So what is Glory Days 2, exactly? If you thought “Long awaited follow up to classic Bruce Springsteen song,” then you’d be pretty much as far off the mark as possible. Glory Days 2 is a real time war game with a bit of a difference. Rather than commanding your troops with a point and click style interface, players are actually a part of the battlefield – a pilot, flying a helicopter or fighter plane. Flying takes place on the top screen, while your troops progress across the linear battlefield on the bottom screen. The basic idea is to provide aerial support for your troops – take out the helicopters and bombers, and bomb the enemy tanks and bases to enable your army to move forward and seize the enemy base. Some missions are a little more complex than that – you may have to rescue refugees in your helicopter much like the classic game Choplifter, or transport troops. Rescuing civilians is important – each one you rescue entitles your army to a cash bonus, which will allow for more troops, and thus a greater chance of winning.
It was at that point that Captain Johnson regretted last night's chili cook off
Glory Days 2’s campaign mode does have trace elements of a plot, usually communicated through letters before a battle. These letters do an admirable job of displaying the soldiers’ feelings heading into a battle, though players could just as easily skip them and not really miss anything. Now that’s a bit of a shame, but it speaks volumes about the quality of the in-game action. The game starts sometime in the recent past, before moving in to the modern day after a handful of missions, and the technology available reflects this. There are 16 missions available in the campaign – they start out fairly simple, with just a focus on rescuing refugees and taking out tanks, but gradually ease players into the role of commander of the army. Within a couple of missions, players will be calling in bombing support, launching rockets, setting waypoints for paratroopers, controlling the flow and type of troops headed to the battlefield and more.
The computer AI gets quite fiendish as Glory Days 2’s campaign progresses – it always seems like they have the odd super tank, which will be able to wipe out ten of yours without taking a scratch. That said, they can still be pretty crafty, and players will find that they can spend a lot of their play time on the back foot. The AI opponents are not entirely consistent, though – you could play one mission and cop a pounding from the AI and have a battle last over half an hour, then replay the mission and beat it in three minutes. The types of craft available also expand as you progress further into the game, with surface to air missile craft for taking out pesky helicopters, ambulances for rescuing civilians and fuel tankers for re-supplying in the middle of a battlefield (just watch out for the explosion they let off – or use it to your advantage in a suicide run).
It's paradise...so destroy it!
Players can opt to control the action with either the d-pad or the touch screen. Initially everything can be easily accomplished with the d-pad, and we’d advise it for the missions that focus mainly on action. As the game progresses and the player’s role becomes more complex, the stylus control becomes slightly more attractive, but it really depends on just how much the player wants to involve himself in the combat, because the d-pad control is far superior when it comes to flying craft. Nevertheless, it is nice to have the option.
Outside of the campaign mode, players can partake in skirmish battles. There’s a whole heap of parameters that players can tinker with for their sortie; the level of technology available, the amount of starting resources, conditions for victory, the craft your AI pilots will fly and more. Local wireless multiplayer options are much the same, although eight people can go head to head on the battlefield – provided each person has a copy of the game. So even if the campaign does err on the short side, Glory Days 2 does have enough content to justify its price.
Fighting in the snow is a terrible inconvenience
Glory Days 2 doesn’t pull any punches with its visual stylings – the game throws stacks of beautifully drawn sprites on screen without even a single hint of slowdown. The on screen action gets pretty violent, with explosions happening left right and center. The backgrounds are also lovely, and feature multiple scrolling layers to give off a pseudo 3D look. The battlefield is linear – your troops will go from right to left. As previously mentioned, the top screen on the DS will show your craft, while the bottom screen will show the progress of your troops – the game makes use of some pretty nifty scaling and zooming effects to give players a better view of the battlefield with increased altitude. The only thing peculiar about the game’s visuals is that there’s no blood – an odd trend considering the amount of vicious explosions and human casualties. The game has an excellent soundtrack, full of grand orchestral compositions to accompany you in your quest to destroy the opposing army. The sound provides a pretty good level of immersion, even without headphones – expect tons of explosions.
It’s always a great feeling when a game you knew nothing about and assumed would be crap turns out to be rather good, particularly when you happen to be reviewing it. The only downside to this is that a title like Glory Days 2 will probably never receive the praise it rightfully deserves, as it is bound to be overlooked by consumers who favour licensed kids titles and other flavours of the month. Glory Days 2 doesn’t really do anything spectacular – it just combines a lot of excellent elements of older games, and gives them a bit of a spit and polish and makes them part of a greater product. Anyone looking for a solid action game that does things a little differently will be well served by Glory Days 2.
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