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jp's Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
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| [March 12, 2009 10:01:25 PM]
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I feel like I should have something profound to say after finishing the entire campaign (and a few of the side missions as well). I don't. And it's a bit of a disappointment, really. On the one hand I feel that the last Advance Wars game I played was a little over the top. Too many special CO powers and strange things going on in the levels and whatnot. This game is definitely a return to "sanity" and I enjoyed that. It's not-much-nonsense back to earth basics was really nice. It took me a while before I actually used a CO power (I usually forgot). Perhaps more surprisingly, I'm not sure that I ever had a CO power used against me! (ok, now I remember that I did, but definitely not more than on a handful of occasions). I still love the game, I really do. But I guess I don't feel the passion anymore? Maybe I'm too good at it? (I feels like that a bit after getting an S rank on over a third of the missions on my first try)
Ha! I guess what I REALLY need is some multiplayer action!
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| [March 3, 2009 09:31:47 PM]
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Hmmm.
That sort of sums up my experience so far. It's a strange sensation because I really, really like the Advance Wars games. I've played all of the ones that have come out since the first GBA version. (in other words, I haven't played the ones older than that). That's a lot of Advance Wars!
I guess I was initially frustrated by the fact that there is no way for the game to acknowledge the fact that, hey, this person has played all the games before so we can skip all the tutorial missions. It's not like the game has a lot of tutorials (it doesn't) or that the tutorials are annoying and get in the way (they don't). Rather, I guess I could say that I was hoping for some sort of "recognition". Some sort of "hey, welcome back old friend, we've missed you". Other games do that, to an extent, by winking and nudging you. They'll throw a little humor here or a little reference there. Make you feel special because you've been around the block a few times with the franchise.
I guess another reason for my initial frustration is that I've been surprised/confused by the color palette. I knew that the game was "darker in tone" and all that stuff. I had read about that. I was surprised that "darker in tone" meant that a lot of the terrain would now be pink. Not the bright pink that the old version might have, but pink nonetheless. I'm kind of used to it by now, but the change in art direction was a bit unsettling, I must confess. (it also took me a while to get used to the changes in the icons of a few of the units, I would initially mix some of them up).
As for gameplay? Well, a lot has changed and not much has changed. There are a few different units from before, with some of the wilder/crazier ones not there and some new and interesting additions. I'm pretty close to wrapping up the campaign (on the 24th mission at the moment) with quite a few "S" scores and the lowest being a "B". I guess Advance Wars is like riding a bicycle, you never really forget. On the positive side, I've enjoyed the "back to basics" approach that this game has. I think that they were getting too "over the top" with the special CO powers, special this and special that. CO powers have really been toned down. So much that I forget to use them most of the time. I still have to wrap my head around that one to be honest. Old habits die hard as well.
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jp's Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (DS)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 20 February, 2009
GameLog closed on: Thursday 12 March, 2009 |
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