AW: DS adds some big and little changes to the AW formula, and while most of them are good, some just don't feel right
Let's start with some of the new additions, first: touch screen control. In Dual Strike you can control the units with the touch screen....but it doesn't work well. You can't move the screen so you'd have to use the d-pad and stylus. Also since commands are close together you could mistakenly hit the wrong command.
Some other new features are 2 brand new modes: Survival and Combat. Survival is too repetitive, it's just playing 11 maps in a row and if you mess up you have to start over. It really isn't anything special and I don't particularly like it.
Combat is good, provided you use touch screen control. If you use buttons you won't like it. Using the touch screen makes it work better, but I really don't like that you are a 1 man army. They couldn't have you control more than 1 units with the touch screen? Just the whole 1 against 20 is just dumb, and I didn't like it. They should've given it RPG elements or something. So it's an all right mode, but had way more potential.
Anyways, next up is the minor changes. There were some new units added, some are real cool, and some aren't. The single player campaign returned to the AW1 style (sadly) and it is good. There are some new characters that are fun to use.
But the final new addition is double COs. Yes, it means you can play as 2 COs at the same time. You play as 1 at a time and can switch. Whoever you are will have their affects and they will gain CO Power while you play as them. It is pretty cool.
Also you can do 2 battles at the same time, one on each screen, which is cool. You can switch units from 1 screen to another, but the system as a whole is flawed. For one thing, you can only send units from the bottom to top screen. Also the top screen battle always has little meaning. The winner of that battle simply joins the CO on the bottom screen so it's 2 COs against 1, which isn't much of a reward for winning a whole battle. This means that if you win the bottom screen battle first, you automatically win, regardless of the top screen, so it has its problems.
The graphics are good, same old AW graphics, nothing new. The music is just awesome, I absolutely love it. The tunes are catchy and instead of porting songs like they did in AW2, they had remixes of the old songs, which are great to hear.
There's not much to complain about. The system wasn't changed much, but it still works great and is fun. I was once again mad that old War Room missions were ported and then a couple new ones were added, they need more new War Rooms.
Overall, Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a fun little piece of software. It has lots of new changes, though most of them weren't executed well, but it's still a great game for any fan of the series.
Final Score: 8.25 + 2 COs and some good changes (0.25) = 8.50