Advance Wars: Dark Conflict (Nintendo DS)

...gritty look at the once-colourful Advance Wars formula. Better balance, better graphics, markedly better sound and an interesting storyline will leave fans satisfied and newcomers hooked.

Premise:
On a world devastated by a planet-wide meteor shower, survivors struggle to see another day while fighting off bandits, other factions, a sinister military-industrial company, and a virus that threatens to wipe them all out. You play ...
...clean aesthetic of the old Advance Wars games has been replaced by a darker, grittier, more realistic view. The terrain is more variation to it to break up the regular tile structure, and there are several different tilesets to choose from, including Ruins and Snow sets. Still, it feels as though Intelligent Systems (the developers of the series) could've pushed a little more out of the DS's capabilities.

Sound:
Thuds, booms, ... more

Overview:
The latest addition to Nintendo's fun and engaging turn based strategy series, Dark Conflict takes a different, more gritty look at the once-colourful Advance Wars formula. Better balance, better graphics, markedly better sound and an interesting storyline will leave fans satisfied and newcomers hooked.

Premise:
On a world devastated by a planet-wide meteor shower, survivors struggle to see another day while fighting off bandits, other factions, a sinister military-industrial company, and a virus that threatens to wipe them all out. You play as the commanding officers of one of these factions, hoping to restore peace to the world and offer sanctuary to any survivors.

Gameplay:
The classic tile-based, turn-based wargame formula that has persisted since the first Wars game on the Nintendo Famicom in Japan has been tweaked and balanced to near perfection in Dark Conflict. From infantry to bazooka troops to fearsome anti-tank guns that wreck armour, every unit has a counter in order to force you to use combined arms to achieve victory. APC units (now referred to as Mobile Workshops) can now build temporary ports and airfields to supply your naval and air forces, who has been plagued by supply problems in the previous games, and now Carrier can produce and maintain their own dedicated force of Ship Planes for air superiority. Battleships, once limited and harried by Submarines, can now move and fire in the same turn to account for their vulnerabilities.

The CO system has been revamped as well. For half the cost of a unit you can now load your CO onto a unit and bring him or her to fight on the front lines; each CO has a 'zone' where their specific skills boost the abilities of any unit inside the zone. One CO gives defensive bonuses to all units in his zone, while another has a zone so small it only covers her unit, but gives ridiculously large bonuses to it, making it a killing machine on the battlefield. Once your units in the CO zone have killed a certain number of enemy units, you can use your CO Power, which gives everyone of your units the zone boost and gives an additional effect, if only for one turn.

Graphics:
The once-colourful and clean aesthetic of the old Advance Wars games has been replaced by a darker, grittier, more realistic view. The terrain is more variation to it to break up the regular tile structure, and there are several different tilesets to choose from, including Ruins and Snow sets. Still, it feels as though Intelligent Systems (the developers of the series) could've pushed a little more out of the DS's capabilities.

Sound:
Thuds, booms, and the rattle of gunfire blast out of the DS's speakers with clarity and sharpness, and the once-repetitive, midi-esque music for the CO themes has been replaced by a much more realistic sound. Guitars, orchestral, and techno themes abound, being both fun to listen to and memorable.

Longevity:
Aside from the long and enjoyable campaign (which goes upwad of 25+ missions), there are also Trial Maps, the new version of Advance Wars' War Room feature, where you fight pitched battles against a certain CO on a particular map, in an effort to gain the best score possible. The Versus function is a staple of the series, too; you can play on any map with any CO and any conditions you stipulate, either against the AI or with a friend, hotseat style. For true multiplayer however, the Nintendo Wifi Connection delivers; it limits non-buddy play to small maps with a per-turn time limit, so matches don't last too long. Add the Design Maps function (where you can create your own maps and save them) to this lot and you get potentially infinite replayability.

Summary:
Although it feels like Intelligent Systems haven't truly pushed the DS to its limits with this game, it is still a very solid and enjoyable title; I'm still playing it quite a while after release, myself. If you're looking for a fun, pick-up-and-play strategy game for your DS, you can't go wrong with Dark Conflict. 

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