Hot in the trails of the GBA masterpieces Advance Wars and Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, comes the Nintendo DS' to take on the series.
Not surprising anyone, the game sticks with what it did in the earlier titles; solid turn-based strategy.

We are informed that months have passed since Macro Land was at war, but Black Hole is at it again, invading Omea Land this time.
Controlling the Allied Nations, you enter the battle to rid the world of Black Hole once and for all.

Trying to explain everything in this game in limited space is near impossible, but I’ll do my best to give you the basics. As you might know, this is a turn based strategy game; you have one round to move your units, create new ones, attack and conquer bases, then you opponent gets their turn.
There are two ways to win a mission; you can either conquer the enemy headquarters, or you could simply wipe the enemy units off the map.

Every unit, from naval to air, from soldiers to tanks, has their own weaknesses and strengths. Helicopters might be strong against tanks, but anti-air units are strong against helicopters. Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, add fuel into the mix, add fog of war, add terrain limitations, and we're starting to get somewhere. You have to consider moving and firing range with every move you make. Buildings can be conquered by your men, which turns out to be a crucial part of the game. Having buildings under your control means you get to receive funds. Money of course means more units.

New to the series is the dual screen layout. While most of your battles will take part on the lower screen, some battles require you to give orders to the
top screen as well. This isn't as hard as it may seem, and is a welcomed addition in Dual Strike. Also, sticking with the dual theme here is the ability to switch CO (Commanding Officer) during missions. For those of you unaware of what a CO is, it's basically you. CO's also possesses powers that can be unleashed and slightly alter the outcome of any mission, provided used in the proper way. Some CO's may give you the option to move two turns
in one day, some may give you extra funding.

Thankfully the game delivers a really good learning-curve teaching you everything from the basics and beyond from the very first missions.

There's so much more to be said here, but words cannot describe the depth this game has. Actually, I could have compressed everything I've written above in one simple sentence: Advance Wars packs deep gameplay in a small package. Period.

If you're looking for realistic tanks and artillery, look elsewhere. This is game that’s all about cutesy drawn graphics, exaggerated and all.Still it's pulling off what it should, everything on the screen is easy to follow, and there's no clutter to speak of. Screenshots will give you a pretty accurate idea of what you should expect.

Uninteresting and forgettable music stays by your side along your adventure. Nothing special here. Luckily the music can be switched off if it starts
driving you crazy; and it might actually do just that. Sound effects include the mighty sounds of "boom" and "pang", but they actually pack some punch, reflecting the powers of your units pretty well.

Sound isn't by any means the centerpiece of Advance Wars, so I'll give this one a 6 and just let it stay with that.

Controlling Advance Wars has never felt better.

Deploying your units and engaging in battle, navigating menus, actually everything is done via the touch screen. It's beautiful. Whatever troubles you had controlling the earlier Advance Wars games, this is the cure. It feels as natural and easy as controlling the mouse you're using while reading this review right now. The upper screen is mainly used to get intel about units and terrain, and sometimes the whole game goes into dual screen mode when the mission uses two layers.

If I had to say anything slightly bad about the interface it would be the missing ability to undo. So if you set your unit to wait while you really wanted to Fire you’ll be out of luck. But that's just me blaming my own mistakes on the game.

Perfect!

Advace Wars Dual Strikes carries everything that was brilliant from the former games to the DS, adding top notch touch screen controls and a double screen twist along the way. If you enjoyed the former games, needless to say, you will love this. Advance Wars Dual Strike is simply one of the best strategy games I've ever played, non-handheld consoles included.

Gather some friends for multiplayer action. Unfortunately there's no internet-play in Dual Strike, but lots of fun is easilly available if you know anyone
with a DS willing to engage in war against you.

Surprisingly deep gameplay wrapped in deceiving cute graphics, this one gets two thumbs way up.