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Where were you on January 21, 2008? I’ll tell you where I was: Buying Advance Wars:
Days of Ruin for the DS. And it was... fairly good. Not my favorite, but I’d played the
paint off my copy of Dual Strike and needed something new. And that was five years ago.
I’ve been in withdrawal. Enter 17-bit - that’s the studio’s name, 17-bit - who burst onto
the XBLA scene with Skulls of the Shogun: a turn-based strategy game that strips back
some of the excesses into which the Wars series had fallen - because, let’s face it, Sasha/Colin
was ******* BROKEN - while introducing immense depth in its mechanics. All with a healthy
side of ridiculous humor. It was all I could do to convince myself that this developer
is not, in fact, a figment of my imagination. This game, optimized though it may be for
Me, is actually a real thing.
When General Akamoto fell on the field of battle, betrayed by his subordinate Kurokawa,
it was just the beginning of a reign of afterlife violence, terror, and torture, that makes
a smashing game. Not content to stand in line for decades to pass through to the hereafter,
Akamoto takes up his sword, rallies some troops who were just standing around bored anyway
and wanted anything else to do, and inflicts his will upon the spirit world. And if that
means slaying some bureaucratic jerks who were trying to keep him in the queue, so be
it. And if that means befriending the occasional spirit or god, that’s fine too. There’s
violence to be done, and he’s the one to stand back and let his subordinates do it,
like a good general. To this end, he’s got infantrymen, cavalry, and archers. And that’s
kinda it. Some prestige units are introduced later, like spellcasting monks gained by haunting
their respective shrines, but the bulk of the gameplay focuses on just those three units.
It seems restrictive, until you realize the depth of options you have available to you:
Line your units close together and you create a wall that prevents knockback attacks, blocks
retaliatory fire from enemy archers, and can’t be passed through by enemy units. It’s an
important defensive tactic, especially as you have to protect your general at all costs.
The General’s not just a Chess King - though he’ll wear anything - he’s a capable unit
in his own right, though the longer you go without touching him, the more max HP he’ll
start with. Unlike the Wars series, where everything runs on a base-10 system, your
units start with 6HP and can, by eating the skulls of their fallen enemies - both heal
themselves and increase their maximum stamina. Eat three skulls, and the unit transforms
into a Demon, capable of acting twice per turn like your general. There are also passive-regeneration
potions, attack-boosting potions, rice paddies to haunt, shrines to spend the rice you’ve
collected on new units... but actions are at a premium: Each turn, you get just five
commands, as indicated by the scrolls up top. This turn-based style allows for a diverse
multiplayer experience: you can play locally with up to four opponents, in live online
matches (with optional time limits on each turn, thankfully), or in a more passive, play-by-mail
format familiar to Words With Friends addicts. This last option allows you to conduct your
honorable transactions not only from your 360, but also from your Windows Phone or the
PC version for Windows 8. I daresay my tactical wargame itch is scratched, Now to feast on
that jerk Adder’s remains. Snakey ***.