Advance Wars: Dual Strike, known as in Japan, is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the third installment in the Advance Wars series (the first on the DS) and was released in 2005 for Japan on June 23, in North America on August 22, in Europe on September 30 and in Australia on March 22, 2006.

The storyline is a continuation of the previous two games and is set in the new location of Omega Land. Black Hole has returned under the leadership of a new commander who seeks to give himself eternal life by draining the energy of Omega Land. The Allied Nations struggle to overcome this threat and are eventually joined by several former Black Hole commanding officers in an effort to save the land.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike received "universal acclaim" and also won several awards, including "Best Strategy Game for the DS" from IGN in 2005. It sold more than 35,000 copies in its first ten weeks in Japan. It was followed by a sequel, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.

Gameplay

The player's objective in Dual Strike is to defeat the enemy army with their own army. Except in some campaign missions with special objectives, there are two ways to defeat an opponent: destroy all of the enemy's units or capture their headquarters. The battle system is turn-based tactics. Two to four armies, each headed by one or two commanding officers (COs), take turns building and commanding units on grid-based maps. Every turn, units, which consist of ground, sea and air units, can move across the different types of terrain and attack enemy units or perform other actions, such as submerging a submarine or resupplying friendly units.

COs and CO powers

All of the COs from the previous two games in the series, aside from Sturm, return in Dual Strike. In addition, nine new COs make an appearance; two for Orange Star, one each for Blue Moon, Yellow Comet, and Green Earth, and four for Black Hole, resulting in a total of 27 COs.

The namesake of Dual Strike is the ability to use two COs in a battle to command a single army. By using two COs, the weaknesses of each CO can effectively be covered by switching COs mid-battle. In addition, when using two COs, a new CO power named "Tag Power" or "Dual Strike" can be used. It allows players to use both COs' Super CO powers consecutively in the same turn, and effectively allows the player to have two turns. and the Oozium, a gelatinous blob which can only move one space per turn, but it can destroy any enemy it comes into contact with instantly. and the aircraft carrier, which can house two air units and is armed with surface-to-air missiles. In addition, the cruiser's missiles are now able to damage all naval units, making it more versatile. These are converted to points and are added to the player's overall points, which can be used to purchase War Room maps, Versus maps, and COs. Bonus points can also be earned by destroying certain items, such as Oozium or Black Obelisks in certain missions.

The new Survival mode is a nonstop war of attrition. Depending on the mode, players are either given limited money, turns, or time to complete a series of maps. However, victory often can be achieved by reaching preset requirements instead of satisfying the normal victory conditions. The ranking received depends on the amount of the given resource remaining at the end of the maps. Each has strengths and weaknesses when graded in the four categories of firepower, rate of fire, movement speed, and capture speed, and their respective strengths and weaknesses resemble those of the units in the main game. Players must fight through six levels, each on a different map against a different CO. Units are bought before the first game of each set and must last through all six levels, as extra units cannot be purchased and can only be gained when a factory is captured. Multiplayer for this mode is supported, unlike Survival. Up to eight players on up to four teams can battle. Computer-controlled units, which take on a gray color, may also be added into a match. A demo of Dual Strike, containing the Combat mode, can be sent wirelessly to other DS units. In March, the Japanese release date was revealed to be June 23, 2005, under the title Famicom Wars DS. In May, the game was showcased at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, when the official title was also announced. The American release date for Dual Strike was set to August 22 and the European release date for September 30.

Advance Wars: Dual Strike was developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. The executive producer was Satoru Iwata, the CEO of Nintendo. The producer was Tohru Nariho and the game was directed by Makoto Shimojo.

Wireless play was originally planned for the game, but wireless was not part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo build and Nintendo was therefore unable to demonstrate its capabilities. By the final release build of the game, local wireless, but not Nintendo Wi-Fi, was implemented and supported two to four players in Normal Battle mode, two players in DS Battle, and up to 8 players in Combat mode.

| Edge = 8/10

| EGM = 8.83/10

| EuroG = 9/10

| GI = 9.25/10

| GamePro = 4.5/5

| GameRev = A−

| GSpot = 9.2/10

| GT = 9/10

| GameZone = 9/10

| IGN = 9/10

| rev1 = Detroit Free Press

| rev1Score = 4/4

| rev2 = The Sydney Morning Herald

| rev2Score = 4.5/5

Advance Wars: Dual Strike received "universal acclaim" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. The Sydney Morning Herald gave it four-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that "the cute Japanese animation belies the tactical intricacy".

The game was awarded the Editor's Choice Award by both IGN and GameSpot. GameSpy also awarded the game "Game of the Month" in August 2005. It also won Best Strategy Game for the DS and was a runner-up for the Best Strategy Game on any platform in 2005.

Notes

References

  • Nintendo's official Advance Wars: Dual Strike page