Nintendo DS
3 stars (out of 5)
Advance Wars is set after a massive meteor shower has decimated the Earth.
The game follows Ed, a teenage survivor, and Captain O'Brian, his saviour and mentor, who is trying to rescue as many people as he can in the post-apocalyptic wastelands.
My favourite adversary is a bandit leader whose dialogue is primarily "Gaaarh" and "Har Har Har" in a typical pirate accent. He also has a cockroach-like knack for always coming back with even more troops and weapons.
The Japanimation styling of the characters and fairly moral, do-good storyline are obviously aimed at a younger generation than this reviewer, even being reminiscent of several cartoon shows. At least it was relevant to the action.
The game is obviously all about warfare. To start with, you only have access to a few limited units, but as you progress through the game further units become available.
Battles involve numerous different units to combat your opponents, from infantry to mega-tanks, helicopter gunships to battleships, and each unit has a series of statistics including damage potential and resistance, fuel and ammunition.
Some units perform better against others while being vulnerable to another. It's this interaction that makes or breaks your army.
The game AI is reasonable. Tactically, it knows how to use its units fairly well - although I suspect a built-in "fudge factor" - but it does occasionally have its units do some strange things.
The maps are quite varied and the simple click move-attack system makes for quick turns. While the game itself is quite linear, it does have lots of training missions that you can do as a sort of side quest. Disappointingly, neither these nor in fact the main missions really affect what's to come.
I've found the game surprisingly addictive. While most of the battles are fairly easy there are some battles where the proper use of the units and their abilities may require tactics beyond the younger player. - Peter Sigmund
