Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command Review

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Article Comments for [link=http://psp.ign.com/articles/836/836158p1.html]Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command Review[/link]
by Ryan Clements

Summary: The Warhammer universe is a massive, elaborate entity that spans countless models, tabletop games and videogames, among other things. Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command is one such title that inhabits the Warhammer space and attempts to deliver a turn-based strategy experience set in the grimy, blood-soaked, quasi-biblical future of Warhammer. Squad Command is truly a tragic title though, because while it possesses some genuinely good elements and occasional bursts of fun and satisfaction, there are a tremendous number of problems with the game's mechanics that mercilessly rough up Squad Command as a whole. [link=http://psp.ign.com/articles/836/836158p1.html]Read Full Article[/link]

 

[Mr_Shingles]

First.

Also- disappointing. I was hoping this would be a fun title to pick up when I get my PSP in a few weeks. Too bad...

 

[legacyAccount]

Yeah, I agree with this review. I downloaded the demo for my PSP and what struck me as odd the first minute I fired up the game was that I couldn't rotate my camera!! Fresh from playing Joan D'Arc, this was a major flaw. After that, the game went downhill and I didn't even finish the demo. I was hoping that because it was a demo, things would be fixed in the final release. From this review, I guess not. Too bad, because I thought the graphics and the general gist of it all, was pretty cool.

 

[legacyAccount]

i agree with ryans review, heck he hasnt had a horribly wrong review (in my opinion) so far, keep up the good work ryan, dont do what greg does and make every good game horrible.

 

[AL1ENx]

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?!?!?!? How do these game designers take good games, and turn them into crappy video games??? It happens time & time again... Don't they EVER have anyone outside the development team beta test these things? It seems that there are plenty of people who are passionate about any given title out there. Do these companies tap into this resource? It seems like everyone would benefit if they did - the developer's would make a better game -> making happier game fans -> who would write more positive reviews -> increasing interest in the game -> leading to the developers selling more copies -> leading to sequels to the games -> keeping the developers (hopefully) working with the fans -> making better games -> etc, etc, etc...

 

[trystero50]

Ok, for those reading this review and wondering what went wrong, you need to take a deep breath because while the reviewer makes some valid points, they aren't as terrible as he makes them out to be.

It does not matter that this game is not played on a grid, I have no idea why it bother him, but it is *very* intuitive to control movement in this game. In fact, all the controls are intuitive, from aiming, to moving, to switching weapons, overwatch, field of vision, etc. The gameplay is smooth and fast.

Production quality is great, music is good, little touches like warcrys from your squad members and the enemies add to the atmosphere, cinematics are short, but sweet.

I highly advise people to take this review with a grain of salt. The demo you can download gives a good taste of the game ( albeit it is an easy demo ).

 

[CubicCubeSauce]

I don't really agree w/ this review at all (except the camera issue... it's not wonderful lol but easily workable)

Grid? Who gives a crap? How many RTS games have a grid, and even more so the game(tabletop) it is based on doesn't have a damn grid! You can use the shoulder buttons to cycle through units, so why the hell was he clicking on the ground. Plus the whole move them as a squad? In a tactical combat game (think more along the lines of X-Com) did you, or would you ever want to subject your whole squad to firey death when you could just let them damn scout do his job and die?

This is not a game for people who want the turn to last 3 mins, this is for the people who actually think about what they are doing before they commit themselves to an action. Honestly, if you are a 40k fan, give it a shot. I know I wasn't disappointed.

Except for the fact you play as Ultramarines... and there are no 'nids. But I can survive

 

[fmou]

Demo was sooo boring...

 

[jason_bh1]

I too disagree with the review. I know nothing about Warhammer except for the fact that it's a card based game. However this game caught my attention because I love RTS and Turn Based Strategy games. I have played through 4 levels of the game and found it challenging and rewarding.

I have a problem with several reviews of PSP games of late. Seems like the author of the review is trying to compare Squad Command to games like Star Craft. I see this kind of thing a lot. Reviews should be done with respect to the gaming system themselves. Why are we comparing a PSP game to that of a PC game? Two different medias altogether.

 

[legacyAccount]

Wow, seems like such a harsh review. I played the demo many times and I really enjoy it. Hopefully the main game is like the commenters are saying, because I still want to get it.

