Xbox 360 Fanboy

In a lineup filled with puzzle games, fighters, and retro console and arcade relelases, a turn based strategy game tends to stand out on Xbox Live Arcade. With the genre previously represented solely by Band of Bugs, a new entrant is definitely welcome. Given our time with the trial version of Commanders: Attack of the Genos, we'd say that the welcome is deserved too. Read on to find out whether or not Commanders is worth your time and money.

We love Wednesdays. Before Xbox Live Arcade came along, Wednesday was just one day closer to Friday, but now, it's a reason to celebrate ... most of the time anyway. This week we've got two new games to look forward to, Commanders: Attack of Genos and Discs of Tron. Commanders helps fill out the underrepresented turn based strategy genre on XBLA, while Discs of Tron helps fill out the ... um ... Frisbee battle genre. We're particularly anxious to give Commanders a try -- we loves us some turn based strategy -- and you can expect a full report once we do. Oh, and a note to whoever currently owns the license to X-COM, get that game on XBLA, now.

Update: Oh, you might want to know that Disc of Tron costs 400 MS Points and Commanders will set you back 800 MS Points.

Having confirmed that Commanders: Attack of Genos would debut on Xbox Live Arcade alongside Discs of Tron this week, we can now bring you brand new images of the title. Having scrutinized the screens, we can say that the comparisons to Nintendo's Advance Wars series certainly seem valid. Lest you haven't played Advance Wars, that's a good thing. If the gameplay hold up to the level of the visuals, we should be in for quite a treat.

Discs of Tron won't be the only Live Arcade game to hit in time for Valentines Day. This Wednesday, Feb 13 will see the release of Commanders: Attack of Genos, a turn-based tactical game similar to Advance Wars. Like Advance Wars, Commanders goes out of it's way to look friendly and accessible, sporting red and blue less-than-realistically modeled units, a grid-based system of movement, and tactical-turn-based gameplay. To add even more to the list of Advance Wars similarities, the game features "Commanders" who have "powers" both active and passive. Even with all these similarities to a DS game, Commanders manages to give great reasons to download, with everything from online play with a much more robust community, to the graphics and possibilities of future content.

Even the unit choices and relationships are similar to the Advance Wars games. There are a total of 16 units with everything from the most basic of infantry to things like tanks and artillery, with alien weapons possibly available (if the screens are to be believed). The unit movement and attack abilities are quite different from Advance Wars however, the actions that you can give your units are based on action points, which are taken away when a unit moves or attacks, allowing for the possibility of moving and attacking, which then opens up a whole new side of the game's turn-based formula. With the turn-based-strategy genre (almost) completely open on XBLA, Commanders looks poised to fill the niche and hopefully bring the genre to a new audience.