When it comes to military strategy games for the spunky Nintendo DS hand-held, “Advance Wars: Dual Strike” wins the battle – and the war.
“Dual Strike” ($34.99, E-rated) is a near perfect balance of simple accessibility and deep challenge that takes full advantage of the portable system’s best assets.
The built-in wireless allows for multiplayer gaming against other warmonger wannabes, the touch screen provides superb, precise controls to direct your minions, and the two displays let you fight raging battles on multiple fronts.
This third installment in the “Advance Wars” saga is the first exclusively for the DS; previous editions ran only on the Game Boy Advance.
The allied factions of Orange Star, Blue Moon, Green Earth and Yellow Comet return as they once again strive to defeat the menacing Black Hole Army, which is stripping the lush Omega Land dry.
It’s the many characters you’ll learn to love – and hate – that make the game so interesting. Your armies are controlled by up to two commanding officers, and each has special abilities, strengths and weaknesses.
The actual tools of combat include troops with rocket launchers, tanks, stealth fighters and submarines. You’ll wage war on landscapes spanning seas, woods, mountains and bridges.
Like a chess board with bazookas, “Dual Strike” plays out on an overhead map that’s broken into a grid.
Each player gets a turn to build units, move them around, capture cities for more money and attack. Battles are won by eliminating all the enemy forces or by capturing their headquarters.
Since “Dual Strike” is turn-based, I had plenty of time to consider my options. Should I build up a strong defense and wait for the enemy? Or do I amass my tanks and move in for an offensive strike? It’s the process of learning what works and what doesn’t that makes “Dual Strike” so captivating.
There are lots of options beyond the more than two-dozen levels in the single-player campaign mode to give “Dual Strike” lasting appeal, including a map editor to create and share your own battlefields and a “versus mode” where you can face off against three other people on the same DS.
“Dual Strike” also permits a limited, faster paced minigame that you can wirelessly share with up to seven other DS owners – even if they don’t own their own copy of the game.
Between this and the virtual pup simulator “Nintendogs,” Nintendo’s little silver-and-black handheld has been on a roll lately.
Ovrerall rating: HHHH
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