As long-time fans of Intelligent Systems’ Advance Wars series, we’re still on the fence when it comes to the grittier, more sober appearance adopted by Advance Wars DS 2.

See, we’re all for what passes as realism in games. But Advance Wars’ brand of war has always been kinda, well… cute. That colourful, bouncy aesthetic, the sight of your last mech unit being blown bloodlessly away as you’d see it in a Warner Bros. cartoon? Sure, we all knew it was one big, hyper-deformed lie, but it was also a big part of what made the game appealing.

On the flipside of the coin, this is Intelligent Systems we’re talking about here, so we probably shouldn’t be having these semi-crippling doubts. Catch the first two screens (courtesy of Kotaku) below, and see what you think.