Advance Wars: Dual Strike Review

The game I'm going to be reviewing this time is Advanced Wars: Dual Strike. This is actually a pretty fun game. This turn based tactics game is continuing off from the previous installment of the Advance Wars games on the GBA, and taking them to another level.

In A.W: Dual Strike your enemy is The Black Hole, who tries and wreaks havoc in Omega Land. Being lead by a new mysterious commander, he looks to achieve eternal life. It's up to a group of CO's (commanding officers) in the Allied Nations to stand up once again and fight to keep civilization as we know it from falling further into despair.

Advance Wars started on the GBA, and has been a critically acclaimed series since its first release. How the game works is each side takes turns setting up their offense and defense on the map. Your offense and defense are a series of military artillery vehicles and troops. Depending on the map will determine how you need to strategize your troops. The cool thing about this particular game is now you can use two CO's in battle. This gives you an advantage depending on which Black Hole CO's your battling. It is the story line sucks you in with great back stories on each CO. The dialogue could be better but it's good for what its worth.

Graphics wise, it's much more colorful and vibrant than the first Advanced Wars. The characters are very anime-ish if you will. Now when it comes to the actual artillery and mini battle scene, the graphics try to convey a sense of realism of these war machines. Each tank, armor truck and troop is set in great detail. Whether it is the uniform the troops are wearing and the weapons they are holding or the wheels and cannon set on the tanks.

In the first Advanced Wars the maps are very beige, green and grey as far as the color schemes go. This sets it for the deserts, forests and mountains and even the oceans. In A.W: Duel Strike there are more color mixtures that include blues, pinks, reds and even yellows this time around. Honestly the graphics are really good as far as handhelds go for Nintendo.

Now with each battle, you feel like you're in the game. It makes great use of the dual screen of the DS. While battling, you're able to see what the results are. There's even a couple of battles where there's two battles going on at the same time.

Of course, what's a DS game without a little competition? You and a friend can set up shop at the crib with pre-made maps and destroy each other to see who's the dominate CO. Adding this on top of the solid single player gameplay improve the fun of this game tremendously.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is all about set ups and executions. It brings great in-depth strategy into a very attractive package. As a series, Advance Wars has provided strategy fun time and time again with Advance Wars: Dual Strike being the best of the bunch.

P.S. I still enjoy penises and balls on a daily basis. Cause I'm gay and all.

- Harlem