Commanders: Attack of the Genos - Review
Added March 3rd, 2008 by Slunks
Turn-based strategy games are becoming a stray find with only a few fleshed out titles released each year. Although most appear to be well established hits such as Advanced Wars, a minor amount of original titles manage to break through the thick crust of the gaming surface. Commanders: Attack of the Genos is such a title that makes its way through the mainstream and stands tall on top with its noticeable high-production values and destructive gameplay.
The story's premise quickly unfolds as you play the role of the honorable human forces. As the main protagonist, Alec Falcon learns that the long-standing peace with the Genos, a powerful android-like race ironically created by humans, has subsided over the length of time and the power-hungry machines are executing world dominance. The farfetched story doesn't come off strong in the slightest, but it's not what the game goes for. It provides great entertainment through its characters with silly dialogue and quirky personalities. The art style enhances this aspect with its cartoon-looking heroes and a timeline that has a futuristic 1930's written all over it. Considering you won't find an overly motivating tale to be told, it still does a good job providing its fair share of plot twists and turns. Length of the main campaign is proven to be withstanding with a total of fifteen missions and a challenging advanced campaign.
Gameplay consists of explosive warfare that requires a decent understanding of basic strategy. Commanders: Attack of the Genos plays out as an advanced game of rock-paper-scissors, as does the standard of the turn-based genre. You take control of a battalion using offensive tactics to counter opposing enemies across an invisible grid. Income to purchase units accumulates through oil wells that may be found and captured as you discover the map. With your savings, purchase of tanks, infantry, transports and utility vehicles will become available to benefit you on the battlefield. In the campaign units are introduced one at a time, so you're never overwhelmed by what you may choose. The food chain cycle of vehicle and infantry units is a long, yet familiar one. Tanks are extraordinarily better off against light vehicles, air is powerful versus tanks, and certain light vehicles such as anti-air will instantly drop any Gunships they see. With a lot of military units to use, the chain only grows. Infantry don't stick out in various types, unfortunately. But their importance appears in their unique building capture abilities, and their power shines in number.
It's cool to witness the many shapes and sizes of both modernized and futuristic machines destroying one another, but what shines is your primary spider-like Commander unit that assumes the role of your chosen character. Alec is not the only commander, as you'll be able to choose from new allies that you meet throughout the campaign. Each leader is equipped with special powers that work passively and actively. Passive powers benefit those around your commander at all times. From regenerating health to adding defense, there are a wide variety of additives to play with. Active powers become available after a decent period of time during battles. Often they can help turn the tide of battle by doing damage to enemies around you, or by making allies invulnerable for a round. These powers combined are fun to mix and match for scenario play and offer for great strategy setups in online skirmishes. Online comes in two editions: local using one controller and Xbox Live for up to four players. Combat is well paced with an optional timer to keep players' fingers moving and there are a variety of maps to lay waste upon.
Quality of graphics and music cannot go unnoticed. Visual presentation is very intuitive with an extremely simple control scheme. Moving, attacking and purchasing units is all done with a single button. Information provided by the interface allows you to easily recognize what your units can and cannot do. For audio, the swing of silly jazz-like music oddly fits comfortably when paired with the sight of a tank being blown to bits. Overall quality of presentation combined with a stunning amount of value shows there's a lot to do. Not only do you have two campaigns and online multiplayer, but there are also ten bonus battles that place you against up to three AI opponents at once. Despite a mediocre story and familiar gameplay aspects, Commanders: Attack of the Genos isn't afraid of showing a goofy side of an enjoyable experience. At eight hundred points, it's more than a welcome addition to the Xbox Live Arcade.
