Advance Wars 2 playable in Paris @ MGS 2007 (new pics post #216)

[Sad_Panda]

Just came back from the Micromania Games Show 2007 in Paris, where there was a crapload of things to play, and among them, much to my surprise :



Well, I couldn't play for long, and security held us off for taking other pics, but enough to give quick impressions. AW DS 2 did receive a compelte overhaul in terms of design. Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew. IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look, and quite frankly, it seemed like a pretty wise move
Graphically-wise, the look went with the new design, though it looked pretty much the same. New combat animations were pretty low-quality though, blurry and badly animated. Surely that's gonna be fixed by the time it comes out. Had time to notice a new unit - bike infantry unit - and that pretty much sums it up. Hopefully other people went there and spent more time wih AW DS2.

Also played ASH, No More Heroes, Ghost Squad, Ninja Gaiden DS, Prof Layton (english version) and a couple of sweet things, may post impressions later tonight.

[Gigglepoo]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

[8bit]

Ooooh, good news!

[8bit]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

It's French for Intelligent Systems.

[Dascu]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

Temporary title.

Impressions of ASH and NMH please?

[Saitou]

Grim n' gritty Advance Wars?



OH GOD YES IN MY FACE ALL OVER MY TITS YES

[Graphics Horse]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

It means they can't think of anything better yet, so they're rehashing the title of an old GBA game.

Thanks for the impressions, I'm surprised they've redesigned the whole look of the thing.

[Tobor]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

I'm assuming it means "temporary title".

Interesting they chose to change the graphic style, lets hope it's for the best. Either way I'ts a confirmed purchase.

[[Nintex]]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

Tentative title, working title or something like that.

Great news, the series needed some kind of change.

[fistfulofmetal]

Did someone say Metal Gear Solid?

[VegaShinra]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

Title Temporary.

[Pureauthor]

Ooh, a change? Now this sounds nice.

[GreenNight]

Im really getting goddamn sick of Nintendos horrible marketing team. This game should have been shown months ago argh.

[Batongen]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

If I would take a guess, it would be, title temporary (as in, it's just a placeholder).
Anyway, thanks for the impressions sad panda. Could you please write some impressions on your play time with NMH?

[Pureauthor]

Not to complain, but couldn't you have taken a pic of actual gameplay? >_>

[Kyosuke]

That title screen reminds me of OG2. Do want.

[Flynn]

IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look, and quite frankly, it seemed like a pretty wise move

:(

[HomShaBom]

the hell, you got a picture of the title but not the new gameplay look?

[Capndrake]

Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew.

[Shig]

This is terrible news. The light-hearted, cartoony artstyle was one of AW's best traits. :(

There's plenty of realistic/serious tactical war games out there (Field Commander, Daisenryaku, Nectaris). We don't need another.

[Davidion]

:(

yeah that's something to be cautiously optimistic about. I loved the art direction in advanced wars, not sure what I feel about "realism" yet.

Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew. Also played ASH, No More Heroes, Ghost Squad, Ninja Gaiden DS, Prof Layton (english version) and a couple of sweet things, may post impressions later tonight.

Wait, WTF? The old crew...gone? :(


Oh, and any reviews on NMH?

[Kosma]

I'm glad I skipped the last two Wars titles, they didn't seem to offer that much change. This might be something fresh though!

[jay]

All series get better when they change to a realistic graphics style. Proof = Sonic on the 360

[Vic]

This is terrible news. The light-hearted, cartoony artstyle was one of AW's best traits. :(

Thought the same thing. I'm thinking that iISys is not be the developer.

edit: wait. just read the OP. It is ISys :|

[Pureauthor]

Funny, I thought the rock solid gameplay was one of AW's best traits.

[Giard]

I liked the old style of AW games, but I'm also curious about the new style. As it has been said, why didn't you take any gameplay pics?

[ChivaJones]

and still no sign of my Fire Emblem DS. When Intelligent System? When?

[Linkup]

Maybe its got a metal slug look to it. Regardless it will be awesome since this is IS.

[Pureauthor]

and still no sign of my Fire Emblem DS. When Intelligent System? When?

They've already said they believe FE is best suited to consoles.

Which is retarded. But that's what IntSys said.

[Firestorm]

AW DS 2 did receive a compelte overhaul in terms of design. Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew. IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look,

...
what

[PowerSmell]

This came out of nowhere. Anymore pictures?

[Jaagen]

I liked the old style of AW games, but I'm also curious about the new style. As it has been said, why didn't you take any gameplay pics?

Fake confirmed.

[Jiggy]

Well, I couldn't play for long, but enough to give quick impressions. AW DS 2 did receive a compelte overhaul in terms of design. Gone are Max, Andy and the others, replaced by a whole new crew.

Yeah, but most of the originals were "gone" in AWDS until...

IS went with a whole new, more realistic, miltary look

...oh. That kind of an overhaul.

>:(
Flipping heck. This is my third favorite series and was my third most anticipated game, but I'm not going to appreciate this unless I see something to convince me. At least the gameplay will be good, but... meh. The last time a great cartoony series swapped its art style for something darker it was called Bomberman Act Zero.

