Advance Wars: Dark Conflict (Nintendo DS)

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

For those in the know, the best strategy games aren’t on the PC or home consoles but Nintendo portables. This war game is fast and accessible without ditching complexity in the level of control it gives you over your huge army of tanks, planes, and warships. The superb online multiplayer mode is the real draw, and there’s even a chance to make and share your own maps. If you’ve been turned off by past Advance Wars games, give this latest entry a try. The streamlined rules, new units, and improved graphics make it a winner.

HARRISON DENT

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Manufacturer's Description

Meteor storms, earthquakes and tidal waves devastate the Earth, causing 90 percent of the world’s population to perish. The sky has been blocked out by ash, yielding little sunlight. In a world ravaged by a domino effect of catastrophic events, those lucky enough to survive are divided into warring factions fighting to drive the direction of a new civilization.

As the CO of an army you must defeat the enemy army by either destroying all their units or taking over there HQ building, although dependant on the stage there could be further rules of victory. Each stage brings a new map, and challenge, as the CO of the army you will need to take control of your units and understand there strengths and weaknesses in order to attack the enemy efficiently.

Strategy fans will rejoice over the long-awaited inclusion of Wi-Fi play, which adds depth and re-playability. Use Nintendo WiFi Connection and battle against a friend halfway across the world, or use the map editor to create, trade and battle on your own custom maps.

Features:

More than 60 exciting single player missions.

Within Story Mode, players can play through an additional 38 Trial stages. Although independent of the Story Mode, the Trial stages add much to the game play challenge and depth.

New strategies also emerge by way of the Command one. For the first time, a Commanding Officer can enter one of the units, and by doing this, he or she creates a Command Zone.

Create your own maps and share them with your friends or upload them to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-03-12 rating:
A return to form for the Advance War series
After the slightly disappointingly bloated Dual Strike, this is a brilliant return to form. The dual-screen and outrageous commander powers are out, the emphasis is back on simple game mechanics and complex strategy!

New features to be aware of:
-your commander is now inside a unit and his power meter only goes up when damage happens in his vicinity; this greatly reduces the emphasis on commander powers and is in my opinion a good thing
-units earn one experience point after each victory, up to three points; more experience means higher attack and defence ratings
-new units such as motorcycle infantry, missile boats and planes that can attack ground and air units add to the strategic options available
-battleships can now fire after moving, giving sea battles a lot more flow (pun not intended)
-tweaks to the movement mechanics: a unit only moves after the full sequence has been ordered (so you can cancel the attack if you don't like the odds even when you would have been blocked by a hiding unit)
-the APC can now build one small airstrip or port, these can be used to refuel and repair (not purchase)

The game now also features online play; I have not tried this yet but I understand that turn times are limited so you don't have to wait ages for a slow opponent to make his moves.

The main negative aspect for me is the occasionally tedious cutscene dialogue, which seems much longer than before. Fortunately, you can skip it.
The story is, as ever, quite corny, though that doesn't bother me; as the game title suggests it is darker than the previous games.

To sum up, this is the best Advance Wars since the original on Gameboy Advance. If you loved any of the previous games, you should get this one!

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review by: gurkemeia date: 2008-03-08 rating:
I expected so much more
1: My daughter, three years old, invents WAY more interesting stories than this. The dialog is emabarasing. The characters are, well, let's just say that it's a relief when some of them die.

2: The controls are bad. I played Dune II way back in the early 90's. I wish the developers of this game had too.

3: War map design leaves a lot to be desired. I really did not EVER get the proclaimed "I must play this map just one more time" feeling. I did, however, get the "I must write a bad review" feeling.

4: This is the first "Advanced wars" game I've played. People have claimed that this one is better than it's predecessors. Then the previous games must be really bad. When compared to inovative games of the early 90's, this is is really not worth the money. I regret putting this game on my wish list form my birthday.

All in all, this game has some nice graphics, but it kind of ends there.

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review by: date: 2008-01-31 rating:
Not as good as the Advance Wars games that came before it...
... but the bar has always been incredibly high when a series is this good. I feel many are being too critical about the new story and style - I feel the style and tone don't stray too far away from past titles in the series (especially Advance Wars 2 for the GBA) but, like many others, was not as impressed by the story as I was with the fresh concept of the first, or the tongue-in-cheek fantasy elements in Dual Strike. The plot is interesting, but quite empty in places - the dialogue and dated character interaction scenes just aren't enough to carry it anymore.

Even with these negatives points, this was never going to be awful. Don't get me wrong, it's not. Punishingly hard at times, but aren't they all? Stick to Dual Strike, get this when it drops to £20 or so.

Good times, though.

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review by: manga sensei date: 2008-01-27 rating:
A big step-up for Advance Wars,BUT DON'T BUY IT IF YOU'RE A NOVICE.
Advance wars has always been a successful series with two games on the game boy advance(gba) and another on the ds (Advance Wars Dual Strike) But this second ds title Advance Wars Dark Conflict is a very different game indeed. None of the Commanding Officers(CO'S) from the previous games appear in this one and the kid friendly graphics have been replaced by a more darker and slightly gloomy design. The War room mode has completely vanished and the difficulty is extremely hard.CO Powers don't have as much effect as they did in the past and are harder to gain. The Campaign mode is still good however and the new addition of the trial maps make good sidequests.The design map mode is much better as you can now save an incredible amount of designs(50 in total!)This game is still excellent but don't buy if you've never played an Advance Wars game before due to the insanely hard difficulty.


review by: date: 2008-01-26 rating:
Advance Wars grows up!
The original Advance Wars (AW) game was regularly voted the best game for the Gameboy Advance and it's easy to see why. Great presentation, really accessible, and the gameplay was spot on. The next games in the series, AW: Black Hole Rising and AW: Dual Strike, continued the excellence with just a few tweaks and extras.

So what's new in AW: Dark Conflict? At first glance not much. The solid strategic gameplay is still there, you still have the Campaign (or Story) mode, and the maps or battlefields are still presented the same way. So seasoned players will be able to dive in without so much as a glance at the manual.

But after a while you realise that a lot of tweaking has gone on. Small things like the ability to zoom in and out with the R button, unit graphics that aren't so "cartoony", menus that feel more professional. The whole package has an edgy feel.

In addition, extra units have been added. In previous versions this usually amounted to not much more than adding a more powerful tank or a novelty like a piperunner. AW: Dark Conflict has motorbikes (in reality far ranging foot soldiers that can capture bases), and anti-tank units. Just these two low cost units completely change your strategy. One of my tried and tested methods was to send out as many tanks as possible with foot soldiers ahead of them to act as sacrificial pawns. This simply does not work anymore. It also seems the computer AI routines have been upgraded.

Another feature added is Wireless and on-line play. Not only can you play with your friends, but with people all around the world. The excellent map designer has also been retained.

If you've played any of the AW games before, this new version will be a worthy addition to your collection. It's not just an extra campaign, it's a deeply strategic turn based battler that will have you rethinking your usual gameplan. But if you're new to the series then I'd advise against getting it. There's just too many stats, units and concepts to get your head around. Much better to get the Gameboy Advance original - this has a superb tutorial mode and campaign that will teach you all you need to know slowly and gently. And much cheaper as well (under a tenner on a well known aution site).

Finally, if you're after the strategy guide, it's called Advance Wars Days of Ruin strategy guide (not a different game, just the name of Dark Conflict in America).

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