Well well, it's been a while since I've written anything round' these parts. Honestly, I've just been very busy these last few months with my current job and trying to decide what the hell I want to do with my life. Meh....let's not talk about that and talk about some gaming. After all, this is a gamer's blog :)

A few weeks ago I ordered a Crimson/Black DS lite since I seriously needed an update from my PHAT DS. I'm pretty happy with it, the improvements are HUGE and it makes me think "why didn't I do this sooner?"

Anyways, I picked up Advance Wars: Days of Ruin and I am in love with it. Brief history if you don't know the franchise: The Advance Wars series has been around for years in Japan but came to the US for the first time on the GBA. Since then, developer Intelligent Systems, has released four Advance Wars games in the US and each one of them has garnered a huge following and has taken countless hours of life from tactical gaming fans.

My initial impressions on the game were "oh another Advance Wars game" but as I kept playing, I noticed that the gameplay is much more balanced than it was in Dual Strike (the previous game). They've taken out some over-powered units and replaced them with new ones that offer new and fresh ways to deal with your opponent. The CO's (Command Officer) powers have been reduced significantly. The map creator can now hold up to 50 custom maps unlike the previous game that could only hold three at a time. And of course the big new feature is online play through Nintendo's Wi-Fi connection which works, surprisingly, flawless.

Other things I love about the game is its new direction in story and art. The story is set in a post apocalyptic world with a new cast of characters trying to survive after a meteor shower struck the earth. The storyline is much much more serious dealing with war (duh) , betrayal and death.

It's good to Advance Wars finally "Advancing" and not see it turn into Fire Emblem (which by the way is made by the same developer) which hasn't changed since the first one came out on the GBA years ago. I can see myself playing this one for hours and hours on my DS just like the previous one. It's true that A LOT of features included in Dual Strike have been striped from Days of Ruin, but the balanced gameplay more than offsets the missing features.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys RTS games on the PC or strategy games in general.

Note: Do I still have readers? :?