Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command for Nintendo DS Reviews by Gamers

This is a great turn-based military RPG. It's really easy to play on the bus to work since you can pause at any point and pick up later. You start off with only soldiers, but later on get tanks and other vehicles. Multiple weapon types.

My only complaint was that the level of difficulty goes way up really fast. It took me a couple of hours to get through the 3rd level. Still the game was really fun so it was worth trying. Some levels feel simply impossible to complete, but if you are willing to work at levels then it feels good to complete levels when you finally get through them.

If you've played some of the THQ Warhammer Dawn of War RTS games on PCs, then you too might be drawn to the alluring notion of whupping Chaos Space Marines on your DS. Well, I'm here to tell you that while it's not the most fast-paced game on the DS, it's still very playable.

The sound is average to just below average. If you listen with headphones you'll quickly tell that the soundtrack has been overcompressed and downsampled to save space, but at the cost of sounding like music played inside a tin can. The sound effects are decent, if limited and repetitious.

Visually, the game suffers from a lack of perspective. Once again, for players of the PC-based Dawn of War series, this is a big letdown. It might be a limitation of getting the game to work on the DS, but the isometric perspective of maps is fixed, meaning you can't rotate the camera to any angle in order to properly target enemy units. They do offer a "camera tilt" feature that let's you temporarily swing the viewpoint by a limited amount, but it's not enough to be useful.

Usually, when one of your units, or one of the enemy units is behind a wall or structure, that obstacle goes partly transparent. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work! More than once I had to fake it and hope my aim was good enough, because the unit I was targeting was behind a column or wall that refused to be seen through.

If you can overlook those shortcoming, the game is enjoyable, and as you progress you can change weapons on your units to emphasize certain tactics (including the chainsword, my favorite!) You also get to play with infantry units (like Predator tanks) to pound the bad guys with artillery! The game is also reasonably re-playable, since you can alter tactics and destroy just about any structure on the map to change how the AI responds. Didn't score so high? Try it again and see how different actions can finish them off quicker!

Overall, definitely worth a rental for most of you, and a buy for Warhammer fans.

I've never played a warhammer game before other than wc3mod , but after this one I will deffinately pick up some others. This game is a great adaptation of rts squad combat for the ds. With good graffix, unit upgrades, and destructible environments, the only disapointment of this game is how short it was.

DS Version - Graphically speaking the game was very disappointing. The intro simply fades in and out with still pictures. In game is even more disappointing... graphically speaking the only way that I could tell a difference between my troops and the AI troops was by their color. There was no attention paid to the detail of the sprites. The Nintendo DS is capable of better. I gave up playing it after roughly 30 minutes.

Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command is a good game, but there are better RTS's for the DS out there, a least for those who like to have a Rock/Paper/Scissor as Warhammer is mainly a "Shoot first, kill first" kind of RTS. You do have the option to give your squad members different weapons but if your a die-hard RTSer who likes to be able to summon his own fighters and not have to rely on a set number of fighters than this isn't a game for you. If however your new to RTSs and want to get used to it, or are a fan of the Warhammer series this games good for you.

As all squad based turn based games you have to relate this to the granddaddy of them all Xcom. (Or Laser Squad if you want to go a bit earlier, or Laser Squad Nemesis if you want to talk today) In the pure combat portion of this game it stands up well to the classics, unfortunetly overall if falls far short of the great one.

First off the story line here is THIN thin thin. Which if you know anything about the 40K universe is just fine since they have so much meaty story there. For those NOT familiar with the universe you'll really find nothing here to make you understand why you're fighting or what not.

Another downside to the way the game is set-up is that there is no character progression. You have nameless faceless grunts at all times. To add to this problem is that in the single player game you can't choose which units to bring, only what secondary weapons they're carrying.

In the end though the game does a good job of doing squad based tactical combat. Everything from overwatch to increased time to aim and destructible terrain is there. While the AI isn't the smartest in the world, it does a good job for the short (only 15 missions!) single player campaign. I've seen the enemy come out, shoot, and duck back to cover more times than I like. Luckily you can always blow up the cover with lots of fun weapons from Warhammer 40K.

Final Verdict: It's a 7 overall because it is a good start for what I hope would become a series of Squad based games. If they'd add the ability to choose your squad, make character growth, and the like you'd have a real contender. Add a less linear storyline and you've got a major player in the turn based strategy market.

I am not a fan of strategic combat games but I thought I should give it a try. The online component and tactics sounded intriguing. The problem was I didn't make it to the online play because the campaign was so boring I had no desire to play anyone online. the graphics are sub par and unit control is limited to point and click options only. Granted I gave up after the first level so there could be some gems in later campaign levels. I would suggest do not rent or buy this game unless you want a portal strategic conquest time of game. Poorly executed.