: Intelligent Systems didn't do the Metroid Prime games, that was Retro Studios.
YOU wa SHO- oh wait, wrong post-apocalyptic drama.
This turn of TEH DARK is already causing worry amongst long-time fans of the series. While I can't really blame them for being worried (it was sort of rare to see a light-hearted approach to war), I actually welcome this new subject matter. Bring on the darkness, Intelligent Systems.
@hahnchen: You stop that right now. No game deserves to be compared to Shadow the Hedgehog, unless it's in terms of quality and not plot tone.
What is this weird phenomenon that i've been seeing latly? Where you think that everyone likes a certain game, till the new one comes and everyone now starts saying they hated the old ones. I thought everyone loved Mario sunshine and it got great reviews and stuff, now at the brink of Mario galaxy it seems no one liked it but me and some other guys. Since Advance Wars came to the GBA it also seemed everyone loved it, great reviews all around even up to its first DS outing. This new one shows up with a more mature and serious theme, now everyone seems to have hated the cuteness in their war while I stand here and go WTF? where did these guys come from? A similar thing happened to Zelda, tell me is it just me or is the world full of two faced individuals?
The main aspect of the game will always be the missions, not the story. I'm glad they are giving it a spin but in the end, it's an amazing game that doesn't need story, it's kind of like Worms mixed with RTS
I really enjoyed the previous DS installment, along with their GBA counterparts. With that said, I'm glad they finally went with a different outlook on this title. It really did need a new, fresher(or darker I should say) feel to it all. With that, and the online additions; I'll most definitely be picking up this game ASAP.
oh my god! I'm amazed to see the changes they have made to the series! Im not so sure its for the better...
@Stormrider900: I said Metroid, not Metroid Prime. Intelligent Systems is the studio behind the 2D games.
Alright, sounds good!
Nintendo WFC is getting very strong. Pokemon voice chat, DQ9 4 player co-op, now AW battle and voice chat. Even Zelda is online DSWFCFTW!!!