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Field Commander Mini Review
Jon Wilcox
04/08/2006
Sony Online Entertainment and Ubisoft move to Advance the state of Wars on PSP...
Having established themselves on the PSP with the development of the Untold Legends series, Everquest/Star Wars Galaxies producer Sony Online Entertainment has taken a stab at portable military strategy with Field Commander. Playing the part of - rather unsurprisingly - a 'Field Commander' against a number of different enemies (all with imaginative codenames such as 'Fragfest' and 'Redclaw'), this strategy combat title is certainly something original for owners of Sony's handheld.
Right from the very first time that the game is turned on however, there's no doubt where the studio got their inspiration for the game from. Style aside, this is the closest that a PSP player will get to experiencing the GBA's Advance Wars franchise on their widescreen handheld. Turn-based strategy with a largely aerial viewpoint, coupled with 3D combat sequences, Field Commander isn't a game of just rushing forward blindly into the Fog of War.
Coloured in the somewhat traditional hues of a combat game, red and blue, players can choose from a number of Division Commanders and Divisions representing ATLAS (Advanced Tactical Legion for Allied Security), each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Whilst the gameplay could be described as samey at times, the fact that each of the different Divisions has its own 'personality' (the Thunderstrikes for instance are cheap to produce but capture buildings at a slow rate) does throw in some level of variety. The battlefields in the Campaign certainly allow players to get to grips with a number of different circumstances and victory conditions, though naturally the most common seems to be to eradicate every last enemy unit or capture their HQ.
A wide array of units are on offer in the game, from the humble Grunt through to some of the more powerful Anti-Aircraft weapons and Missile Launchers, though in the Campaign these are added progressively through the missions. Air and Sea-based units are also featured in the game, which besides the obvious variety in attack strategy, also allows for the transportation of land-based units across difficult terrain and the briny blue. With such a range, it's not difficult for players to devise a number of different tactics and strategies to take to an enemy army, whatever the condition faced. Currency to buy further units is provided according to the number of captured cities a side has, so there are times when the initial stages of a battle seem to resemble a 'land-grab' situation - though it's worth remembering that certain units that can capture a city quicker than others.
Although gamers are given a different enemy commander and Division on every mission, there are times when repetitiveness threatens to pull players from the experience - Field Commander is not a game that will entice gamers to play solo for hours on end. Not only that, but with its reliance on Wi-Fi gameplay for real longevity it's not exactly the best example of portable gaming.
Although packaged with the single-player Campaign, which at least allows gamers to get to grips with the strategies and tactics learnt in the title's Tutorial mode, the main thrust of gameplay comes when Field Commander is taken online. Being a Sony Online Entertainment title, Field Commander of course offers a multitude of online options for players to take to the battlefield against their fellow humans. Wi-Fi Ad Hoc is a given in most multiplayer PSP titles, but Field Commander also offers Wi-Fi Infrastructure gameplay too - something that bewilderingly is still lacking in much of the handheld's catalogue.
Not only that, but it features a Transmission mode, allow Wi-Fi multiplayer gameplay to take place without the enemy player being online at the time. In this instance, players make their strategic decisions, and then 'post' them online to the server so that the opposition can make their own updates - SOE goes as far as to describe this mode as "Play-by-Email". It's certainly one way of getting around the problem of having to always be plugged into an access point for the duration of a battle.
But once you've gotten use to the multiplayer maps on offer in the game, what else is there to do...well, Field Commander does come with a pretty nifty Mission Creator mode. During the course of the Campaign, players will unlock over two-hundred different maps, each with their own terrain and environment, enabling them to construct their own battlefield. This area of the game is honestly impressive, allowing players to tailor every aspect of the mission, from the placement of settlements and factories, through to restriction the unit types that players can build, the weather, and victory conditions. It's something that perhaps we'd expect from a home console title, so it's more than a pleasant surprise to see such an in depth mission creator in a handheld game. For those who find building a mission from scratch however, SOE has also implemented a Mission Modify option, where players are able to edit over fifty pre-created missions.
Once finalised and saved, players can then upload their own creations onto the Field Commander servers for others to download and experience, in a process that's quick and pain-free. Is that the smell of longevity I detect?
Whilst the Campaign offers a slice of the action away when you're away from a Wi-Fi access point, the fact remains that Field Commander's strength is in its online functionality. More specifically it's the fact that by implementing an Infrastructure mode, players don't have to scour the locality for a second player in order to enjoy some Human vs. Human warfare.
It may not have the style factor that Nintendo's Advance Wars series has, but Field Commander offers players more than an engaging strategy experience that may cause them to miss their stop on the bus or train...unless they're caught out at a Wi-Fi access point that is.
