Field Commander
| Field Commander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Sony Online Entertainment |
| Publisher(s) | SOE |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release | NA May 23 2006 AUS July 22, 2006 EU July 28, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer (WiFi) |
Field Commander is the first [1] military turn-based strategy game for the PlayStation Portable set in the modern era. It has many similarities to Nintendo's Advance Wars games. The player takes on the persona of a new recruit to ATLAS (Advanced Tactical Legion for Allied Security), a world alliance of military technology and expertise. The player battles Shadow Nation, a crime empire, on various missions.
The multiplayer options include Infrastructure, Ad-Hoc, Hot Swap, and a unique feature called Transmission mode, which is somewhat similar to the "Play By Email" system of older PC games. While playing in Transmission mode each player takes turns and sends them off to the server.
Players can choose a CO that has no effect on gameplay - it acts more as the player's avatar. Divisions, however, determine the player's allegiance (ATLAS or Shadow Nation) as well as Division Bonuses that can be activated.
Fuel and ammunition may be finite, depending on unit types (all infantry, for example, have unlimited fuel while secondary weapons, like the machine guns on tanks, have unlimited ammunition) and when fuel is exhausted, there is a high chance the unit will explode. Running out of ammunition prevents them from attacking altogether or being unable to use the weapon which lacks ammunition. All units can be resupplied by either trucks, transports, or cities at no cost.
Maps
An innovative aspect of this game, specially for PSP owners, was that the user could design their own maps using the inbuilt map-editor and upload those maps to the SoE server where they could be downloaded by any Field Commander player.
This aspect was one of the most exciting for Field Commander players and ensured the longibility of this game, as the maps supplied by the game manufacturer were finite in number and this spawned hundreds of user maps only restricted by the creativity of the map designer. All aspects of the maps could be changed except certain terrain features. [2] [3]
Some examples of user maps are : Desert Storm 1.3, Winter Wonderland, Urban Warfare.
Reception
The game has received a 8.4 "Great" Rating on GameSpot [4] , 79% on GameRankings [5] and a 77/100 on MetaCritic [6].