The Black Hole army has struck again! I spent a lot of time with the latest build of Advance Wars: Dual Strike on the floor today to give you the low-down on Nintendo’s latest turn-based strategy game.
General Impression: Dual Strike is a feature-packed sequel that may surpass its critically-acclaimed precursors in incremental, but important ways.
When the first screen shots of Dual Strike hit the web, many fans were frustrated that the game looks so similar to the previous Advance Wars games on the Game Boy Advance. Those fans need to lay their fears to rest. Dual Strike, while remaining close to its deep 2d roots, looks great on the twin DS screens. The map takes on a more isometric view and is filled with bright colors that infuse the game with a fun playing-with-action-figures energy. Map elements and sprites are very well animated and include subtle touches such as the shadows of clouds passing over the battlefield and sea gulls flying in the ocean breeze.
The unit and terrain information that used to require switching to a separate pop-up menu is now permanently displayed on the top screen. During battle, the action zooms in with an interesting pseudo-3d terrain effect as the good-looking but usual unit sprites battle it out. The Advance Wars series has always been about simple graphics with excellent art direction, and Dual Strike carries on that tradition proudly.
But it really isn’t how the strategy game looks, it’s how it plays, and it is in this arena that the dual screen version is vastly superior. While the d-pad and face buttons can scroll through options, move the cursor one grid square at a time, and select units as in Wars games past, now the entire interface can be controlled intuitively by the DS stylus. Unit selection and movement is fast, efficient, and simple. Never again does one have to manually move the cursor around the map – a simple tap of the style and a unit is selected. Because the stylus acts much like a mouse in PC strategy games, Dual Strike should now be even more instantly-playable by strategy fans looking for some action on the go.
I played the campaign tutorial, a VS. Computer battle mission, and the new action-based Combat Mode.
The tutorial plays out very similarly to past Advance Wars titles. A senior Commanding Officer (CO) instructs your CO in the methods of tiny virtual warfare as you learn to move, attack, defend, and build the array of units at your command. Dual Strike includes very detailed help and manual functions in-game, so players can learn about an option or unit as they confront it and never have to learn a guide-full of details just to play.
After selecting the VS. battle mode and a map, I was presented with a screen full of CO choices. The CO you select may have adjusted unit stats as well as CO Powers that lend to particular play styles and they really form the basis for the depth of Advance Wars play. While only a few of them were selectable, I counted 27(!) CO silhouettes on the selection screen. While balancing the CO powers to make each one useful will be a challenge for the development team, the vast array of COs and play styles could make Dual Strike the deepest handheld strategy game yet.
Though the game play isn’t remarkably different than previous titles, a dual-CO system (hence the name) gives the player control of multiple COs to fight against the Black Hole army. New units have been added. I enjoyed controlling the mammoth Mega Tank, a five-gunned monstrosity that can wipe out a squadron of Neo Tanks in a single blow, the Stealth Fighter, which can sneak into enemy territory and devastate air and ground units alike, and the Pipe Cannon, which can only fire from position on a pipe or factory.
An addition that might prove to be a great add-on to the game or a rarely-played gimmick is the Combat Mode, a real-time action arcade game using Advance Wars units. Piloting a single unit, you take on a map-full of randomly-firing opponents. The d-pad moves your unit while tapping on the touch-screen sends a shot off in that direction. Victory is achieved like in a normal Advance Wars bout, either by eliminating all opposing units or by capturing the enemy HQ with a foot soldier. CO powers can be used in Combat Mode and some are more useful than others in real-time action.
I wasn’t able to test the multiplayer modes in Dual Strike, but expect 1-4 players over one-card wireless play. Online gaming will probably have to wait for a sequel, but the release date for Dual Strike is not set in stone so wi-fi wars are a distinct possibility.
Playing Advance Wars on the DS, with the stylus, is a blast. Nintendo has utilized the unique options presented by the DS to make an excellent game series even more accessible and easy to play. I look forward to many more colorful, animated wars in the future.
Qko I to mnogo
