A successful change of pace
Developers rarely take risks with established series, which can sometimes leave veteran franchises feeling like they've worn out their welcome. I don't like a lot of the changes in the newest Ace Combat games, but I don't begrudge the Project Aces team for trying to shake stuff up. Fortunately Days of Ruin fared a lot better with its transition, as a lot of the key differences between it and its predecessors change things for the better.
The new setting is OK. DoR trades the happy-go-lucky Orange Star and company of previous installments for a cataclysmic backdrop. It's less interesting than what came before but after three games of defeating a resurging Black Hole over and over again I can at least appreciate that they tried something new. Fortunately some clever and occasionally witty dialogue (I recommend listening to the "Tactics" for each mission even if the campaign is a bit easy) carries an otherwise predictable tale of post-apocalyptic survival.
The campaign is well done, if a bit on the easy side; the game could really have used a hard mode for returning fans. Otherwise the mission design is solid and the new ranking system (can get higher than 100 in a category, technique no longer rewards spamming units at the end but still rewards keeping units alive) is a marked improvement. The excellent "survival mode" from Dual Strike is unfortunately gone; the trial mode maps provide some longevity, but not quite to the extent of other games in the series.
Fortunately the changes to the core gameplay are for the most part fantastic: Days of Ruin is the only Advance Wars game that I continued to play significantly in free battle against the AI after all the content was done. The gameplay is just that fun. Smart balance alterations (relatively stronger indirect units, altered battleships and carriers, more fuel but less ammo for most units, etc.) complement a host of new units. And most of these newcomers are affordable and useful, unlike Dual Strike where a lot of the new units were flashy and powerful yet impractically expensive. Fog of War is also more smartly done, with units granting vision on spaces they pass instead of just at their destination.
The most drastic and best change, however, is to the CO system. You now more your CO around the map, locally granting a power boost, giving it a more tactical feel. You only charge your CO Power meter by dealing damage rather than by taking it (no more rubberbanding AI!) Your CO Zone expands as you charge your meter and encompasses the whole map for a turn when you use your CO Power, but retracts afterwards, providing real strategic depth above and beyond "use your power whenever it's available."
All in all Days or Ruin ended up being one of my favorite turn based strategy games. In a series with an already high pedigree Intelligent Systems makes drastic changes that improve its tried-and-true formula and takes its addictive one-more-turn gameplay to new heights.