I'm not a Warhammer fan, but the demo was good enough to make me want this....bad.

 

[proudpinoy]

Warhammer isn't supposed to have a grid, much like Mage Knight and Mech Warrior.

The negative points were greatly exaggerated, and this has enough positive points to overcome its negative ones.

 

[Alkatchoff]

Bummer, the demo was decent, but I guess the game just didn't deliver.

 

[Taijiren88]

If you liked the demo, definitely get this game. I've been looking for a turn-based tactical strategy game for a long time and after playing the demo, I was hooked. The retail version didn't disappoint. (If you hated the demo, by all means stay away).

Multi-player games are a little hard to set up as the manual claims that the servers try to match up skill levels for ranked matches. What that means is you have to wait around for a few minutes before someone "at your level" shows up. Hopefully that will change as the game is released in other parts of the world. (You can slightly get around this limitation by adding lots of folks as friends and setting up games with them. Unfortunately friends games don't count as ranked games). Supposedly the servers can handle 4 vs 4 games.

Online games don't support voice chat (boo!), but apparently there is an 'icon-based' communication system that allows you to mark areas with 'attack here' or 'defend here', etc. As each side only gets 90 seconds to input commands before their turn ends, I wonder how well that type of communication works.

At least in 1 vs 1 games, the 90 second turn limit makes for nerve-racking (and exciting) games. You're always trying to plan out strategies during your opponent's turn as you can "hear" the general area they're moving to on the map. When it's your turn, you frantically try to issue all the commands in 90 seconds. (You can also end your turn sooner to catch your opponent unprepared to enter in their commands).

I found this game very addicting and well worth the $29 it cost me. Again, try out the demo and see if it's your cup of tea. (If it is, add "Taijiren" as a friend, so I can get some 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 games going!)

 

[mcbob78]

I just got it today and I thought it INSTANTLY amazing. The controls are really pick up n play and there really isn't much to it that a Warhammer fan--or anyone else-- wouldn't get instantly.

Commanding the entire Squad is USELESS in this game, the shoulder buttons quickly switch to the previous guy in your squad or the next.

To me it seems that this reviewer HARDLY paid any attention to the controls at all.

I didn't know how they could manage to deliver smart controls on a tactical squad based turn based strategy game but this is it. Right on the money. I hope it gets fair reviews from other websites because IGN totally blew it and I sure hope there will be sequels to this one.

Oh also, remember it's a HANDHELD game. I never saw anybody complain that a HANDHELD game didn't play like a computer game.

 

[legacyAccount]

I really enjoyed the demo, so I'm still getting this game.

 

[vaerli]

the demo was enough to let me know that this game isn't worth much, and this review was enough to let me know not to waste my money on it.

 

[GoblinTinkerer]

I ask myself permanently, why does GamesWorkshop always fail when they try to make a videogame. I mean, Dawn of War was kinda ok, but nothing groundbreaking. They should simply make a turn based online strategy game that works exactly like the real Warhammer (or Warhammer 40000) and they would sell millions of copies. but with that crap.. I don't know why.

Perhaps Warhammer Online turns out to be ok...

 

[Soundog-Babylon]

downloaded the Demo and thought it was awesome.... played it over and over, completely aced it! bought the game.... and fudge man! the learning curve is quite steep! mission 3 has had me stumped! just too many enemy troops and not enough action points. the difficulty is slight according to the game but is much more difficult than the demo and that was a greater difficulty. dont get me wrong i love it, the style the graphics, sod the music, who needs it! but i have to have an issue with this level 3 malarky

 

[Rezmer]

Dawn of War DID revoloutionise RTS, it was the first really popular squad RTS before CoH. A turn based game would be shite unless it was with tiny numbers of units, like Final Fantasy Tactics.

 

[_DeadlyFred_]

This review is funny to me. Strategy games don't belong on the PSP? If all you've got against this game is the camera control and a gripe about "no grids", that's a pretty flimsy argument to knock a game down to 5.4. Sounds like the reviewer just has a bug up his arse. This game isn't flawless but its surely not "almost" broken. I agree with the community/majority of other reviews that put this in mid 7ish territory -- not perfect, but not half bad either.

Someone get Ryan some cheese.

