January 14th, 2008 by Brandon
Say what!? Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is releasing in less than seven days!? It seems as if it were just a few weeks ago that we first learned details about this sure-to-be-instant-classic Nintendo DS game. So, with less than a week to go, just what exactly do we know about this game?
Brand new units. What would a new Advance Wars game be without new units? Among these new units are the Flare, the Bike, the Duster, the War Tank, and the Anti-Tank. The Flare works much like you’d probably guess, it serves as a flare that widens your line of sight in foggy conditions. The Bike, meanwhile, is one of the most interesting new units. The Bike moves at a very fast rate, and also has the ability to capture buildings as an infantry unit would. The Duster is a new air unit that has the ability to attack both ground and air units, something air units in previous games couldn’t do at all. Like you’d expect, the Anti-Tank serves as a powerful defensive unit against tanks, and the War Tank is essentially a replacement for the Neotank and Megatank, the two tank units that were previously the most powerful in the series.
A revamped presentation. What you’ll immediately notice is the drastically different art style used for this new entry in the series. Quirky, cheery characters? Gone. Colorful, bright maps? Gone. Yes, this is an Advance Wars like we’ve never seen prior to Days of Ruin. Combat animations have changed to be more cinematic and realistic, characters have a more serious look to them, and the graphics have an overall darker appearance.
Wi-Fi play. No longer are you limited to just local play, but now you have the option to play online with friends or random strangers as well. The service hosts one to four players online and voice chat if you’re playing with a friend. In addition to this, the developers have included the option to trade custom-made maps online, allowing you to download and store up to fifty of these maps.
A new, darker storyline. The art style isn’t the only aspect of the game that has moved to the dark side, the story has transitioned from being a colorful, lighthearted take on war to a dark, apocalyptic presentation. Days of Ruin takes place shortly after a meteor strike, which left the world virtually in ruins. With order having been interrupted by the event, evil has arisen and continues to abuse the innocent survivors of the planet. You take on the role of Will, a young survivor that aids in taking down this evil. Along the way you’ll meet several unique characters and unearth mysteries never before seen in an Advance Wars game.
The elimination of overly powerful CO powers. Fans have always enjoyed the unique CO powers included in the Advance Wars games, and although they still exist in Days of Ruin, they have been changed to have less of an impact on the overall status of the battle. CO powers have been altered to be meaningful, but less powerful… which is meant to allow a more strategic element of the gameplay to emerge. Days of Ruin has been transformed into a pure strategy game, which means that you’d better be prepared to do quite a bit of thinking and strategizing.
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin looks to be shaping up nicely. Luckily, you’ve got only a week to go if you’ve been anticipating this game as much as I have. PVG will be on top of this game as it nears its fastly approaching January 22nd release date. Check back next week for a full review.
Screenshots added January 14, 2008
What do you think of Advance Wars new look?
Posted in DS News |
January 14th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
[…] Preview here (thanks Nintendofan92!) […]
January 14th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Seems like people like the new look! I am guilty of never having played an earlier version, but I will definitely be picking this up.
January 19th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I’m actually completely not thrilled about this.
The matter is, I always liked the Advance Wars Games’ CO’s and since the storyline in Advance Wars: Dual Strike was a continual one, I was really hoping for a new version. This kind of made up for it, but with a hell of a bad taste.
I hated Batallion wars because it actually had nothing to do with the Advance Wars series, and I propably won’t like Days of Ruin much because of the total revamp.
Such a shame, if you ask me. Though I’ll propably play it to give it a shot.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Hmmm… well, so far the people who have played it think it’s better than Dual Strike thanks to the changes they’ve made. Personally, now that I look back on it, Dual Strike’s CO powers were completely unbalanced and partially broken. Literally, a game would change depending on who managed to unleash their CO power first. In this game, that has been changed to make things fair and more tactical than they were in past games. Either way, I guess we’ll know if this game is as good as they say it is tomorrow.