OK... take the turn-based combat model of X-COM, the learning curve of quantum physics, and the excitement of ladies' Olympic field hockey and you've pretty much got yourself a good representation of Hasbro Interactive's latest strategy title, "Squad Leader." The concept of the game - a World War II version of X-COM - could have been excellent, but poor design and implementation makes this title nothing more than another bad adaptation of an Avalon Hill board game.
In "Squad Leader," you take command of US, British or German forces and fight your way through the familiar battlefields of World War II. You can choose to play either a single scenario, or you can take a platoon and command them through an entire campaign. The game play is traditional turn-based fare, and the mechanics are very reminiscent of Microprose's old-school classic "X-COM." However, mentioning "Squad Leader" in the same sentence of the brilliant "X-COM" is like comparing Laurence Olivier to Tom Arnold - sure they're both actors, but the similarities stop there. In the case of "Squad Leader," the developers managed to strip out almost everything that is enjoyable about the turn-based genre, and instead wound up with one of the most tedious and "amateurish" playing strategy titles I've played in quite some time.
Upon selecting the battle that you wish to take part in, you are given a set of objectives and are taken to the troop selection screen where you build up your forces by choosing five-man squads, as well as specialists such as medics (for healing wounded soldiers) and radio operators (for calling in air strikes). Each soldier has his own statistics in categories such as Leadership, Strength, and Accuracy; and also has a set number of Action Points, which determine how much a particular grunt can do in any one turn. The developers also implemented small "Jagged Alliance"-style bios for every single soldier, but aside from adding a little color to the game these backgrounds do very little to add any flavor to the game. Once you've selected the troops that you wish to go into battle with, you're brought to the equipment screen that should be a boon to control freaks everywhere. As commander, you're able to select from a wide variety of weapons, sidearms, explosives, and other destructive hardware with which to outfit your troops. The equipping screens are pretty well done, and anyone who has a spare hour or two in their day should be able to outfit their squad with the perfect gear to claim victory. However, those of us with a little less spare time may find the preparation screens a bit too much to handle, and a "quick start" option would have been nice.
Once you've outfitted your troops, you're ready to take to the battlefield. The first thing I noticed about the flow of the game play is that is SLOW - watching your soldiers plod their way along their given routes is almost painful, and is incredibly boring. Since you're often in command of up to 20 individual soldiers, a single turn in "Squad Leader" can often take about as long as an Oliver Stone film festival. Combine the slow-as-molasses pace of combat with an interface that only an astrophysicist could love, and it becomes readily apparently that "Squad Leader" is in some serious trouble. To make matters worse, the combat model isn't even very accurate; this became apparent during the first scenario that I played. I decided to take control of the men who were to hit the beach on D-Day, and it went a little something like this...
The scenario opened with my 15 men approaching the beach in their raft (I'm sure there's some grognard-ish name for that vehicle, but it looked like a "raft" to me). The objective: make it to the other side of the beach, and wipe out all German opposition on the battle map. Once I spent a good 15 minutes placing my troops in their starting locations, it was time to spend ANOTHER 15 minutes getting them in position to begin their assault. However, since I've got the tactical mind of a gorilla, it became apparent after three or four turns that I was going to get completely wiped out by the enemy. The Germans had obliterated 14 out of my 15 troops, leaving me with only one injured Private to engage the entire enemy squad. Seemed like I was in for a quick defeat... however, it turns out that using commando-style tactics, by a single bloodied soldier, was able to wreak total havoc amongst the Germans. Using stealth tactics and a barrel full of pineapple grenades, my little Rambo can within ONE enemy soldier of single-handedly winning the battle of D-Day. While it was a bit of fun sneaking around blowing up Nazis with grenades, I somehow doubt that this is the type of realism or game balance that the developers were looking for.
The saddest part about "Squad Leader" is it really could've been an excellent game. A few tweaks to game pace, and a major overhaul of the interface could've resulted in a very nice "X-COM in WWII"-type game, one that surely would've been happily welcomed by grognards and casual gamers alike. However, instead what we got was a game with inexplicably choppy graphics, game play that moves far too slow, and in the end a complete waste of time for strategy fans. Trust me... don't bother with this one.
