Grimacer
CAG Veteran
Having played nearly every Advance Wars release for the GBA and DS, you could say I had my doubts about Drone Tactics when it was first announced by Atlus. From what I could tell from screenshots and trailers it looked very much like a generic rip-off of Advance Wars or any other strategy RPG, but after spending some time with the game I've come to like it.
I am currently about 7 hours into the game so I can't comment on length but gameplay wise I'll give you my 2-cents.
The story focuses around some school kids who remind me very much of those saturday morning Fox Kids anime shows (ugh) who are suddenly transported to a planet inhabited by giant intelligent robot bugs that are at war with a group of "bad" giant robot bugs called the "Black Swarm". The kids then team up with the "friendly" bugs and begin their quest to find a way back home. When you first begin the game you can also chose a difficulty: Easy, medium or hard (I chose medium).
The game itself functions much like any Strategy RPG in the sense you're placed on a map with a selection of units and you must take turns with the enemy moving and attacking (using either ranged or melee skills) until either team is completely wiped out or your "base" unit is destroyed. The one thing I like most about Drone Tatics that differs from Advance Wars is that you start with a selection of unique units that each have their own weapons and armor and gain experience and level up after each map is completed. You could say this makes it much more similar to Fire Emblem.
What I dislike most about the Advance Wars games was that as you progressed through the story you might come to a "brickwall" mission of sorts that may require a specific strategy to win. For the average player this may be frustrating and require you to play the same mission over and over again until you can figure out a strategy to defeat the enemy. The way Drone Tactics avoids this problem is by giving the player "badlands missions" that can be played between story missions. The badlands missions go by Ranks and you can progress through the ranks that match the level of your party. The badlands missions give the player a way to grind experience and currency that is used to purchase different weapons. So if you come to a story mission that you just can't overcome then you can grind some badlands missions until your party is strong enough to win.
There are other gameplay aspects that I haven't mention such as the "card" system, but I'll leave those until I'm further in the game.
So far I am having a great time playing through Drone Tactics and would recommend it to anyone that wants a decent strategy RPG for their DS.
(I know I may have left out some other parts about the gameplay, I just wanted to get my first impressions down.
)
I am currently about 7 hours into the game so I can't comment on length but gameplay wise I'll give you my 2-cents.
The story focuses around some school kids who remind me very much of those saturday morning Fox Kids anime shows (ugh) who are suddenly transported to a planet inhabited by giant intelligent robot bugs that are at war with a group of "bad" giant robot bugs called the "Black Swarm". The kids then team up with the "friendly" bugs and begin their quest to find a way back home. When you first begin the game you can also chose a difficulty: Easy, medium or hard (I chose medium).
The game itself functions much like any Strategy RPG in the sense you're placed on a map with a selection of units and you must take turns with the enemy moving and attacking (using either ranged or melee skills) until either team is completely wiped out or your "base" unit is destroyed. The one thing I like most about Drone Tatics that differs from Advance Wars is that you start with a selection of unique units that each have their own weapons and armor and gain experience and level up after each map is completed. You could say this makes it much more similar to Fire Emblem.
What I dislike most about the Advance Wars games was that as you progressed through the story you might come to a "brickwall" mission of sorts that may require a specific strategy to win. For the average player this may be frustrating and require you to play the same mission over and over again until you can figure out a strategy to defeat the enemy. The way Drone Tactics avoids this problem is by giving the player "badlands missions" that can be played between story missions. The badlands missions go by Ranks and you can progress through the ranks that match the level of your party. The badlands missions give the player a way to grind experience and currency that is used to purchase different weapons. So if you come to a story mission that you just can't overcome then you can grind some badlands missions until your party is strong enough to win.
There are other gameplay aspects that I haven't mention such as the "card" system, but I'll leave those until I'm further in the game.
So far I am having a great time playing through Drone Tactics and would recommend it to anyone that wants a decent strategy RPG for their DS.
(I know I may have left out some other parts about the gameplay, I just wanted to get my first impressions down.
)