The latest in the much-loved Advance Wars series is quite a departure in terms of the single-player campaign, ditching the existing world and cast of characters for something brand new. The game starts after meteors have hit the planet, wiping out 90% of the worlds population – they’ve also blocked out the Sun, meaning the bright colours of previous incarnations are largely gone. You take on the role of Ed, a spiky haired survivor who was a new recruit of the Laurentian Army before the meteors struck. Soon after venturing out he encounters some raiders but is rescued by a band of Laurentian Army units who have banded together to form the New Laurentian Army (imaginative, eh?), and go about rescuing who they can. This sets the scene for another bout of turn-based strategy goodness.

Your initial battles will be spent fighting bandits and protecting civilians, but soon old conflicts with the Zephyrians rear their ugly head, a deadly (and bizarre) virus is running wild, and eventually a puppet master emerges whom you’ll need to battle to secure peace for the world. The brand new cast isn’t altogether an improvement. The characters are pretty two-dimensional really, whether it’s the self-serving ‘mayor’ who’s always looking for someone to blame, or the “leave no-one behind, never give up” attitude of O’Brian. They aren’t as likable as the classic characters such as Andy, Max, Grit and Eagle either, meaning you’re not really too fussed about their fate. Another major over-haul is how COs (Commanding Officers) affect their troops – in previous games each CO would have a speciality, whether it’s infantry, air units, long-range attacks or increasing fog of war vision. While there are still elements of specialisation, COs only affect other units if they hop on board a vehicle, an ability you don’t gain for quite some time in the campaign meaning in early battles the Commander has no bearing on how things play out. However, it’s quite a nice dynamic when it does come into play, meaning you need to deploy your CO wisely and keep them protected to enjoy their bonuses. You’ll also need to keep them in a good location as the bonuses only affect troops within a small perimeter. This perimeter will increase when your units deal out damage, and this also builds up your CO Power Meter. When full it can be used to unleash your CO Power, which generally beefs up some or all units, but these powers are nowhere near as destructive as in previous games.

These changes make the CO you choose slightly less important, but also makes the game feel a bit more balanced than say, Advance Wars: Dual Strike. No longer can you completely shift the balance of power with a swift Tag CO Power. You need to spend more time considering your overall strategy, but this doesn’t mean the game has slowed down - there are a number of updated and additional units to streamline proceedings. Take the humble infantry and their rocket-wielding counterparts. These used to be the only units that could capture buildings, giving you revenue to build up your army, but now you have turbo-charged motorbike units to play with. These can get about much quicker, although they’re affected more severely by rough terrain. There’s also the addition of a flare unit to help you check your surroundings in fog of war (which obscures enemy units unless you have other units nearby), the ability for APCs, which previously just carried troops around, to build either an airport or a port to repair air or sea units. Other additions include anti-tank units, good for taking out the massive mega-tanks, and an updated aircraft carrier that can produce the new Ship Planes, which are great all-rounders, but run out of fuel & ammo very swiftly. All units can also ‘level-up’ three times by dealing the finishing blow to an enemy. While it’s a pretty basic mechanic, it gives units an edge and you’ll want to keep those promoted to ‘Ace’ intact.

Overall, the balance of the game feels pretty good, no single unit feels too powerful, but obviously everyone will develop their favourites depending on their style of play. Unfortunately where Advance Wars: Dual Strike had plenty to offer in terms of things to do, Dark Conflict seems to scrimp a bit on the extra features. There’s the campaign of course, along with a bunch of optional ‘Trial’ missions that appear on the campaign map. But there’s no ‘Hard’ campaign to offer a tougher challenge for veterans. There’s no War Room. There’s none of the ‘limit’ modes that were available in Dual Strike such as Time Limit, Funds Limit and Turn Limit. But the ace up the sleeve of Dark Conflict is online play. Yes, for the first time you can go online and play against anyone with a wireless Internet connection. This may not entirely make up for the lack of single-player features, but it does go some way.

So, is this the best Advance Wars ever? In short, no, but it depends what you’re after. The balance of units is probably the best so far, and the updated CO dynamic gives a new twist to proceedings. If you want multiplayer thrills, the online element of Dark Conflict will be very appealing, but for single-player longevity you should get your hands on Dual Strike. Of course, anyone who’s a fan of the Advance Wars series, or turn-based strategy games at all, should enjoy both games. So all in all a welcome new addition to the franchise, but not the definitive iteration by any means. Here’s hoping the series keeps going strong and the best is yet to come!