General Games Discussion

M99 wrote:Lmfao forget HD is that even SD

Does this look SD to you



The uploader just sucks tbh.

Is that Mario Kart 64

No.

This is though

That difference is akin to 90s Nickelodeon to 2000s Cartoon Network.

Just tried this offline MP with bots thing they just added to Battlefront and this happened



Got like 100 kills with Vader in about 3 mins

Aint seen such destruction since Prime Anakin started slaughtering younglings in Episode 3.

#12

Game: Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.
Year: 2008.
Genre: Tactical Strategy.
Publisher: Nintendo.
Developer: Intelligent Systems.



First things first, I am changing my rating system to better rate different genres according to their own rules. It will still be from 50 quality points, but every title will start from 25 and earn/lose points according to criteria important to the titles and genres themselves.

For three consecutive games, the Advance Wars continued with the same style, much of the same characters, a limited story, and focused on developing the base game play without shaking things too far. This culminated with the excellent release of Dual Strike, which is one of the best games on the DS.

With Days of Ruin, Intelligent Systems wanted to change things as much as possible. Introducing a renewed focus on story, and a different style, they could have made an even better Advance Wars game than Dual Strike.

However, for that step forward, they took two steps back through the unnecessary changes to the gameplay, which in my opinion makes this an ultimately less fun game than its predecessor.

"We stopped being soldiers when the meteors hit"

The biggest and most apparent change to the Advance Wars formula is how story is now actually given some attention. While the plot of the past games was simply a background for some cool characters to interact with each other and give the player some battles to fight, Days of Ruin actually attempts to tell a story. It does a pretty good job at it.

If anyone wants to see Nintendo take a stab at the post-apocalyptic theme, then Days of Ruin would be their game. Even before the meteors hit the earth and reduced mankind to a fraction of what they were, humanity was in a constant case of war.

With the apocalypse, war became the default mean of survival, especially with a sinister disease being spread around.

While the plot is somewhat basic, its told well, and it remains interesting throughout, even if its almost always predictable. At least you cannot say the game cheats you with its "surprise" reveals. Unfortunately, the cast of characters is not as memorable as in past AW games, but that is to bee expected with this more serious story.

Focusing on Will, a previous cadet who now idolizes the heroic Commander Brenner who save him, the game makes a small mistake. Will isn't an interesting character, and the game would have been much more interesting with Lt. Lin being at center stage.

Still, Lin does have her moments, and Will is ok as far as over eager JRPG heroes go.

Good Story: +3
Good Dialogue: +2
Interesting Setting: +2
Boring Characters: -2

"]Will you let your gun take the place of your honor"

At its most basic, Dual Strike still offers the same solid tactical strategy gameplay the series is known far. In each turn, you can control the various units at your disposal to destroy the enemy. In most maps, you can utilize factories to build more units while capturing cities to secure funds. Usually you can see the entire map, but some levels shake things up by introducing the fog of war, which significantly changes the way you approach a level.

Dual Strike does little to change the basics other than change the balancing a little bit and add some extra units. Some of these units are very good additions, like an artillery unit that can defend itself and a fast infantry unit that makes capturing cities easier. Other new units are cool, but have limited use like the Flare unit.

Some changes to the balancing are negative, especially the increased strength of the rocket launcher unit to compensate for its low maneuverability. It makes it a powerful defense weapon, which greatly benefits the computer who rarely ever need to actually attack you.

Outside of the main campaign, there isn't the wealth of content available in the last AW game. While there are training maps to be enjoyed, they do not come close to the variety and number of the past titles.

However, that is not a problem, because even if the maps were there, I don't think I would play Days of Ruin much past its campaign. Simply because going back and playing Dual Strike again is simply more fun.

Same Solid Base: +3
A Good Campaign: +2
Some Good Additions: +1

"The reality is there is nothing out there but corpses and cockroaches"

While Days of Ruin doesn't change the basic gameplay format much, it changed something major in how the game played. Basically, it killed all influence of CO powers.

For those unfamiliar with the term, CO powers is basically the special power available to the commanding officer leading the battle, and associated bonuses as well. In past AW games, this ensured the CO will have a significant effect on how you approach a battle. Besides their passive abilities, which encourage you to use some specific strategies, they also have special powers that have drastic effects.

Using those powers ensured battle wouldn't drag on, as you can unleash them at a stage where you can totally obliterate the enemy in two turns, when otherwise a war of attrition (which you will eventually win) can drag to ten.

In Days of Ruin, CO powers were nearly thrown out of the window. In fact, it might have been better if they did. First, they no longer effect all your soldiers. No, you must first WASTE a turn to have your CO board a unit. Then, only units around the very narrow radius of that unit can benefit from those bonuses. To use the special move, that same unit that you would rather protect should kill of enemy units to fill the special gauge.

When that happens, you are treated to unremarkable special moves.

In fact, the entire system is useless for most characters you are nearly punished for using it. Apparently ,the game knows CO powers suck, which is why they introduce them only after the halfway point in the campaign.

