Casualties of War
Aside from unit prices and mission format, another major change to the game is that the war room is instead comprised within the actual campaign. As you progress through the campaign, several “training missions” will be unlocked (these are the war room missions) and as you finish either campaign or training missions, you will unlock more training missions. This format is an interesting approach at integrating the war room into the main game but I feel like the previous format is superior as it feels more like a side mode that you can begin at any time and have a large choice of missions from the start. Regardless, Intelligent Systems did include almost as many War Room missions as there were in Dual Strike (38 in Days of Ruin, 44 in Dual Strike) and I personally felt like some of the missions in Days of Ruin were more creative overall.
Other similarities between Days of Ruin and Dual Strike include a history mode where you can earn medals for doing certain things in the game (very similar to the format in Super Smash Bros.) as well as hot seat multiplayer so that you can play your friends at any time. If only these above factors were considered, Days of Ruin would seem to be better than Dual Strike. However, despite a robust campaign and almost as many War Room missions, Days of Ruin loses the appeal that Dual Strike had in the sense that it lacks in depth. Sure, having the ability to play people online does open up some options but in terms of single player, the game is far less appealing.
For instance, after you beat the game, you will not be rewarded with a hard campaign like in previous titles. Also, there is no shop for players to unlock characters and maps at their own pace (instead, the only unlockables include COs that are awarded as you play through the campaign). All of the newer game modes added in Dual Strike such as the survival and combat modes, as well as dual strike battles (simultaneous yet separate battles on each of the two touch screens).
Skills is another feature that was left out of Days of Ruin, which was an element in Dual Strike that added RPG elements into the game including CO levels and a whole arsenal of skills to equip on your COs. Plus, there are far less COs in Days of Ruin than there are in Dual Strike (12 to 27 respectively). In short, Dual Strike wins the war of replay value and depth.
Visualizing the Attack
To go along with the new cast of characters and storyline, Intelligent Systems also completely revamped the game’s graphics. Also, when playing on a mission, players can zoom in on the action for more enhanced visuals. The cut scenes still consist of hand drawn anime caricatures and the more serious plot helps to bring more emotions through the cut scenes. However, the story is still a little lacking and just doesn’t feel as strong as the stories from the Fire Emblem series (another turn based tactics game by Intelligent Systems).
As for the music, I was very impressed with the instrument selection (the quality of instruments sounds better than those from Dual Strike). However, though the sound quality is better, I still feel as if the songs from Dual Strike are more memorable (I can recall how almost every CO song sounds from Dual Strike but there are only a few I can remember from Days of Ruin). Also, Dual Strike had a total of 67 songs overall while Days of Ruin has only 50.
Tactical Summary
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin provides several improvements to the Advance Wars series while skimping on some of the overall depth. Additions such as online multiplayer, the ability to save up to 50 maps, better balancing of unit pricing and strength, improvement on the CO power/CO effect system, and much improved visuals are all notable improvements. The problem is that the game seems to cater well to the mainstream audience and doesn’t do as well in catering to the hardcore fans of the series. With only around 60 hours worth of single player gameplay, this game falls short in comparison to the 150+ potential hours in Dual Strike. Still, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a strong addition to any gamer’s D.S. library and will last for a while if you’re up for some online battles.