 

[igk5000]

I also disagree with this review, but appreciate the author's contribution for discussion.
The controls were easy to pick up and the game play was accessible. Sure, selecting units would be more efficient with a mouse, but for a d-pad the controls weren't so bad. On the PSP, there's really no other way to go about the controls. Working with what they had, THQ did pretty well.
As for the camera angles, there's no denying that they do suck, and become annoying very quickly. But the aiming problem (one of the several nuisances of the camera angles) can be resolved by pressing square or triangle for auto aim, which will also let the player know if the enemy is in range or able to be targeted.
Furthermore, sending sniper(s) out as scouts for your tank and then retrieving said scouts back into cover, after your tank has done its damage is nothing short of gaming ecstasy. For all of you who were able to work through the camera and handheld control scheme, you know what I’m talking about. This is one example where, because of thoughtful development and mechanics in which shots and steps must be balanced, players are forced to find different ways to complete missions and thus take the role and feeling of a commander.
Unfortunately, the author of this review was too mixed up with the controls and camera angles to find the pockets of brilliant tactics that this game allows the player to figure out for themselves.
After I went through the PSP version a few times I tried it on DS but the graphics couldn't be forgiven. I would almost buy this game to support the developers if it were closer to a 20$ price tag (I played my friends umd). I'd put any amount of money into a sequel, but I doubt that will ever transpire due to lack of sales (I assume) and a collection of bad reviews.
My advice is that if you like turn-based tactics or have any curiosity for this game even after the bad reviews, pick it up for the PSP or borrow it from a friend. It's worth a look. Or, if you've tried other tactics and need something more accessible, this game is for you. I say it’s accessible because a lot of the pre-game options such as units and weapons have limited selections, which is good and bad. Good because the limited items insure that nothing will debase the games tactical focus and bad because of that fact that there is simply not a lot to choose from. This is not to be confused with what I said above about having tactical options while in battle. This still holds true. -continued

 

[igk5000]

If a turn-based tactical shooter like this were made for the PC, with the exact same game mechanics save the camera, and possibly more weapon selection without diminishing the tactics, I think this game would do significantly better in the eyes of those authors that gave this iteration a bad review. Critics of this game might even agree with me that THQ did do something right with its balanced tactical recipe in this game. I hope it will be used in turn-based tactical shooters to come.
Finally, I'm not a PSP fan-boy. The game plays better on the PSP in spite of the DS' touch screen. DS is great for games like Puzzle Quest, which was the last game that I completed. I love my DS and PSP equally.

 

[AL1ENx]

I disagree with the author of the review - the actual game of Warhammer is played in this way - with no grids. You can move your units anywhere within their range, and small adjustments to position of units can make a big difference in the outcome of an exchange! I love the game, but wish there were more missions & more armies. I understand that the Memory available on the PSP limits this to some degree, but boy, would a downloadable expansion pack or map editor be incredibly welcome! I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Without a doubt it is one of the best titles available for the PSP. I'll be playing this one over again!

 

[Sparechange4]

I love Warhammer40k and i was really excited for this game way back before it came out. Then came IGN's review and I was so bummed about it, so I never bought it. I had always seen the reader comments who said it was better than IGN's score would have me believe, but I didn't trust them.

Well, I just got this game in a bargain bin at my local store and I was very surprised to find that I was having a ton of fun with it. While the IGN review isn't false, the game certainly isn't as bad as it makes it sound.

So, my fellow readers, you were right. I'd give this a high 7... maybe 7.9.

 

[mar1205]

Author no offense but your an idiot. You can switch players by clicking L1 and R1. Squad command is fun but is a little hard.

 

[spacemarinelord]

squad command isnt the best warhammer 40k game, but the graphics and the units are no doubt done a good job by games workshop and i like the way the chaos space marines die they say 'death to the false emperor !! but the mission movies are too short and lack of suspense.

 

[Deleted member 3817421]

I don't agree with this review one bit. I didn't have any problems moving the team around and never needed to "deselect" any squad member or have trouble lining up shots etc... Plus you, or I at least, never felt the need to move all 6 members at the same time, instead preferring to spread them out and move them individually to gain a better tactical advantage.

As someone who generally doesn't like RTS games I also liked the smaller, simpler level design in this game.

Never play multiplayer so I can't comment on that.

I'd give it 8/10 and recommend it as a solid action/RTS game.