Developer: Red Lynx
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Strategy
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 12 Nov 07

User Rating
3 (2 votes)

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

To say that the PSP needs a big holiday season is quite possibly an understatement. Is anyone still talking about the PSP? It's a tough platform to develop for, but some have been successful. THQ is hoping that it will have some success with its long running Warhammer franchise that hopes to take turn based strategy to the next level on the PSP. How does the game turn out? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

I have to say that there is no doubt that Warhammer is quite huge a title to review. The franchise has some serious fan base, so you know that going into this review there are going to be those that have strong feelings about the game and its deep history. So without any further ado, let's get into this new turn based strategy.

So you have to remember going into this game, it is a turn based title and it is one that has all of the makings of a great game. There is wireless support both locally and over the internet, which could prove to have great depth to the game. The game has plenty of offline support as well, although not the strongest story in the world there is enough there to really enjoy the offline game as well. But where does the game slip up?

Well the biggest problem is in fact the lack of grids, one of the game's biggest attempts to separate itself from other turn based strategy games on the market. I am a big supporter of the move to go without grids; it is time to get away from the boxes, however it is just a huge shame that the game can't manage to make the lack of grids work. The camera angle is pretty tight to the action and that causes some of the issues but also the inaccuracy of the game's battle system in general is what really causes a lot of the problems.

Controlling everything in the game is actually another challenge that I struggled with throughout the experience. Selecting units is a challenge, and making sure you get the move that you want executed is actually rather difficult. The game has such a great sense of the Warhammer and its history but the actual execution of this is frustrating.

You may be asking, is there a point where you can get past these problems and move onto a great Warhammer experience? My short answer is yes, you can get past this all, but there are still issues that hold the game back. After around three hours of gameplay I stopped thinking about the problems of the game and just got into the game, especially online. Online play worked rather well, it ran smooth, although once again plenty of room for improvement in terms of ease in finding games.

Overall the game was really quite frustrating. It had a load of potential, you could see how not having grids would be great, but overall the experience felt flat, frustrating, and disappointing.

Graphics

Visually I have to say that I was very impressed with the level of detail they were able to give Warhammer on the PSP. It does have the same sort of appeal as a RTS would from a few years ago on the PC which is actually pretty strong. The lack of grids helps the visual appeal of the game quite a bit, and if it wasn't for controls that continually manage to really take away from the "gridless" environment, you probably would respect the visuals even more.

Fun Factor

I posed the question earlier in the review, is there a point where the problems wear off, and the answer is no. However I did get to the point where I forgot how frustrating things were and was able to enjoy it, not however to its full extent. To elaborate on the idea I point to a simple example, I am getting into a battle and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on everything when I realize that my recent move wasn't recognized correctly and I am now in no man's land. This is the kind of problems that surfaces more often than not and really hold the game back.

Overall

There is potentially a lot to like about Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command for the PSP, but it is overly frustrating, and this frustration doesn't make either the offline or online content all that enticing to play.

Gameplay
5.0

Graphics
7.0

Fun Factor
6.0

Overall
6.0

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