Silicon Fusion >> News >> Advance Wars: DS Hands On, Nintendogs Paws Off

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29th August 2005:
Advance Wars: DS Hands On, Nintendogs Paws Off
Advance Wars: Dual Strike gets a full hands on in the light of postal delay, as the dogs are not 'let out' as in the song. Check out our opinions!
Posted by Chris Barnett - Game Boy Advance - UK and Europe

Due to unfortunate postal delays, our promises to deliver a hands on for Advance Wars: Duel Strike and Nintendogs on the Nintendo DS by Friday were quashed! Fortunately, just to prevent us from 'doing something' to the postman, Advance Wars: DS arrived on Saturday morning, giving us a chance to give you a hands on opinion.

The game is similar in presentation to its younger GameBoy Advance siblings, with still animation driven plot segments before each mission. These sequences are quite nice as they remind you of the relationships between Commanding Officers (COs) whilst avoiding unnecessary cut scenes, such as in Metal Gear Solid games. The game changes from its earlier incarnations in the same ways that you would expect a DS game to, by adding dual screen functions and touch screen controls.

Initially, the dual screens are used to display statistics that would have otherwise been confined to another menu; but here they can be viewed without need for switching and delaying gameplay. Once the game gets into full swing, after a very good induction mission-set, you get to see the full potential of the two screens. Some missions see air units confined to the top screen and ground units on the bottom, with control of either simply a toggle switch away. Others see an impending action, such as a missile countdown and progress taking place in real time, a little like a picture-in-picture camera that is commonly featured on news channels. The difference that these make to the game is that it is given a very smooth feeling, the smoothest strategy game that we can think of actually.

This feel extends to the touch screen controls as the whole game can be played without touching a button on the DS, except for the power button obviously. All the units are moved by three touches; one to select, one to position and one to 'okay' everything. This is the same as with the original button controlled method, but so much easier, especially when cancelling orders by simply touching the 'back' icon at the top of the screen. Since the main campaign mode is turn based, there is no need for rushing, even in the time limit missions, so the accidental touching that is a problem for some DS games is not really a problem.

Aside from these obvious additions, there are also 9 new COs and two new single player modes; a survival mode and a combat mode. The survival mode involves a given map and set of circumstances, such as limited moves or time. In these limits, a goal must be achieved and the difficulty is tightened from mission to mission. These missions really offer a different experience to the standard game as the resources can never be taken for granted, as in a real war. The other new mode is a little more diverse and is probably a 'love it or hate it' feature. The mode allows you to select a set of units using limited funds and then to control each individually in real time to protect your base. You can only have one unit on the map at one time and must defeat the enemy by complete obliteration or capture of their base, though all this is done by moving with the D-pad and shooting with the touch screen. Whilst this does feel a little strange to begin with, as a two player mode using Wireless connectivity, it is great, which is likely its reason for being included.

The other multiplayer modes are obviously battles with others as in the single player mode. But custom maps and settings allow for so many possibilities that there is potentially no end to the enjoyment for those lucky enough to have both a DS and a friend (or 8).

We will give a full review closer to the late September release date, but we can safely say from our initial play indicates that Nintendogs and Meteos have a real contender for the title of Nintendo DS game of the year. All we need now is that postman to deliver our dogs tomorrow (bank holidays are really not good for games journalists awaiting games) and then we will be happy. But it is ironic that for once the mailman will be bringing the dog to the letterbox instead of simply dumping mail in the dustbin in fear of being mauled by some disease infected mongrel.

Chris Barnett

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Advance Wars 2
for Game Boy Advance