Glory Days 2 (DS) Review

For a system that seems so perfect for a genre that needs the swift use of a cursor, there have been surprisingly few ventures so far into the RTS genre. Yes we have the excellent Advance Wars DS, the worthy-of-a-mention Age of Empires, and of course that first real entry for RTS on the DS, Heroes of Mana. Whilst I cannot comment on Heroes of Mana, the other two were great games (although turn based instead of real time) that made excellent use of the touch screen. However, I spent most of my time using the DS buttons instead, finding them just as quick and preventing the inevitable slip-ups that the touchscreen could present. Finally, it seems we have a game which blends action with real-time command and implements the stylus in a functional manner. That game is Glory Days 2, by Secret Stash Games. Ever since the first details and screens of Glory Days 2 were revealed, I had been eagerly awaiting it. The parallels between Glory Days 2 and Battalion Wars (at least in theory), as well as the side-scrolling aspect had me convinced that a worthy real-time tactics (if not strategy) game had come at last.

Glory Days 2 is a side-scrolling game where all of the action takes place on vast, flat battlefields dotted with bunkers. At each end of the map is a base, one yours and one the enemy’s. From each base comes a never ending stream of soldiers, tanks, jeeps and other units specifically tailored for the making and winning of wars. They charge headlong towards the enemy base, the soldiers raising your flag in empty bunkers as they pass by, before meeting in the middle of the map where the tanks open fire and the infantry scurry onwards to their lead-filled dooms. Thus begins the “tug of war” that is the ground fight of Glory Days 2. Tanks are the main powerhouses whilst infantry are slow and weak but are necessary to capture the enemy bunkers. As your units are destroyed, reinforcements are constantly arriving to the front of the line to take the place of their fallen comrades. To continue the fight you will need extra resources to buy new units, and to earn these you must rescue civilians with your helicopters as well as capture bunkers. The goal of the game is to reach the enemy base, capturing his bunkers along the way.

Even with the player choosing which units to purchase and send out from their HQ and keeping an eye on the front lines, Glory Days 2 would be a pretty dull game. So as well as dictating what units to send to the front, you also have the enjoyable task of flying a helicopter or plane over the battlefield and carpet bombing the enemy back to the stone age. Bliss. You can leave the CP to take care of most of the unit purchasing in the early levels, leaving you free to fly over the battlefield dropping bombs on enemy tanks and bunkers, supporting your front line units, and taking down enemy aircraft with your machine guns or missiles. The bottom screen always shows your units closest to the front lines, whilst the top screen has your aircraft and aiming reticule, as well as a map bar with flags and shaded divisions indicating your positioning, the bunkers, and where exactly yours and the enemy’s front lines are.

Controlling your plane or helicopter is as easy as holding the stylus to the corresponding part of the lower screen. Whilst you can use the D-pad to control your aircraft, there is so much more control and precision using the stylus. Want to climb and accelerate? Move the stylus closer to the top left of the screen and watch your bird “chase the reticule”. Whilst it is a bit trickier controlling planes this way (trying to maintain lower speeds for easier bomb accuracy can be troublesome) the system works very well after you have had 15 minutes to come to grips with it. The rest of the controls, unfortunately, are a little complex. Using the stylus in your right hand to fly and purchase units (when you have a moment to breathe that is, usually when you’re landing back at HQ to reload), the D-Pad serves under your left thumb as the trigger for your bombs, missiles and machine gun. By accurately bombing enemy units you also gain “special attacks” such as paratroopers or V2 missiles which you activate with L. Tapping the touch screen can be used to boost with some aircraft, loop-the-loop in planes, and switch to your missiles later on. On top of this, helicopters can pick up civilians to take back to your HQ for funds, or you can load up some infantry and drop them in front of the next enemy bunker, before bombing it into submission for them. One of my favorite tactics to use, if desperately low on health or the next enemy wave of units is too powerful for my own, is to plough my plane at top speed into the enemy ranks, resulting in my kamikaze fireball smashing along the ground and through many enemy units at once. Totally worth it.

It would be nice to say that balancing action and tactical aspects in Glory Days 2 is easy, but in the later missions it can become quite difficult. Should you focus too much on your own flying, it becomes all to easy to forget to purchase new units. It would have been nice to include an option for the CP to manage most of the unit building, but this only happens in the early missions. Also as missions progress in the Campaign, enemy units become tougher, causing your units to be destroyed a little too easily without your support. This can lead to an early death in new missions, before you figure out what you should be focusing on in the first minute of play. It’s not a case of being difficult to the point of game breaking, but you do certainly have to work at coming to grips with balancing your action and unit purchasing roles. Further in though, it does become more intuitive and you find yourself buying new units with greater speed and spread. The only real complaint I have to file about the action aspect is the sometimes-awkward button contexts, and the initial difficulty in landing your plane to restock, even though it feels that landing guidance has been programmed in.

There is not too much involving story behind Glory Days 2. The first “campaign” is set in an era of propeller aircraft, though missiles and helicopters are present. Before each mission there is a letter from the main character of the campaign that conveys his thoughts and feelings to his family back home. While the letters are touching and serious, I couldn’t help but feel there wasn’t enough plot development outside of this, as it seemed to be mostly their wishes to be home and the war to end, whilst the actual missions don’t really serve any purpose in a greater “war campaign”. Still, later you fight in a setting with jet planes and new units, which is a nice turn of events. Aside from the Campaign is a Battle mode, where you choose the terms and location of a battle against the CP. You can have up to 11 CP controlled aircraft in your games, making the battles thick with chaos and action.

The game is simple looking, yet pretty enough. There is a nice sense of speed, and the simple multilayered backgrounds scroll nicely according to their distance. The flat-only battlefields are a little disappointing, though understandable. Rain and snow effects are nice touches as well. Overall the presentation is just above average and the sprites are crisp, the speed effects convincing enough. Another example of the DS being used as a turbo charged GBA.

The music and sound in Glory Days 2 deserves special mention. The soundtrack is orchestral with choir backing, something that really surprised me. Absolutely courageous marching beats are present, as well as melancholic post-battle laments. It could have been taken straight from a high-value WW2 film and sounds just fantastic with headphones on. The rest of the in-game sound effects serve well enough, though the explosions are a little weak. Also nice is the voice announcements from your HQ when certain events happen. My favorite moment by far is calling in a para-drop and having an alarm ring and a shout to scramble the troopers.

I’ve only played 2 player multiplayer but it was good enough, especially with a few AI wingmates. The game supports up to 8 players, and that would be a chaoticly epic experience indeed. Very much worth it, if you and a few mates have the game. The lack of WiFi is a sore blow for Glory Days 2.

Overall, whilst it does have some shortcomings such as a lack of any real story, trial-and-error balance learning, GBAesque graphics, slight control issues and the lack of WiFi, I can easily recommend this game to action\strategy buffs. The action-to-commanding ratio is a decent attempt, though ultimately a little tricky to balance if you don’t keep your focus. But mostly it’s enjoyable and for every run of bombing or when you have a few seconds to think, it’s a nice quick break from the action to think about what you should be buying. Even though the battles are very similar time and again, there’s still something satisfying about destroying an entire column of enemy tanks in one run. With brilliant music and a characteristic appearance, Glory Days 2 is a satisfying title for those who liked Advance Wars and are in any way partial to the side-scrolling flyers of old.