I haven’t bought a game in ages due to financial constraints, but I finally have a little extra cash, and I’m itichin’ for something good to play on my under-utilized DS. I plan on getting Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords as soon as it’s released, but I’m looking for something – one good strategy game – to tide me over.
I already have pretty much all the GBA strategy games I’m interested in, so I want something that’s specifically for the DS. I already own Advance Wars DS. The two games that are currently on my radar are Battles of Prince of Persia and Age of Empires: The Age of Kings.
So: Which one of those two is the better game (I’m guessing AoE), and/or is there another DS strategy game on the shelves that’s better than either?
I haven’t tried Battles of Prince of Persia because I was scared away by the mediocre reviews. However, I have played Age of Empires: The Age of Kings, which does a good job of capturing the flavor of the RTS and encapsulating it in a turn-based game.
If you’re really jonesing for a new DS strategy title, AoE isn’t a bad choice. Still, it’s no Advance Wars: Dual Strike. In fact, I’d recommend you go back and play more AW:DS, which is easily the finest turn-based strategy title for the DS. I went back to playing AW:DS after the novelty of AoE wore off, not because AoE is a bad game, but because AW:DS is just so much more compelling.
Jason, you’d definitely like Battles of Prince of Persia. It’s a great combination of CCG and strategy game. It’s got a good interface, some interesting card rules, and a really cool and detailed tactical battle system.
Age DS, on the other hand, is pretty messy. Some nice ideas for a turn-based strategy game, but it tends to fall apart over time.
I can’t find anything more than ‘they are coming’.
And I actually like Age of Empires. Went back and replayed some of it again. Like Tom says, it is a bit messy, but it has a certain charm - and chances are you can get it pretty cheap.
Battles of Prince of Persia is pretty decent, but I think it largely turns on your love TCG stuff. I haven’t gone back to it … thought about it, then picked AoE out of my collection to replay instead.
But the thought of replaying AdvWars seems quite sound - clearly the best of the lot.
I actually thought that Battles had a weak interface, and that it held the game back. Nevertheless, I prefer it to Age of Empires and Advance Wars. It was criticized by a lot of reviewers, but I like the art style and presentation.
The AI won’t be winning any chess matches but the game compensates by presenting you with odds that don’t look too good when the stages begin. If you play with reasonable strategy and use your cards well, you won’t find the going to be too rough.
I gave up waiting for these, so I bought a laptop instead.
Haa haa not really true. I bought the laptop 4 years ago, before the DS was ever created. But it was kind of true that I bought it to play Disciples II.
I hated BoPoP. I liked Age of Empires, though it was far from perfect. And you know how I feel about Advance Wars.
Some other considerations:
-MegaMan Battle Network – an RPG/CCG hybrid with a unique battle system. I liked it, but I think I was in the minority.
-Steel Horizon – comes out next week, I have no idea if this is any good or not. But Konami’s strategy games are usually pretty good.
-The Settlers – comes out in two weeks supposedly. Beyond that, I don’t know anything about this version of it.
-a couple new CCG’s are coming out soon if that’s your bag. Capcom vs SNK Card Battle 2 and Marvel TCG (for DS) are both coming out in a month or two.
Yggrda Union is good, it has some of the best unit detail and graphics I’ve seen on the GBA. My problem with the game is that the card dynamic makes it harder then it should be. Since your cards also effect the number of the spaces you can move per level, it makes taking your time a liability.
On the DS, I’ve always been a fan of the advance wars games, tried AOE and didn’t like it. Never got around to BoPoP.
Age of Kings DS would be twice the game if they had shrunk the maps by half and gone with a top-down view. Having difficulty clicking on specific units pretty much ruined the game for me. Too bad as the core gameplay mechanics seem sound (and it makes good use of the fact that you might already be familar with the AoK universe)
Thanks for the opinions, everyone. I’ll see if any of this stuff is available at my local shop. From the positive comments on the Marvel TCG in that other thread, I’m going to put that one on my future purchase list too.
A friend lent me Yggdra Union yesterday, knowing that I love tactical battle games, but I’m a little under/overwhelmed. The mechanics and interface are baroque and confusing to me. I’ll keep playing in hopes that it will click.
You seriously have to do this. It took me a good 5 minutes of convincing them that such a game existed before they finally would even look on the computer. They had 3 in stock.
Haha, yeah, I spelled it for them. Once they knew what I was talking about, they proceeded to tell me that it’s an Atlus game, and that they wouldn’t have it because that’s a specialty game. To which I replied: “Right, and EB is a specialty games retailer, which is why I’m here.”
I managed to get this game 1 month after release, from EBGames. I really used the line in my post! But I’ve since found a different store that carries obscure crap, so I’m never buying anything from there again. (Got hit with them passing an opened game as a new game twice, and also I’m annoyed with them opening up all the new games.) (Microplay on Merivale, if people are curious & in Ottawa.)
My experience with Yggdra was/is mostly OK. I’ve never gotten past Stage 9, but I’ve restarted the game twice already. For some reason, I would rather restart the whole game then restart a single level, unlike Fire Emblem. Mostly because I’m afraid of using equipments. They make it such a career making or ending move with their equip mechanics. You get some equipment that are obviously meant to counter certain stages, but you a) wouldn’t know what stage to use them for the first run, and b) want to save it for later, maybe. Also, the battles are slow. Pretty, but slow.
