As you all may know, I was out of the country last week on a cruise with the family. We had a ton of fun, blah, blah, blah… Anyway, before I left, on a whim, I picked up Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command for the PSP for the trip.

I played that game through and when I got home on Sunday, I sat down to write this, but had second thoughts because of all of the high praise that would be out there on the other gaming sites…

I was wrong.

Metacritic scored this game at a 62 out of 100. They blamed poor camera controls, short campaign and a lack of a grid? WTF? A fraking grid? Checkers, this isn’t. Come on people… This is a good game.

I’d describe the game as more X-Com than Final Fantasy Tactics. Yes, there’s no “grid,” (dork) but you do get to customize a six unit squad with whatever weapon load-outs you want. You’ll get to control tanks, mechs, speeders and four different types of soldiers. It’s not the most in-depth, turn-based strategy game, for sure, but if you’re sick of sword and sorcery, this is a great change of pace.

The game also got hit for poor, or average graphics. They couldn’t be more wrong. Each character has a great amount of detail and they’re not static figures, they’ll sway and move when they’re not being controlled. The particle and weapon effects are nice looking too.

Cover also plays a huge role in your stategy in the game. Fortunately the environments are fully destructable, which creates interesting ways to play almost any map in the game.

I also want to take a second to point out that the sound and voice acting are great. (Voice acting in a PSP game? OMG!). The small cutscenes between levels are also really well done.

My only gripe with the game is that it’s kinda short. I’d say it’s around 8 or 9 hours in length. That’s really it. To be fair, it does have some replayability within the campaign and multiplayer components. Multiplayer is offered offline via game sharing, or ad hoc and online multiplayer offered through Gamespy. I haven’t tried either yet. FYI.

Here’s the bottom line: If you like turn-based strategy games and are sick of the sword and sorcery stuff in other strategy games, rent it. If you’re a hardcore strategy guy, buy it. It’s fun and different from the other stuff out there for the PSP.

Have fun without the grid.