Field Commander, or should I say “Advance Wars in sheep’s skin.” The similarities are striking, from the similar units to the typical storyline of good vs. evil. However gone are the cutesy cartoon graphics, with griming graphics as a replacement. Generally western-developers have always pushed towards real-time gameplay, but Field Commander is evidence that real-time has its place in the portable world and should continue to be explored. Field Commander, best described, is an eastern take on the Advance Wars franchise.

The entire setting and conflict of the game is very reminiscent of the Advance Wars series, but in many ways branches out in areas that have been far untouched. Field Commander isn’t scared of going into the darkness of war and displaying the harshness and barren landscapes. In itself Advance Wars has a very fleshy feeling, while Field Commander has a more mechanical feeling as nearly everything explodes upon death. This single-handedly sets the tone for the game and adds much-needed adrenaline to the genre.

In Campaign mode you are of course in controller of a Field Commander who orders the troops through divisions. There’s nothing too innovative in the concept and the storyline isn’t superb but then again you don’t even need a storyline for turn-based strategy games. However the story that is there is rather humorous in an unintentional way. We have typical cliché villains that always seem to escape your grasp. Adding even more to the war atmosphere of the game, all the characters are fully voice-acted and come with very distinctive voices that represent their personas quite well. The only issue I have with the feature is the couple seconds it takes to buffer the sound to play with the text. But take it from me personally, many have said that it would be very fitting for Field Commander to have a G.I. Joe license, and I agree completely. The characters appear to be ripped straight from the series. Even the villains carry practically the same personality and faults as the ones in the shows.

There are about 30-missions to the campaign mode which should be enough to satisfy anyone that plays offline. The missions for the most part are varied but a good chunk of them are the typical “capture their HQ or destroy them all” objectives. What’s interesting about the game though is the choice of divisions they have in it. Initially the divisions are very typical with their special powers consisting of just attack bonuses. But as you play through the game more and more unique divisions are unlocked with their innovative abilities. One for instance can summon a Stealth Tank in the vicinity of your view range at will. While another gives you the ability to crash an aircraft and to damage the units on the ground. Very unique!