The Warhammer 40K world has been around for quite some time, at least on tabletops. Figurines, landscapes, and strategy all have been going hand in hand for many years now. Considering the amount of strategy involved in the game, it's a surprise it's taken this long for someone to create a turn-based title that effectively embodies the nature of the original game. Unfortunately, in the end it just does a poor job of representing the tactics of the tabletop experience.

The premise of the game sounds promising enough: take a squad of six Imperium troopers through a variety of missions in order to drive off the evil forces of Chaos. You can outfit your squad with a variety of weaponry, and must use strategy and tactics to complete the mission objectives. Sounds good?

Things fall apart quickly.

It's a little disconcerting to watch all the lore of the game dissolve to simply "kill the bad guys." Levels are divided by short descriptions and simple cutscenes, and the objectives are generally bland and are generally the same. In each mission you're given a handful of units to complete your mission in turn-based fashion. Each of your units gets a set amount of action points per turn, which determines how much they can move and shoot before having to bunker down and wait for the next turn to come.

Before each of the missions, you can choose the secondary weapons that your units will carry - you don't actually select what kind of units enter the missions. This element of customization determines how many action points your units have, as equipping bigger guns with more ammo will give you less AP and therefore less flexibility per turn. While it's an interesting idea, it just doesn't feel as though it's enough of an important element, especially in a game that should be full of strategic choices like this.

In combat, you give orders to your units by using either the control pad and buttons or the stylus. Unfortunately, both control schemes are heavily flawed and feel both clunky and cumbersome to use. For example, when using the stylus it seems like it should be simple to point and click where to go, but various problems prevent this. One good example is how the game does not allow you to deselect units; instead, to deselect a unit you must select another. Additionally, if you select a unit that has already been selected, then another unit next to it will be highlighted as well. Unfortunately, the only indication about which new unit has been selected is a small little mark next to their portrait, which means that it's easy for this to go unnoticed. And then that unit gets moved by accident, wasting their AP and frustrating everyone involved.

This brings up the other problem of pathfinding, arguably a very important part of any gridless tactical game. Selecting and moving one unit generally goes without problems. However, there are times when you try to move to a particular area of the map (usually near another structure) and invisible and impassable 'padding' around the building will prevent it. That's not too much of a problem, but when you try to move more than one trooper, you run into a lot of problems resulting in wasted AP at best, and a dead unit or two at worst as the Imperium blindly run into enemy fire.

The strategy portion of the game is quite underwhelming, but the game is marred by technical problems as well. The frame rate is a problem almost constantly, unless there's nothing on the screen. Additionally, the interface is much less than optimal and feels clumsy to use, no matter what control style you're using. There is also the issue of the graphics; muddy and drab surroundings that make picking out your units and the enemy's from the background hard to do.

It doesn't make it any better that you can't rotate the camera, so targeting or even seeing units behind obstructions can be problematic. Trying to hit the enemy through the little slit in the wall that the AI has been shooting through for the past couple turns? Good luck; you have a better chance of destroying the entire wall itself. Luckily, destructible terrain allows this to happen.

The multiplayer portion of the game feels a little better, since you're not actually playing against an AI that can do everything more efficiently than you (like taking impossible shots through walls), but many of the technical issues still mar the game here. For the DS, there are three modes that have you playing online, with up to seven other game owners, or a limited download play of one versus one. When you play online you can either use friend codes or get into ranked matches, games that match you up with players and give you experience as you win, letting you rise up in rank and therefore face more experienced players. It's a good idea, but finding someone else to play against could take a while as there doesn't appear to be a lot of players online.

The result is a title that gives a tactical experience leaving a lot to be desired. There are just too many issues to recommend it to people who just want a deep tactical game, even for fans of the genre. Those who've enjoyed the Warhammer 40k tabletop game won't find too much to enjoy here either, since all the lore has been scrapped for a stripped-down story and generic, faceless units. Ultimately a tactical title set in the Warhammer universe has a lot of potential, and one may come up that rises up to meet it. As it is, Squad Command is just simply not that game.