[gabe90]

Absurd that such an anticipated title is playable right now and we have a picture of a title screen.

There must be someone at the event with a camera and an idea of how many people want to see it.

[TwinIonEngines]

I've been playing AWDS again recently. It's good that the new game has a new graphical look, because it will be hard for it to offer substantial gameplay and feature improvements.

That said, the other new units to look out for are: ground vehicle or infantry with a "hide" ability, and an air unit with indirect fire.

[Sad_Panda]

Sorry for the lack of pics, security was pretty tight and holded us off for taking any other pics or footage. Hopefully anoher French GAFer could get past it and got us some shaky cam footage.

Also, apologies for the confusion (got a pretty bad headache right now) : cartoony design is NOT totally gone. It's not Call of Duty, guys. Just don't except to see anything in the vein of the previous AWs.

Temporary title. Impressions of ASH and NMH please?

ASH was disappointing. Sure does look great, but stylus controls weren't that accurate - DSes on display were all busted though - and battles are way, way too slow-paced.

As expected, NMH was pretty cool and looked kinda sharp. Got around to kick some bad guy ass with Travis. Combos were kinda repetitive but fun, with nifty QTEs. The camera was a bit on the wonky side, especially on the Destroyman fight.

[Mash]

Titre temporaire? What the hell does that mean!?

All the people actually answering this fail at humor.

[Jiggy]

Also, apologies for the confusion (got a pretty bad headache right now) : cartoony design is NOT totally gone. It's not Call of Duty, guys. Just don't except to see anything in the vein of the previous AWs.

Oh. So kind of like the AW2 --> AWDS transition?

I'm glad I skipped the last two Wars titles, they didn't seem to offer that much change.

If you played AWDS right now, after having only played AW1, I'm pretty sure you'd see a jump.

[Shig]

Funny, I thought the rock solid gameplay was one of AW's best traits.

Hence the use of the phrase "one of".

Look, if you took SMB3 and substituted Punky Skunk as the main character, it could play just as well but it would still lose some of its appeal. A game's style is part of the total package, and a series' unique style being tossed aside for one that's less unique is cause for trepidation.

[Pureauthor]

More Black Hole sci-fi stuff?

[Jiggy]

That said, the other new units to look out for are: ground vehicle or infantry with a "hide" ability, and an air unit with indirect fire.

Is that just speculation and hope, or did you play it or hear something?

Edit: Because an indirect air unit would be pretty high on my list of hopes.

[Mash]

I had about a month stint where I couldn't stop playing AWDS then almost overnight I fell out of love with it so to speak. I'm hoping by the time this comes out my fickle gaming taste will like it. Either way I'll be picking it up.

[Hcoregamer00]

Funny, I thought the rock solid gameplay was one of AW's best traits.

Exactly, visual style be dammed.

The best part is the addictive gameplay and great balancing.

[test_account]

Advance Wars 2 was already released for GBA years ago so thats a temporary title indeed. Guess they mean Advance Wars DS 2 tho hehe.

[Flynn]

Obviously it was the kick ass game play and the slick, simple visual style that made the series so great.

They'd better fucking know what they're doing. I'm already pissed about the whole Battalion Wars thing.

[Kosma]

If you played AWDS right now, after having only played AW1, I'm pretty sure you'd see a jump.

Hmmm really? Interesting.

I must admit I was counting unit numbers.

[TwinIonEngines]

Is that just speculation and hope, or did you play it or hear something?

Not so much hope as speculation. I can't guarantee that these types will appear, but they are about the only possibilities that don't involve a radically new mechanic and aren't too redundant with existing units.

I'm glad I skipped the last two Wars titles, they didn't seem to offer that much change. This might be something fresh though!

Actually, AWDS dramatically expanded the gameplay from AW/AW2 to a degree that I'm pretty confident won't be matched by this sequel. But if you skipped AWDS this title should seem very new and different.

[Jiggy]

Obviously it was the kick ass game play and the slick, simple visual style that made the series so great.

Yes. Which reminds me, I hope they got rid of those bizarre scaling effects they were using in AWDS. The map and (especially) the battle animations looked significantly cleaner in AW2, none of the pixellated sprites.

They'd better fucking know what they're doing. I'm already pissed about the whole Battalion Wars thing.

Yes, and yes. Battalion Wars burns my eyes.

[Sad_Panda]

Oh. So kind of like the AW2 --> AWDS transition? If you played AWDS right now, after having only played AW1, I'm pretty sure you'd see a jump.

Way bigger jump. I had to reset the game back to title screen just to make sure that was really Advance Wars DS 2there.

Heck, guess my buddy should have taken some more pics, so people would actually stop to bitch about the visual style. IS seems to take an interesting take on a successful series, and you guys are whining over something you haven't even seen ? Geez...

[alske]

I like the idea of ditching the old crew, them and their shitty dialog should have been jettisoned long ago. However, I really liked the cartoony unit designs.

I hope this game is coming out soon, I've been wanting a good tactics game lately.