by Rolland Judd

Created on: January 10, 2009   Last Updated: January 12, 2009

Space War Commander puts gamers in control of their very own space station and charges them with the task of defending it from incoming enemy vessels. This game tests a player's strategic skills as they are forced to make critical decisions about how to defend their station with the limited resources that are available. The goal is not only to defend your space station but also to mass a fleet of your own so you can gain control over neighboring planets and asteroids and conquer the enemy's space station.

The graphics in Space War Commander are not all that they could be to say the least. Reminiscent of late 80s or early 90s graphics they really don't even compare to most games coming out today. Two-dimensional ships under your command move across the two-dimensional game board slowly and offer nothing in the way of detail. Enemy ships (or your own ships) explode as they are destroyed but the explosions are very small and barely noticeable.

Another big let down in this game is the complete lack of music. As you mass your fleet and collect resources necessary to buy new ships you do so in silence. Occasionally the player will hear little sound effects (again very reminiscent of the late eighties) that indicate an enemy vessel is nearing their space station or a ship has been destroyed, but that is it as far as sound is concerned.

Space War Commander is not unlike many other similar strategy-type games that have delivered much more in the way of a creative storyline. The gist of this game is that something is wrong with the player's space station and somehow the self-destruct mechanism has been initiated. While this does provide for an extremely challenging obstacle later in the game that is really all Space War Commander offers as far as a story.

The overall look and feel of Space War Commander is not very innovative when you compare it to similar games. In fact, it may even be taking a step backwards. Gamers seeking a cutting-edge game to entertain them will definitely need to look else ware to fulfill their needs.

Space War Commander does deliver on one thing, game play. No music and simple graphics aside, this game is very hard to walk away from. Each level provides a new scenario where a new strategy must be employed to conquer the enemy space station. Resources become more limited as players progress through the game and eventually these resources are being guarded by mercenaries and pirates which the player will need to defeat to gain access to them. While this is going on your space station is contently losing power due to the self-destruct mechanism being activated. This creates an added challenge by putting a time constraint on how long players have to mass a large enough fleet to take on the enemy.

This game is very entertaining if you are a gamer that doesn't need all the bells and whistles that accompany games today. Space War Commander saves itself from self-destruction with excellent game play and is deserving of a 3/5 overall score. For gamers merely looking for a challenge this would definitely be a game worth buying. Gamers looking for the entire package in a game, however, will probably be too disappointed with the shortcomings in this game to purchase it.

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