Posted September 04, 2010
A walkthrough to Commandos 2 penned by some fan-boy actually begins with a dedication to "all the brave men who fought in World War 2", or something along those lines. Which is very amusing, because faithful tactical recreation of behind-enemy-lines squad action this ain't. What begins with mind-numbingly bad character voices which repeat the same inane lines every time you select them (the Australian diver is especially aggravating - as an Australian, I would like to go on the record by stating that WE ARE NOT COCKNEYS) is made all the more frustrating by controls seemingly designed by a person with 18 fingers, able to control 4 mice (mouses?) simultaneously. The missions are absurdly difficult. Honestly, planning and executing Barbarossa would have been a snack compared to this game. I actually wish that the game actually did simulate the intricate logistics required to move scores of German divisions eastward against all logic - at least I might have understood what the hell was going on.
A few issues are common to both Commandos 2 and Commandos 3. Firstly, the camera mechanics have been implemented to ensure maximum confusion. Want to see where that lurking Nazi went to? Quick, swivel the camera through its fixed, 90 degree rotations to find out - wait! In the time it took you to perform that simple action and then to return to a perspective that allows you to actually see your character it's too late. The guard has returned and, yet again, you're dead. Second, the option of using enemy uniforms to loiter at the edge of an enemy's vision is presented to your commandos. However, the eagle-eyed stormtroopers of the 1000-year Reich can spot the ruse, apparently obvious to everyone, immediately and will, without hesitation, mow you down with nary a second thought. I could only imagine the red faces at OKW when this little aspect of Wehrmacht training comes to their attention. Jumpy ubermensch? Nein! Third, the little-biddy auto-maps provided are tiny-to-vanishing. Aaah, I see. The Green Beret is that microscopic blue dot and the . . . sapper is THAT microscopic blue dot and the objective is that vague circle there.
Commandos 2: Overall, the graphics are great for a game of its vintage. Ramp up the resolution and it looks awesome. The gameplay is actually reasonably enjoyable - at first. Then, the tedium of searching every building for that one bit of kit you need to complete the mission, of patiently stabbing Nazis one by one to avoid having to machine-gun an entire base to death so as to reach an objective, of the little goddamn thief saying "I'll never throw in the towel" all becomes a bit much. I'm not sure if it was a flaw in the training provided by the Allies to their operatives, but the oddest restrictions apply to your commandos: only the Green Beret can use the knife for close kills, only the diver (why?) can use his throwing knife, only the sapper can use grenades (truly, a bizarre decision) and only the Green Beret and Thief can make use of climbing to reach objectives. I mean, jeez. It's any wonder we won the war at all.
Commandos 3: The enjoyable (and vaguely realistic) missions designed by Pyro in Commandos 2 are replaced in the sequel by long, mind-numbing rolling scenarios that don't make much sense at all. For example, the first scenario runs something like this: the Sniper (as he is referred to), is apparently in the middle of a firefight in some frigid Soviet town on the Eastern Front. Soviet soldiers are being picked off one-by-one by a German sniper. Your job is to eliminate the sniper. Fine. But why is my character armed with a paltry 8 rounds of ammo? I mean, seriously, check your pockets before you go to war. 8 rounds? It goes on and on until th Sapper and Green Beret arrive with vague instructions to protect a visiting Allied general. At some arbitrary point, the general makes a run for a German plane parked on the opposite side of the map and you are told to follow. Once you take out half a German company, you find yourself on the plane suddenly surrounded by hundreds of Nazis. Then, the next mission commences. What happened? Apparently, you were betrayed by the Allied general. What? Why come all the way to Soviet Russia, go through the ruse of planning with. . . forget it. It's a crap game which is so frustrating as to make cryptic sudoko a snack in comparison. One final gripe - the Spy, being a spy, is supposed to be able to disguise himself in the uniforms of enemy officers. Well, I'm here to tell you that he can't. He's the single WORST spy ever produced by any nation in any age of human development. I would have a better chance of passing unnoticed as a giraffe as the Spy would have of performing his 'special ability'. No, he's an expert at getting noticed. Not such a hot quality for a master of espionage.
Seriously, the time you've spent reading this review - if you have, thanks - is all the time you should give this game.
A few issues are common to both Commandos 2 and Commandos 3. Firstly, the camera mechanics have been implemented to ensure maximum confusion. Want to see where that lurking Nazi went to? Quick, swivel the camera through its fixed, 90 degree rotations to find out - wait! In the time it took you to perform that simple action and then to return to a perspective that allows you to actually see your character it's too late. The guard has returned and, yet again, you're dead. Second, the option of using enemy uniforms to loiter at the edge of an enemy's vision is presented to your commandos. However, the eagle-eyed stormtroopers of the 1000-year Reich can spot the ruse, apparently obvious to everyone, immediately and will, without hesitation, mow you down with nary a second thought. I could only imagine the red faces at OKW when this little aspect of Wehrmacht training comes to their attention. Jumpy ubermensch? Nein! Third, the little-biddy auto-maps provided are tiny-to-vanishing. Aaah, I see. The Green Beret is that microscopic blue dot and the . . . sapper is THAT microscopic blue dot and the objective is that vague circle there.
Commandos 2: Overall, the graphics are great for a game of its vintage. Ramp up the resolution and it looks awesome. The gameplay is actually reasonably enjoyable - at first. Then, the tedium of searching every building for that one bit of kit you need to complete the mission, of patiently stabbing Nazis one by one to avoid having to machine-gun an entire base to death so as to reach an objective, of the little goddamn thief saying "I'll never throw in the towel" all becomes a bit much. I'm not sure if it was a flaw in the training provided by the Allies to their operatives, but the oddest restrictions apply to your commandos: only the Green Beret can use the knife for close kills, only the diver (why?) can use his throwing knife, only the sapper can use grenades (truly, a bizarre decision) and only the Green Beret and Thief can make use of climbing to reach objectives. I mean, jeez. It's any wonder we won the war at all.
Commandos 3: The enjoyable (and vaguely realistic) missions designed by Pyro in Commandos 2 are replaced in the sequel by long, mind-numbing rolling scenarios that don't make much sense at all. For example, the first scenario runs something like this: the Sniper (as he is referred to), is apparently in the middle of a firefight in some frigid Soviet town on the Eastern Front. Soviet soldiers are being picked off one-by-one by a German sniper. Your job is to eliminate the sniper. Fine. But why is my character armed with a paltry 8 rounds of ammo? I mean, seriously, check your pockets before you go to war. 8 rounds? It goes on and on until th Sapper and Green Beret arrive with vague instructions to protect a visiting Allied general. At some arbitrary point, the general makes a run for a German plane parked on the opposite side of the map and you are told to follow. Once you take out half a German company, you find yourself on the plane suddenly surrounded by hundreds of Nazis. Then, the next mission commences. What happened? Apparently, you were betrayed by the Allied general. What? Why come all the way to Soviet Russia, go through the ruse of planning with. . . forget it. It's a crap game which is so frustrating as to make cryptic sudoko a snack in comparison. One final gripe - the Spy, being a spy, is supposed to be able to disguise himself in the uniforms of enemy officers. Well, I'm here to tell you that he can't. He's the single WORST spy ever produced by any nation in any age of human development. I would have a better chance of passing unnoticed as a giraffe as the Spy would have of performing his 'special ability'. No, he's an expert at getting noticed. Not such a hot quality for a master of espionage.
Seriously, the time you've spent reading this review - if you have, thanks - is all the time you should give this game.
