Advance Wars does a lot of things right and does this all in a post-apocalyptic world on the brink of destruction. Not exactly the happiest of settings, but still a very fun and well rounded game for any DS owner.

Advance Wars has always been a strong turn-based strategy game and this iteration is no different. It is very easy to get started playing, but can be quite difficult to master all the different strategies and terrains. You begin by taking control of depots to create money for your army and then build different types of units that range from motorcycles to huge tanks, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, so finding the right balance is always important. You take turns moving and attacking your opponents with your troops and the loser is the person that has no units left to fight with, all in the style of the ever-classic RISK.

The game can be an excruciating pain in the ass at times. The difficulty level of the game quickly gets ramped up at the drop of a hat, almost to the point where you want to break your DS. Luckily the controls are very easy to understand and use, unfortunately the stylus is pretty much useless. You can use the D-pad to control everything on screen and move your tiny armies around.

There is a good deal of replay value in this title, via its robust single player mode (26 campaign levels in total), multi card play and Wifi battles. Picking up a game via the Wifi is very simple and once you are hooked into a Wifi spot with your DS you can jump right into a game and if you are like me, get owned in a few minutes.

A solid performance from the newest installment of Advance Wars, they fixed most of the problems and issues people had with the last version and crafted a fun experience on the DS. A definite pickup for fans of the series or for those gamers looking for a solid strategy game for their Nintendo DS.

Overall: 8 of 10