Xbox Live Arcade Roundup

Commanders: Attack of the Genos

• Microsoft Points: 800
• In Real Money: GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60

Much has been made of the Art-Deco style of Sierra Online's 1930s turn-based tactical game. But gamers hoping for BioShock in miniature tanks will leave disappointed: the Midi keyboard soundtrack, clean and sterile environments, half-hearted themed heads-up displays and faux-Japanese character portraits... It's a tonal muddle. Presentation-wise, this is Advance Wars done by a BBC edutainment department, a diluted mélange of conflicting styles that comes across not so much rich and nuanced as insecure and confused, even if its heart is in the right place.

The visual mash-up is, at least in part, thanks to the back-story. Based in an alternate history where humanity cracked the human genome early in the 20th Century and developed a super-race known as Genos, this is a world populated by futuristic technology where the characters that work it are all beige neckerchiefs and Biggles goggles. The game focuses on the inevitable creation-versus-creator conflict as the Genos rise up against their masters in what is a fairly standard take on the genre.

Each of the game's fifteen levels has a set objective, achieved by the intelligent ordering around of friendly units. Each unit under your command has a defined number of points that can be spent on moving around the grid-based level, attacking enemies or capturing bases. The introduction of an action point system (albeit a hidden one) doesn't impact the game nearly as much as one might expect and battles play out in much the same way as orthodox Japanese examples of the genre. Unlike in Band of Bugs (inexplicably the only other turn-based tactical game on XBLA) you move all of your units in one turn before handing over to your opponent, a good move which allows you to build your strategy as a squadron rather than as individuals.

Units fall into the standard light and heavy classes of infantry, scouts, tanks artillery and so on. Terrain affects both defence and movement and, with numerous bonus tokens littered around the levels (granting extra money, health or experience) as well as extra objectives to fulfill, moving your units carefully is of paramount importance.

You also take a commanding officer into the field, a unit that provides both active and passive bonuses to your squadron. Passive effects include the provision of extra defence, damage or healing to units in the vicinity while active special abilities, triggered when a special gauge is filled, provide powerful area-destroying effects. COs are crucial to winning and their loss almost inevitably results in defeat. At the end of each level you're scored on a five-star scale in speed, power and tactics, encouraging repeat play in search of the 'perfect' round.

But while the game is otherwise an Advance Wars clone, somehow it's much less than its inspiration. Perhaps it's the fact the units' rock-paper-scissors relationships aren't so immediately obvious, or the weaker level design or the schizophrenic yet middle-of-the-roach aesthetics, but Commanders: Attack of the Genos lacks character, identity and personality. As a result it's impossible to recommend over its handheld rivals and difficult to even promote over XBLA's more competent and interesting Band of Bugs.

6/10