Dual Strike takes what was great about previous Advance Wars games and makes it even better.
The reason this game is so good is that it doesn't mess with the fundamentals of what were two great previous games; changes to the core game are mostly subtle such as the tweaking of certain units to create more balance and the addition of some intriguing new ones. However, this lack of change is less welcome in the presentation department; though the music sounds better than ever, the graphics are essentially the same as on the GBA, which is quite a disappointment.
Being a DS game, one would expect the people over at Intelligent Systems to take the Dual Screen/Touch Screen concept and run with it, and that's just what they've done; the top screen is used to display troop information, other data (such as the time of an impending missile strike) and the idea of a "secondary front", a new one for the series, where another CO controls a battle on another front, which has a great impact on the outcome of the primary front. The game can now be played entirely with the stylus and, while the control pad works perfectly fine, I must admit that the stylus makes the game an experience more befitting the nature of the genre; being quite used to point-and-click strategy games, the stylus makes the game control quite similarly.
The name "Dual Strike" comes from the addition of "tag battles" to the series, where you use two CO's alternately, and can use the "Tag" command to use have two turns in a row using two superpowers - needless to say, the right combination of CO's can have a devastating effect.
The CO's themselves are mostly the same as the ones from earlier in the series; the same rabble of pre-pubescents, buff/chubby morons, complete weirdoes and "oh-so-cool" badasses, leaving you with the impression that the citizens of Omega Land pick their leaders from a hat. The new CO's are good additions to the campaign mode (which follows the same basic storyline as the previous two Advance Wars games), however one of the main characters, Jake, is probably, and I don't say this lightly, the biggest lameo that ever lamed down the lame (forgive the lack of eloquence, I just despise the fool).
Other gameplay additions include Combat mode... The less said about that the better. However, despite the game's many minor flaws, Dual Strike is a wholly enjoyable experience, and surely a must-have game for the fledging handheld.