Fans of the DS series Advance Wars will be right at home with a 3-dimensional version of the genre in Commander: Attack of the Genos. The player is thrown into an alternate version of history around the start of the 20th century. The trouble between humanity and the Genos is a result of conflicting interests on genetic enhancement. The Genos have split away from humanity and the tension between the two factions has risen sharply. The player takes control of a human soldier by the name of Alex Falcon to stop the ensuing invasion of the Genos.

The presentation has a light hearted feel, especially the tongue-in-cheek dialogue. You will end up rolling your eyes the majority of the time, but the conversations can get downright snarky at times. The vehicles & structure design is ripped directly from art deco elements which offer a slight homage to Bioshock in some respects. Most importantly, every presentation quality ties in together nicely and gives the Cold War esqe flavor to the game a heightened sense of realism.

Gameplay

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The game is designed around the strategic movement of units in a turn based system of play. Each side has a group of units to start and they both advance at each other. Along the way, troops can overtake resources on the battlefield to help fund the production of more battlefield units such as tanks, mobile transports, scout units, artillery, etc. Once the two factions meet on the battlefield, they duke it out until all enemy units have been killed. It’s a simple concept that’s executed fairly well in Attack of the Genos.

In addition to the units I just mentioned, each player gets a Commander unit that offers more flexibility in movement, a higher level of firepower, and stat boosts to the surrounding friendlies. The Commander also has a special move that can have extra offensive or defensive effects on the battlefield. As units battle it out, surviving commanders and troops will get battlefield commissions in the form of a leveling system. The leveling system increases a unit’s health automatically and slightly ups their overall power. Sadly the difference in shifting levels is not really noticeable in Attack of the Genos. Perhaps the developer should have offered design modification when levels were achieved.

Attack of the Genos also offers a healthy online mode for those seeking a tougher challenge than the A.I. Taking on three other players isn’t as time consuming as last year’s Lord of the Rings title for instance. You do have to worry about secret alliances between players. I participated in a few matches that seemed unfairly lopsided due to two XL friends teaming up against me. The matches were all lag free, but it would be hard to notice any latency problems due to the turn based format.

The achievements are ridiculously targeted toward the hardcore crowd and leave little for the casual gamer to attack. It’s also important to note that the single multiplayer achievement is completely broken for some gamers. I never got it to pop up during my time with the title. The rest of the single player achievements are directed at those who have an endless amount of time to dedicate to the game. It’s certainly not an arcade title to pick up for easy achievement points and will definitely frustrate some players to no end.

Graphics & Audio

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From a visual perspective this arcade title offers a great deal of variety in the color scheme and unit design. The bright, snappy colors don’t paint a desolate picture of war, but it does work well with the cartoonish flavor of the narrative. The units are smoothly detailed and offer similar designs to automobiles in the early twentieth century. As it’s a turn based game, the framerate and unit animations are silky smooth. While a bit limited, the explosive effects of unit fire are destructive and serve their purpose nicely. The only downside to the visual engine that I can perceive is an often jerky camera. The musical tracks and sound effects follow the same path as the visuals, but don’t offer any memorable tunes.

Conclusion

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The game is noticeably simpler to complete than Advance Wars, but the 3-dimensional aspect and often shadowed view offers more of an element of risk during play. Additionally the game offers an advanced campaign as well as skirmish maps to extend the life of the title. Multiplayer adds a sizeable amount of replay value to the title, assuming you can hop into a fair match. While the achievement structure doesn’t offer much to the casual gamer, there is certainly enough entertainment value without them. RTS enthusiasts should have no problem jumping into this title, but it is very simple for the beginner to pick up. Fans of the Advance Wars series or folks looking for a solid strategy game should shell out the 800 Marketplace points for this title.