Not having these CO powers make battle noticeably less fun that past AW games. Due to the way the game is played, you can virtually be in the course of winning a battle, with no chance of defeat, but will need to chip down at a losing AI for 20 more turns to finally win. In the past, CO powers helped deliver the Coup de grace to the enemy, bring you back from defeat, or even give them a fighting chance against your superior intellect.

Worse yet, this eliminates the wonderful variety CO powers helped create in past games. Playing with different COs meant a different play-style, but these Days of Ruin bastards might all be cardboard cutouts of the same character.

Useless COs: -5
Lack of Variety in Playing: -3

"Dust covered the earth, bloating all signs of the sun"

With a post apocalyptic setting, it is tough making your art stand out from the rest of the grey brown painted games using the setting, and Days of Ruin doesn't necessarily try to do that. Instead, it commits to theme, and adapts AWs colorful style to fit the world. The cartoonish red tanks of past games are not similar looking, but with more realistic colors and extra details showing wear and tear. As for the environment, its looks like one deprived from the sun.

Its the CO drawings that seal the deal though, as the series abandons the stylish colorful portraits of the past. The drawings here are much more detailed, and they are showing characters wearing actual functional clothing instead of just a stylish wardrobe. It works really well for the setting of the game, especially as each characters has a lot of detail in their design.

Where the game really shines though is in its soundtrack, which I think is really the only thing better than past games. The tracks are more complex, more varied, and more special. However, unlike past games where you can choose a level's track through selecting the CO, all of Days of Ruin campaigns select the CO for you.

This can be a major annoyance, and it probably keeps me from praising the music as much as I want to. Since I am not interested in playing anything outside of the campaign, some of the best CO track I rarely had the chance to listen to.

Suitable Graphical Style: +2
Cool Sprites: +2
Very Good Music: +3


In Conclusion:

As I said above, Days of Ruin is one step forward for the series, but two step back. It delivers a good campaign, with an interesting story and interesting characters. However, the much marginalized CO powers makes it a less fun game.

While it ends up being a more balanced game in the process, Days of Ruin forgot what made the past games fun to begin with.

Still, this doesn't mean this is a bad game, or that's its ultimately very boring. It still is a good game, and a must play for fans of the series, even if I am just going back to playing Dual Strike after this.

Final: 35/50

"Tips"
1- Do not incorporate CO powers in your regular strategy, they are mostly luxury bonuses.
2- You can upgrade your units through destroying other units, protect upgraded units if you can.
3- While the bike units is great for capturing cities, it doesn't mean you should neglect infantry and mechs.
4- In this game, due to not having CO powers, bunching up and attacking from one front is usually better than dividing your forces.
5- Rockets can seriously kill your advance, make sure to take out enemy artillery before going forward.

"Next Game"

As a send off to the Advance Wars series, Days of Ruin doesn't do a goo enough job. We really should be getting another game in the series, one that hopefully has better CO powers.

Next game I am playing is a sequel to on of my favorite games, Okamiden is a natural follow-up to the excellent Okami game. Hopefully it doesn't cause me to scratch my new 3DS screen.

Stay Tuned

http://ca.ign.com/articles/2016/07/20/rocket-league-ps4-xbox-one-cross-network-play-now-ready-for-release-only-needs-sonys-approval

Psionix literally just waiting on the ok from Sony

so NXT is gonna be a handheld/console hybrid like the rumors were saying months ago

It's good for them really, it means they can concentrate solely on one market instead of splitting up their development cycles/teams.

It's more cost effective and a more efficient use of their teams which will probably mean more games instead of months of dry spells.

Depends how they execute it though as always.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Just tried this offline MP with bots thing they just added to Battlefront and this happened



Got like 100 kills with Vader in about 3 mins

Aint seen such destruction since Prime Anakin started slaughtering younglings in Episode 3.

Master moalwalker....the Jedi are in trouble, wat do we do


*Activates lightsaber, looks emotionally disturbed*

I like to think of it as Emotionally advanced tbh.

I'm not the one to condone bot molestation on your free time

Summer sale on PSN atm.

Really considering getting the Assassins Creed Triple Pack of Unity, Black Flag and Syndicate for for 37.50

Your opinion is boring

But srsly, BF is legit fun, dunno about the other 2 haven't played them

I have played BF but not for a while and want to get the PS4 version tbh.

I heard good things about Syndicate ( maybe M99 can confirm ) Already played Unity just the average price of £12 a game is making me want it tbh.

Sydnicate is good, enjoying it much more than Unity. Nothing outstanding but its fun to play.

Full lineup:

Tricky Towers, PS4
Rebel Galaxy, PS4
Yakuza 5, PS3
Retro/Grade, PS3
Patapon 3, PS Vita
Ultratron, PS Vita, PS3, PS4

PS+ August

unreal month

Patapon only thing i played from that, legit tbh

They should credit our accounts with £5 per game we download from that pathetic list.

Would get tricky towers if it was a tower defence game

Any of you lads played Darksiders back in the day?

I never did but it's apparently being remastered for new consoles, always thought it was interesting because it was compared to Zelda but more mature and darker tone but i never actually played it.

I played through it on release and thought it was pretty average to good, never checked the sequel

Absolutely dead