Commandos 1 Behind Enemy Lines
A genuinely original game of tactics, planning, and precision
The premise of Commandos
is a model for the game itself: Just as the heroes of this game prevail
in dangerous military operations through unorthodox yet undeniably
effective means, so too is Commandos a successful real-time strategy
game because of its refusal to adhere to the genre's conventions. Pyro
Studios has produced a genuinely original game of tactics, planning, and
precision, one with impressive visuals and slick production values and
one that will surely please fans of strategic combat, puzzle-solving,
and World War II-era warfare alike.
Its
isometric perspective recalls any number of real-time strategy games
that came before it, but a closer inspection reveals Commandos' striking
attention to detail. The prerendered 2D maps all look different,
beautiful, and realistic, and accurately depict Nazi-occupied regions in
Norway, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. You'll never find a scenario
that looks boring; enemy barracks, tanks, electric fences, river dams,
and much more all serve to make every mission dynamic and different. You
even get some nice eye candy for good measure - enemy vehicles and
structures go out in glorious pyrotechnics at the hands of your
demolitions expert. And not only can you set the screen resolution to
your liking, but you can zoom the screen in and out, set up split-screen
cameras to keep tabs on isolated commandos, or set tracking cameras to follow enemy patrols.
Your
six Commandos are all unique in appearance and attitude. They move
smoothly whether they're walking, crawling, running, or plying any of
their deadly skills, and you can learn all about them through a fast and
friendly in-game tutorial that focuses on each of their individual
skills. They're a charismatic bunch and will quickly grow on you,
although their German enemies look rather boring by comparison. There
isn't much music to speak of in Commandos, and the sound, though
authentic, is sparse. And though the commandos sound great and become
immediately distinguishable through their speech, they have
disappointingly few speaking lines. The Germans don't have a lot to say
either.
An
unobtrusive and clever interface borders the screen, showing the
various tools in the selected commando's knapsack, any of which can be
selected with the click of a mouse. However, this interface is mostly
for show; it's quicker just to hit the appropriate keyboard hotkey to
select your green beret's combat knife for example - and in Commandos,
every moment counts. Moving your men is as simple as clicking the
desired destination or double-clicking to make the commando run. You
need to micromanage everybody, and no one will move an inch without your
express orders. This isn't a problem; just keep your idle men hidden at
all times and you'll be OK.
To
be sure, Commandos is a good strategy game not so much because of its
fine look and interface, but because it makes you think. You needn't
worry about real-time strategy protocol like fog of war and resources or
having to restart from scratch every time you mess up (you can save
whenever you like). Instead, you get a select group of specialists at
your disposal, along with a concise yet informative mission briefing
that clearly defines your task. You have nearly limitless reconnaissance
data at your disposal; you can scroll all around the map, identify all
enemy patrols, and even see each enemy's field of vision represented
onscreen through a sweeping colored cone.
And so, you'll always have your work cut out for you - what you need to do is figure out exactly how to get
the job done. Thus you need to develop a long-term plan, not unlike the
skilled chess player facing an equally competent opponent. Essentially,
you must figure out how to eliminate every enemy who stands in your way
without any of the other enemies noticing. This will never prove an
easy task, as the odds are always awful. But then again, the elements of
stealth and surprise are always on your side.
Guards cannot hear your men moving, nor can they hear their fellows die
by your silent weapons. But if they see any of your men, or witness
anything suspicious, they'll get riled up and you'll be in serious
trouble.
To
succeed, you must coordinate your troops. For instance, the marine is
an adept killer, able to emerge from underwater instantly, armed and
ready with knife and harpoon gun - but he needs the green beret's brawn
to dispose of the bodies. And if the spy can find an enemy uniform and
distract the enemy, then the driver will be able to sneak past and steal
a parked tank. The combinations aren't always binary; solving certain
situations in Commandos can be very complex and challenging but always
logical and predictable. You cannot slow the game down or speed it up,
and so you'll occasionally need to employ a little dexterity and good
timing. But these action elements only amplify the game's visceral
appeal and do not detract from its strategic core. You'll also run into
the occasional pathing problem trying to operate a large vehicle, but aside from that, Commandos controls just fine.
Commandos
contains a single linear campaign composed of 20 big missions. The
linearity isn't problematic; while there exists a best way to win each
scenario, you always get plenty of room to be especially creative or
just a little reckless. And because they're well designed and
open-ended, you'll want to play most of them more than once. Any of
these missions can be attempted cooperatively with up to five other
players, each responsible for at least a single troop. However, the true
pleasure in this game is coordinating the entire squad single-handedly,
anticipating how a situation will transpire and watching
it go according to plan or successfully improvising when things don't
go your way. And what a pleasure - after you navigate your team through
or past some 50-odd nonchalant German guards, destroy a vital enemy installation, and hijack a means of escape, you may well find Commandos sneaking its way to the top of your list.
Processor= 233MHz
RAM= 64MB
Graphics= 16MB
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