bit-tech Shopping: Nintendo Advance Wars: Dual Strike (DS)

Rating: 10

Time with product: 3

Strengths: A great addition to the series. A number of modes and a really strong multiplayer.

Weaknesses: The series is definitely not for everyone. The style of gameplay is not as universal as many other top tier titles.

Summary: For a long time I avoided the Advance Wars series. I found myself without much play time on my Gameboy, but tons of time playing at home. Then I caved. I borrowed a friend's game and haven't looked back since. Advanced Wars: Dual Strike is the next step in the series that hooked so many fans on the GBA. Advance Wars is a great turn based game. The problem with this, however, is that the style of game is not for everyone. I couldn't pay my wife to play this game.For those who are on the fence about the series--- try it first. For those who know the greatness? What are you still doing without it?

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Month

Strengths: fun, good entertaining story, challenging

Weaknesses: units can be hard to differentiate on map

Summary: This game is a turn based strategy game. It has an entertaining story and great game play. You fight against an invading army called the Black Hole. You have different commanders with different strengths and skills which benefit you during the battle. You command infantry, mech/rocket soldiers, recon, tank, medium tanks, helicopters, fighter and bombers, artillery, ships, etc with their own strengths and weaknesses. The campaign starts you off slowly to teach you the ropes and how to play the game. Having played "Age of Empires DS" first, this game plays very much like that game (I think AW: DS was available first.) The controls are intuitive; you select a unit, can move them, then attack or wait. The battles are shown on the top screen and are fairly simple animations.I would recommend this game to any DS owner who enjoys strategy games!

Rating: 8

Time with product: 9 Months

Strengths: Multiplayer modes, long game.

Weaknesses: While good doesn't change or add alot to previous games on the GBA

Summary: Advance Wars Duel Strike is a turn based strategy game with a military theme that state side we have had 2 previous installments of on the GameBoy Advance. In bringing Advance Wars to the Nintendo DS Intelligent Systems didn't really change much but more so added in some subtle things to the gameplay in order to do what worked so well on the previous games yet be adding to the gameplay at the same time. For example you had a Commanding Officer in previous Advance Wars games that would give your troops a special ability during battle and in Advance Wars DS you can have two Commanding Officer that can be switched between during battle in order to add a little more depth to your offence. Another big improvement is that you can do wireless multiplayer both single card and multi card thanks to the DS's hardware unlike the GBA installments in which you would have to buy cords for multiplay which gamers would be tied together with along with the fact that everyone would have to own a copy of the GBA games in order to be able to join in on the multiplayer fun. I would highly recommend Advance Wars DS to anyone that has enjoyed the previous games on the GameBoy Advance (although they won't need to be told this :)) and I would also recommend it to anyone that likes turned based games such as Shinning Force, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts etc. etc.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Week

Strengths: Strong AI, Challenge, Combat.

Weaknesses: Enemy types?

Summary: The Wars series comes to DS in Advance Wars: Dual Strike. In this version, the action occurs on both screens with the bottom screen holding the ground/naval campaigns and the top screen displaying any aerial maneuvers. Players now can have two COs for one country acting in a battle. This allows not only for a greater range of tactics in choosing COs to lead soldiers, but also lets players gain access to special Dual Strike CO powers. When players activate these powers, both COs can act in a single turn and also activate their Super CO power, which can turn the tides of battle if used right. While the game provides an adequate amount of challenge and standard AI that will attack a player's units without doing stupid things like attacking nothing, the enemies could have been a bit more unique. Sure the Black Hole army has things like a roaming pile of ooze that can destroy all land units easily and takes only 1 damage from attacks and cannons that fire at units in front of them, but I would have liked to see some more unique movable units to fight against. The environments do their job as they enhance the defensive capabilities of units that stop on them. Forests and towns give cover while bases and a few other places allow units to repair themselves. Dual Strike also has a survival mode that challenges players to win with in a certain amount of time or with limited funds. The game also has an action-based mode called Combat where units directly move and attack enemy units. Overall, Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a fun game. If you like Tactics games, then you should look into buying this, for you will not be disappointed.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 1 Year

Strengths: The best strategy game ever for a handheld system

Weaknesses: Absolutely none

Summary: I had never played an Advance Wars game before (the series originated on the Game Boy Advance system). So I went into this game with no expectations. After well over 100 hours of play (with much still not done) I am certain this is the greatest strategy game ever to grace a handheld system. You control an army of soldiers, tanks, airplanes, ships, and assorted other units in a turn-based, lengthy, campaign spanning over 30 missions. Each mission presents different challenges and starts off with different conditions and different completion goals (winning outright or destroy a certain unit are just two examples). At the beginning of the game you can only use a few unit types and you obtain more as you progress. You also obtain more Commanding Officers (CO's), each with unique attributes that improve the more you use them in missions. In most missions you use two CO's at a time. There is also clever use of the dual screens of the DS with some missions requiring you to manage two battles at once (say, a ground battle on the bottom screen and an air battle on top). In other missions you control two sets of CO's who are in command of two different armies (against a common enemy). In playing through the main campaign you can obtain different ranks for each mission (with 'S' being the ultimate). Once you complete the main campaign you can play it again in hard mode. In addition there are tons of "War Room" maps which are single-map challenges, where you can obtain rankings under several setups for each map (1 CO, 2 CO's, etc). There are a horde of unlockables including new maps and CO's. In addition, there is a medal system for certain achievements. For example, for building a certain unit type. After 100+ hours of play I had about 200 of the 300 possible medals and had not yet unlocked everything in the game. This game is deep, and makes you come back again and again to get all those 'S' ranks. To top it all off, there are multiplayer options as well though I have never tried those. Even though Advance Wars Dual Strike has been out for some time now (it came out just 8 months or so after the launch of the DS system), it continues, in my mind, to be the single greatest DS game yet made. Without a doubt, it is an excellent purchase.