Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is the latest installment in the acclaimed turn-based strategy franchise that started way back on the NES. Since then, AW has undergone some relatively major gameplay overhauls, but the plot has always been up-beat and cheery. A trait many people found unsettling as the game revolved around war. Days of Ruin changes that. In this entry, the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Most of the earth's denizens have been wiped out by meteors and diseases, and only a handful of military-trained soldiers survive. Players will encounter a good amount of twists and turns, so the plot isn't completely linear. At the same time, it doesn't begin to approach the depth of tales weaved by Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy. Hardcore fans may dislike the darker and more 'epic' plot, while others will love it. Then you may fall into the middle like me. I am quite a fan of the previous game's bright and cheery story, but I do appreciate the new approach that Days of Ruin takes.

Days of Ruin doesn't really change from its predecessors outside of story. The gameplay is much the same with a few minor tweaks. For one, units will now level up in a 'sorta-kinda' way. Every time a unit scores a kill, it will gain a level and its power and defense will go up. Units can only gain three levels before they stop gaining levels, however. So do not fret--the strategy is still as prominent as ever. There are also several new units. In my play sessions so far, I have encountered Bikers, glorified infantry units with a larger movement range, and War Tanks, enormous tanks that rip apart almost all ground units. However, there are more as videos and screenshots have shown. The added units add more strategy and offer some unfamiliarity to hardcore fans.

I have yet to test online (well duh, the game isn't out yet), but I will have a chance tomorrow as I received a letter with details of a journalist tourney of sorts. Various game journalists will all hop online at the same time and we will test our mettle against each other. The online looks very promising as you can voice chat with anyone you battle online and there's a robust map creator with which you can make maps and put them up online for anyone to download.

From my short (so far) playtime with the game, Days of Ruin is fantastic. It isn't the best game for the DS, but it may very well be the best Advance Wars. If you asked me for my score right now, I'd give it an 8.7. It really is a great game.

aaaahhh please don't kill us giant worm, we are under-leveled!!

I recently acquired a copy of Final Fantasy VI Advance for my trusty GBA (playing it on my DS, though). I am in mad love with the game. Especially considering it's a total upgrade of the original Final Fantasy VI, which is one of my favorite games ever. This remake is even better, but that is not the point of this article. You see, everything was going fine. I was going through the game with little to no problems and I only had to stop a few times along the way to gain an extra level or two. I was enjoying the faster pace as I remember having to do a substantial amount of grinding in the original game.

However, the pacing just grinded to a halt not too long ago. I happened to encounter a dungeon about three-fourths of the way through the game called The Phoenix Cave. This dungeon required me to split my party members into two teams. The problem? I had been adventuring all this time with my all-star team of my four favorite characters. So when it came to splitting into two teams, I knew I was screwed. I had completely neglected all of the other nine characters I had, leaving them with weak equipment and abysmally low levels. I contemplated splitting my team of four into two for each team, but I figured that wouldn't work. I was right. So my only other option was to beef up my other characters to a respectable level. I could do that. I would have to do that. But I'm damned if it wasn't going to be a total bitch.


excuse me but wtf r u doin

So I'm doing just that. Sitting here with my DS at my side, typing this, and fighting off random monsters. Did I mention I've been doing this for a good three hours? It's tedious stuff. That and I took this chance to level up my magic. Thing is, doing that takes even longer so I'll be sitting here long after my characters have gotten to the level they need to be. What keeps me going is the prospect of totally ripping up the final boss with all my fancy new magic and such.

I'd also like to talk about grinding in general. RPGs should scrap this stuff. I don't want it being taken to Final Fantasy 8 extremes (where monsters leveled up with you) because I like a bit of grinding here and there. It's when I'm sitting there tapping A for hours that I get annoyed. I'm also pretty sure my fellow gamers agree with me here. World of Warcraft is especially notorious for this as it requires tons and tons of experience to gain just one level. Pacing is one of the most important aspects of a game to me, and extraneous leveling brings the pacing to a screeching halt. Sometimes it can ruin a game. It certainly hasn't ruined FFVI for me; I still love the game to death, but some games would be masterpieces if not for their excessive grinding (looking at you, Final Fantasy III!).