Advance Wars: Strategy or Puzzle?
For the past couple of weeks i have been playing Advance Wars: Dark Conflict on the DS. The turn based strategy series has been getting great reviews since the original game appeared on the GBA in 2001. Dark Conflict is the last in the series and the second on the DS, the first one being Dual Strike.
But enough with the history. I have been fuming at my DS since yesterday and specifically at the afforementioned game. I am on the game's last mission and i don't see light at the end of the tunnel. This last mission is near impossible to win and the difficulty does not compare to any other story mode mission i encountered in the game. It is a huge difficulty spike that risks having the gamer play all the way to the last mission only to leave it unfinished.
What is more striking is something that i have been thinking throughout my playtime with this game. A lot of the missions involve you figuring out the "correct way" to defeat your enemy forces. Once you do figure it out it then means that you just have to go through the formulaic motions to win the mission.
This is especially apparent in the last mission where i am sure there is a specific and "correct way" to do it. But is this what strategy games are supposed to be like? It's closer to being a puzzle i.e. figuring out the solution and then implementing it. The game forces you to play one dimensionally with one correct solution. But strategy games should encourage free thinking at many levels and have multiple solutions to specific situations. Advance Wars: DC fails in this respect.
Was it the final level only
Was it the final level only that gave you this impression and was it very specific as in the units you need to produce every turn or just the order of things you needed to capture and attack?
I know you have finished it since so I would like to know what your overall impression of the game are especially as it is your first Advance Wars and you are a Master Strategy Otaku.
The main thing about the
The main thing about the final level for me was the difficulty. Until that level the game was difficult but not excessively so. Then suddenly it went through the roof. The thing is you try several kinds of strategy but most times you need to spend 30-45 minutes playing the level to realised whether or not you have the momentum needed to beat it. So it was quite frustrating.
As for the puzzle Vs strategy i had the same feeling with other missions too. You know that kids game with blocks which are in the shape of a circle or triangle or rectangle etc and the kid needs to fit each block into a shape carved on a small board. That how it felt sometimes and particularly so in the last level due to the number of times i tried it.
My conclusion? To be honest i really liked. It has depth, a stupid story (better than no story), variation in what you do and it is challenging. I am even attempting to complete all missions and also thinking of trying Dual Strike to see the differences although the excessive powers of the COs don't appeal to me. All in all a great little game just a bit too narrow in scope sometimes.