As I begin my review of Commanders I`m reminded of something Clint Worley (producers of Field Commander for the PSP) said when defending himself against a barrage of negative comments that connected his game with the popular Advance Wars series. He said: "We are being compared directly to one of the best turn-based strategy titles made on the portable market. Our goal was to offer an experience on the PSP that isn’t available."

In a lot of ways Sierra`s newest turn-based strategy game, Commanders: Attack of the Genos, is suffering from the same problem as Field Commander. Like Sony`s portable game, Commanders is a straight forward rip-off of Advance Wars. Not that Advance Wars owns the rights to this style of action, but given the success of that series it`s hard to look at similar games as anything other than a big rip-off of Nintendo`s strategy series. But is that really a problem? Up until now the Xbox Live Arcade was without a game like this, so I welcome an Advance Wars rip-off ... assuming it`s as good as Nintendo`s series (or at least as good as Sony`s Field Commander).

The good news is that Commanders is indeed a solid strategy game. Unfortunately it doesn`t take any major chances or evolve the genre in any significant way, but it does what it sets out to do and gives you a great deal of action for a mere ten dollars. If you`re the kind of guy who buys Nintendo`s portable systems just for your Advance Wars fix then you probably aren`t going to be all that interested in this shameless rip-off, but Commanders is an inexpensive way to check out a genre that hasn`t received a lot of play on the Xbox 360.

Commanders: Attack of the Genos has a crazy storyline set in a fictional turn of the 20th century world where a genetically enhanced race of humans (the Genos) have founded their own country. Thanks to a cold war between these two groups, the humans and the Genos have built up their militaries and are now ready to steam roll over the other side. This story is told (and concluded) over a 15 level single-player story mode, which will feature all sorts of punny lines and plenty of insight about real world wars. At its core it is a science fiction game, so expect a heavy dose of cautionary warnings about the evils of nuclear power, spending all your money on wars and all the other cliches that tend to be brought up in these kinds of games.


What`s even more interesting than the story is the look of the game, which is a fusion of low budget science fiction movies from the 1950s and a cool art deco style that looks like it comes from the early 20th century. Not only does this cool visual story permeate through your vehicles (which include airplanes, tanks, small soldiers and more), but it also influences the look of the characters and the architecture seen in the game. While it`s certainly not everybody`s taste, the game`s look is one of the very few things that manages to differentiate itself with that Nintendo franchise we`ve brought up several times already.

The action in Commanders is pretty standard stuff; the two (or more) sides will each take turns moving their characters around a large map trying to capture buildings, locate the enemy forces and mop the rest of the map with your opponents. Obviously this is easier said than done. You will quickly discover that each of the different characters/vehicles can only move so far every turn, so you`ll have to decide where it`s safe to move them and plan out your attacks a few steps in advance. What`s more, you`re also going to have to deal with the fog of war and other strategy game mainstays. Add all this together and you have a strategy game that is neither too easy nor too hard, a balance that every game in this genre strives for.

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