Advance Wars Dual Strike

THE GOOD:
a handful of new COs and maps to play with; interesting new modes; ability to play and trade maps through wireless connection

THE BAD:
some difficulty imbalance in later campaign missions

SUMMARY:
Like Advance Wars 1 and 2 before it, Dual Strike is a turn-based strategy game in which the object is (usually) to defeat the enemy by destroying all of their units, or by capturing their headquarters. You get quite a bit of war toys to play around with in this game - from standard infantry soldiers to crushing tanks to speedy fighter jets and sneaky submarines. You also get the usual smattering of upgrades that come with a new title in the series - lots of new commanding officers (COs), new campaign and War Room maps, and of course, new play modes (like Challenge, which challenges you to complete nearly a dozen maps given a set amount of money or time; and Combat, a real-time action mode where you try to destroy the other units with just...

THE GOOD:
New COs
New Units
New game modes
User-friendly strategy
Improved AI

THE BAD:
Tag Power can be overwhelming

SUMMARY:

The Gameboy Advance was a platform that saw a number of new series appear… or at least new to outside of Japan. Advance Wars was one such series, and its impact on the GBA proved that strategy could be fun and accessible without removing the challenge. Now we make the move onto the DS and the third entry in the Advance Wars series makes its appearance. Time to see if Dual Strike continues the success enjoyed by the previous two games.

Visuals

The Advance Wars graphical setup has always been reliant on a cartoony style, and Dual Strike really doesn't attempt to stray from that path. Everything in the Advance Wars universe is...

THE GOOD:
New COs, Tag Powers, New Maps, Skills

THE BAD:
Not many new units

SUMMARY:
Advance Wars Dual Strike is the third installment in the series and is well worth purchasing. It has added around 10 new COs and only one, being Sturm has been taken away. The introduction of Tag Powers increases the way you can customize your strategy by using to different COs and their unique abilities in turn. New Units: Black Bomb, Stealth Fighter, Black Boat, Cruiser, Megatank and Piperunner are all valuable editions to the strategical war game. A few more extra units would have been nice, but these few are enough to play around with. You have a normal campaign of around 30 odd missions and after you complete that you unlock Hard Campaign in which you can use any CO to complete any mission! War Room still exists where you can test your skill against the smartest AI in the game. Versus Mode is still there for classical multiplayer against friends and the...

THE GOOD:
New COs, New units, Tag team powers, music, sound, same additing game play.

THE BAD:
Units "flicker", an average plot line, eats battery life.

SUMMARY:
The third installment of the Advance Wars series makes a decent debut on the Nintendo DS.

Graphics: I noticed very little improvement over the previous two games. Certainly the cut scenes and characters look sharper, but unfortunately the layout on the overview map where you issue commands does not impress. Most of the buildings look flat and the resolution on the units is not great. In addition, I have noticed that when a CO achieve his or her power, the units on the touch screen will "flicker". Not a very good effort at all. (2.5/5.0)

Gameplay: This is the area where the Advance Wars games shine, and this game is no exception. Once you start playing, it is very hard to stop. You have several modes of play to choose from including the all new Combat and Survival...

THE GOOD:
Almost everything. The music is good, the new CO's are well done, the stylus allows for a new depth within the game. The realtime combat mode very fun. I love the wireless multiplayer, and the Tag Battles are amazing!

THE BAD:
The stylus does tend to miss from time to time, making characters do things you really didn't want them to do.

SUMMARY:
The real sequel to Advance Wars has finally come out. When AW2 came out, I couldn't believe how disappointed I was. The storyline was bad, the selection of levels was bad. They added about a thousand and one new things, pipes, black cannons, lasers, minicannons, some giant laser thing, among others, and they were all poorly implemented. They littered the battlefield, making it all but impossible to move your units. The final battle against Sturm was so skewed by Sturm's amazing units that it was nearly impossible to win, besides, winning involved sneaking a bomber up the side of the level and...