Microsoft's Xbox 360 has really done an impressive job of carving itself out a hefty chunk of the gaming market, but while the diversity of titles is pretty good, there are still a lot of areas where it is lacking. The much bemoaned lack of Japanese-style RPGs has been addressed of late with titles like Lost Odyssey and Eternal Sonata, but strategy gaming – never a console's strongest genre – has been decidedly lacking on the 360. Surprisingly, it hasn't been at retail that the solution has been found, but rather the Xbox Live Arcade service, which has seen some quality offerings like Catan and Carcassone providing a pleasing balance of accessibility and challenge.

Now Southend Interactive, developers of the much-loved Xbox game Deathrow, are throwing their own strategic hat into the ring with Commanders: Attack of the Genos. Set in a parallel universe where humanity discovered nuclear power and genetics at least half a century earlier, Commanders tells the story of the Genos – genetically modified people who were originally destined to serve humanity – as well as the conflicts fought over resources in this alternative future. Rather than gambling on a real-time strategy system, Commanders opts for turn-based gameplay that in all honesty is basically a direct copy of the fabulous Advance Wars series currently thrilling Nintendo DS owners around the world.

For those poor souls who have never played Advance Wars, the system is pretty simple: you control units on maps based on an invisible grid, with each unit having a specific amount of actions that can be used to move or use an ability or attack. There is a rock-paper-scissors dynamic that assigns infantry, light vehicles like jeeps, heavy vehicles like tanks and special units like artillery or aircraft their own strengths and weaknesses, and knowing these is crucial to your success. In Commanders, during your turn you can move and fire every unit you have, and upon completion, the enemy does the same. This requires a good deal of forethought and consultation of where your foe can actually manoeuvre to on the grid, and the fog-of-war adds an element of the unknown to moving into unseen territory.

Where Advance Wars has a distinct cartoony appearance, Commanders opts for a cool art deco design much like BioShock (albeit a lot simpler), and has a smooth framerate and no real graphical glitches either. While the retro stylings are nice, they are a little sterile at times, and distinguishing between your different units can be pretty tough since they all look pretty similar. The bigger issue is the camera, which unlike most games of this ilk, is not a fixed perspective. This is definitely a double-edged sword; on the one hand the sweeping movements and combat zoom-ins immerse you in the world of Commanders better, but on the other hand, the camera moves so much it can be a little off-putting for such a static game, and rotating it manually can be a pain.

Commanders features a full singleplayer campaign spanning 15 missions, which sees you slogging through a simple but amusing story, destroying your enemies, capturing resources, and surviving against overwhelming odds. Resource management is streamlined into just worrying about cash, which you can obtain by securing oil-wells on the map. There's no base-building at all, but infantry can capture factories and the like, which will allow you to produce more units. Like Advance Wars, the focus is very much on the combat, and Commanders has a decent amount of unit variety, but lacks the meticulous balancing you need to really make every unit a viable choice.

In addition to the campaign, there's another 10 or so challenge maps, which are just one-off encounters unrelated to the storyline. Like the main story, these start off pretty easy before ramping up the difficulty, and with two difficulties, there's more than enough here to provide a pretty decent challenge for all levels of gamer. As you play the campaign, you'll unlock new commanders, who grant bonus abilities during battles and actually take to the field in giant mech-type units that can easily turn the tide of combat in your favour. These commanders can be used in the challenges, and also in the multiplayer component of the game, and there's enough variety to find one who suits your playing style.

Multiplayer in Commanders comes in the form of local hotseat play, or online through Xbox Live. As you could well imagine, local play really undermines the strategy since you can see what your opponent is doing and where they are, but nevertheless it's nice to see non-Live gamers being looked after. Turn-based strategy is a tough one to call for online gaming...sure, it eliminates the problems lag creates, but waiting around for 1-3 other players to make their moves can be a little tedious. Still, Commanders ensures people don't spend half an hour deciding which square to move their tank in, but the multiplayer definitely isn't for everyone.