Game Fodder: Video Game News and Reviews

Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command - Demo Impressions

What started as a mind-numbingly nerdy tabletop board game, the Warhammer series has evolved into something much more accessible. Warhammer 40,000 is set in the typical, science fiction, far away galaxy in an unknown time period.The universe features several races including both Space Marines (humans) and Orc. While the tabletop games make no qualms about good vs evil, the later released PC version does.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War integrated the once tabletop only game onto the personal computer. With less painting... A squad based RTS, Dawn of War featured several ground breaking advances in the RTS world. The combat system relies heavily on terrain, giving players taking cover a huge armor and damage bonus, while players exposed and surrounded are extremely vulnerable. The game also puts a wonderful spin on the concept of gathering resources. Rather than forcing peons to mine for gold and ore, in Dawn of War, the commander sends out tactical squads to capture strategic points. These strategic points provide the resources necessary to call in drops from space. Dawn of War moved RTS games away from the tediousness of micromanaging into the world of tactical conquest.

So how does the demo for the PSP stack up?

To put it shortly, not like it's predecessor. The game seems to lack all that made Dawn of War glorious, the ability to capture points or build units, not present in the demo.

Essentially, imagine Final Fantasy Tactics and you've basically got Squad Command. There are only two playable races; Space Marines and Chaos. In the demo, you're given 5 Marines and a giant mech. You can choose which guns and how much ammo each unit carries. This is where the game shines. The amount of ammo carried by a unit directly affects the overall weight of the unit, and thus, how far the unit can move per turn. This is turned based combat, so you move your squad into position and then fire. Having some light weight units seemed handy in gaining a hold on a certain part of the map. I simply left the heavy dudes in the back, waiting for the enemy to try and overrun me. When they did, I let them have it. Each unit is given a certain number of "Action Points" that it can use per turn. You can use these points to either move or attack, or both if you move a little and attack a little.

Another sweet plus for the game is the destructible environment. So a wall is in your way? Get your giant mech to blow it up. Some guys are standing next to a fuel line, light it up and kill the whole lot of em'. Having a fully \destructible environment goes a long way for taking an OK turn based strategy game towards something worth owning.

The game will be available this winter, so do yourself a favor and score the demo. The game doesn't offer much in terms of explanation, so just give yourself a good solid 2 hours, and you'll conquer what little space you're given.

Check the demo download link here as well as the trailer. You may need to register for the download.