advance wars: dual strike review

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Average Ratings

Addiction Level	8.5/10
Graphics	6.3/10
Value for Money	8/10
Reviewer Rating	8.5/10
Overall Rating	9.2/10

75% Recommended3 out of 4 Reviews

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By Chuckie1215 on 6th Dec 2005

Chuckie1215's Ratings

Addiction Level	8/10
Graphics	4/10
Multi-player	Yes
Value for money	6/10
Overall value	6/10
Chuckie1215's recommendation

Good Points

The same great formula as on the previous games
Good use of the touch pad to command units

Bad Points

Exactly the same as the GBA originals with no graphical improvement
Each mission has to be done in a precise way to complete it, meaning it can be very hard

General Comments

Advance Wars is the award winning strategy game from Nintendo. It is essentially a turn based RPG, because you can choose 1 or 2 characters to use on each mission. It is because you can use 2 characters that the game is called "Dual Strike." This is the one big change in comparison to the GBA versions, aside from the transition to 2 screens. I rushed straight out to buy this game, eager to see how they did it on the DS after the fantastic GBA games. And to be honest I was quite disappointed at first glance. It looked IDENTICAL to the GBA games, except it was spread out over the 2 screens. I was not discouraged yet, since I knew that if it looked exactly like its predecessors, it was likely to play like them as well.

A few of the new controls and interfaces take getting used to, such as dual characters, battling on two fronts, and switching characters at the end of each turn in order to build up special on each. Some characters are more compatible with the super powers of others, which are basically the same as on the previous games, and if you can build up to use a super combo, you get a pretty meaty attack. This is a notoriously addictive line of games, so despite these small foibles, I quickly became hooked. I especially liked using the touch screen to command units, because it immerses you into the game better. But, to my woes, it began to get harder, and harder, AND harder, until I was put off my DS for a while, to come back and take about 2 hours to complete the last mission. NOT something that was identical to the games ancestors.

In all, this is a pretty entertaining game, but not on the level of the originals. It's too similar to them to excite anyone previously interested in the games. This would not be a first choice of game if I were a perspective DS owner. Stick with Mario for now, until Nintendo really put this potentially excellent console to good use with some of the games it is famous for. If you really like the idea of Advance Wars but don't have a DS, don't run out to get one for this. Get a GBA Advance Wars game; they were much better.

P.S. if you're looking for a more specific review of Advance Wars, check out the GBA versions.

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