Advance Wars: Dual Strike

Ever since Advance Wars quietly appeared on the Game Boy Advance in the fall of 2001, it's been one of Nintendo’s hottest properties. Combining deep gameplay elements with clean, simple controls, great characters and storylines, and tons of content, Advance Wars is easily on par with the very best strategy games out there. Now the third instalment in the series is almost here, and in many ways it looks like it's going to be the best one yet. It looks as though Nintendo have been careful not to ruin the delicate balance or significantly alter the outstanding mechanics that made the previous two games so terrific, but it adds a slew of new twists, including tag-team matches, dual-screen battles, a real-time combat mode, and much more.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is clearly built on the foundation of its predecessors and recycles a lot of the same visuals and underlying mechanics. However, some new effects look to help give the game a new feel. The basics of your military arsenal includes an infantry and tanks, but you'll also get to use jets, ships, armoured transports, helicopters and much more. Each unit will have inherent strengths and weaknesses, so it's only through the careful use of combined forces that you'll win the battle.

New to Advance Wars: Dual Strike is the dual-screen battles in which action takes place on both the top screen and the bottom screen. In dual-screen battles, one Commanding Officer (CO) typically manages the action topside, while another takes care of business on the bottom screen. The bottom screen is where the main battle is waged, and the top screen is an ancillary battle. By default, the computer will control what happens up top, and actually does a very competent job of it. All you need to do is send units from one front to the other, if you wish to reinforce the battle for the top screen. If you'd rather not relinquish control to the computer, you can personally take command of the action on the top screen, which you'll get to do as soon as you decide to end your regular turn.

Tag-team battles are also unique to Advance Wars: Dual Strike. As in previous Advance Wars titles, each of the game's CO’s, has his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses. For instance, one of the first new COs you meet in the game is Jake, who is a little irritating, but whose ground units actually gain an advantage when fighting in wide-open spaces. There's also Rachel, a peppy new CO and sister to the brilliant Nell from previous Advance Wars games; Rachel's units regain hit points more rapidly than usual. In a tag battle, you get to determine which CO is taking the lead and plan your strategy to take full advantage of both CO's powers. For example, the inexperienced but wealthy CO named Colin has weaker units but can purchase them for lower than usual prices. You can put him in the lead whenever you need to buy reinforcements, and then switch to a tougher CO, like Max, in order to dish out the damage.

The best aspect of tag-team battles, is that you can unleash both of your COs' super powers at once. Your COs build up a power meter as they fight, and if you can get both COs' power meters full, your tag-team ability will let you take two turns in a row, which can lead to devastating results. Being able to capture facilities or advance into enemy territory twice as fast as usual can spell utter destruction for your opponent.

As you win battles, you rack up points with which you can purchase stand-alone maps and unlock other bonus extras. The game has two full screens of main menu options, so there are many different features to explore. There are plenty of multiplayer options, including download play, to help you get your friends as addicted to the game as you probably will be.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike is looking to be one of the hottest titles released on the Nintendo DS and will release on the 7th of October at a RRP of NZ$79.95.

Keep your browser on NZGamer.com, and in the coming weeks we will be sure to give you a full in-depth review of this pocket sized battle game.