Field Commander - Hands On

The PSP's been out for more than a year now, and there's still no back-and-forth, military strategy game for us bloodthirsty dictators to test out. Well, if you can hang on just a few more weeks, chances are the turn-based action of Field Commander will sooth your battle-ready senses.

The basics are well covered. You start with so many units (in ground, air and sea varieties), the bad guy has a similar army in the wings and then you start pummeling each other until the smoke finally clears. Once you've moved all your troops, your turn is over and now you get to watch the computer plot its fiendish strategy.

If you follow this genre at all, you're likely quite familiar with the Game Boy/Nintendo DS Advance Wars series. You'll feel right at home with Field Commander. The same rock-paper-scissors type of fighting is at work here - any given unit wails on some types but gets totally smeared by another. It's all about planning ahead and putting out the right type of unit at the right time.

Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.