Commandos 2: Men of Courage (ROTW #1)

[Exentenzed]

Prolouge:

Commandos 2 ( PC 2001, PS2 2002 ) was the second game of Pyro Studios, and the true sequel to Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines ( 1998 ) and it's expansion pack "Beyond the Call of Duty".

Commandos 2 was well received with a score of 87 out of 100 at Metacritic. The game was praised for the AI, which was advanced at the time but criticized for the steep learning curve. The PS version was ruined due to less intuitive controls and harder to use, so most reviewers recommended the PC version instead.

Part 1.

Commandos 2 is a Real-time Tactics game the puts the player in command of a squad of commandos and various allies as they sneak, ambush and sabotage behind enemy lines. The game is viewed like from the top down with a 4 step rotational camera, since the game was the first in the series to feature a 3D engine, the players also appriciated the wonderful map designs that the game featured.

3741x2842 Picture of one entire map. (URL was more convenient).
http://commandoshq.net/Images/Screen...mandos2_14.jpg

Second training mission, a commando throws a pack of cigarette's on the ground to lure a soldier into an ambush.


Commandos 2 does use historical events from the second world war as the basis of their missions although not quite accuratly for the sake of gameplay. I personally love the variations of the missions, as you are deployed in both Europe, Asia and the Pacific and even one in the Artic.

The soundtracks in the game are satisfying to listen to and extremely fitting to boot, it's produced and composed by Mateo Pascual.
I have fond memories of all the soundtracks and even after so many years i still enjoy them dearly, as do many of the games fan's.

Here is a sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0Ko...eature=related

Go on, search for Commandos 2 Soundtracks on Youtube
You will see nothing but positive comments comments saying how much they miss this game and it's music.

Part 2.

On every mission you get a select few commandos in which to achive certain objectives, every commando has a specific skillset which you need to learn to utilize to the fullest to be able to complete the different missions. To take out a patrol of 3 or more people without a gunfight, (which is VERY important, especially on harder difficulties) you need to be able to separate one of them from the group without getting any of your commandos in their line of sight, and at the same time get him far enough away so that his fellow soldiers can't hear you stab/punch him.

On every mission you do, situations may change drasticly by just one mistake. Say you have knocked out many soldiers and hidden them somewhere "safe", then you get spotted and have to run and hide (not always, your commandos ain't puny). Well, the soldiers will be alert and search for you, and if they find all those guys you took out, they will release them and after they have given up the search they will go back to their posts. This might cut you off from your planned escape route or be in the way when you get a objective update.

Which brings to mind the complexity of the missions, while beeing seemingly simple it takes alot of time to plan and execute said plans, and with new objectives coming in on every mission you can easily spend a couple of hours on every level.

Sometimes thing can go horribly wrong however, you might have sent a commando in to do a specific task, he gets discovered and taken out, you then have 2 options, mount a rescue op, or reload your lastest savegame. (Keep in mind that the game keeps track of how many times you load a save in each mission and this affects your rank, and on harder difficulties taken out means dead and game over).

Also, the game ranks you on a list with 1-5 stars on how you complete your missions

The list is as follows:
1.Mission Time: How long it took you to complete the mission.
2.Secondary Objectives: How many of the secondary objectives you completed
3.Soldiers taken out w/o shooting: Self explanatory.
4.Soldiers taken out w/o killing: Also self explanatory.
5.How many times you where injured: Either due to falling, friendly fire, or enemy soldiers.
6.How many times you where detected: Making the alarms go off.

Total score is then the average of all rankings and you get promoted if you do well, and by the end of the game you can see how well you did by looking at you're final rank.

The ranking is the following:
1. Lance-Corporal (Start, All Games)
2. Corporal
3. Sergeant
4. Quartermaster
5. Lieutenant
6. Captain
7. Major
8. Colonel
9. Brigadier
10. General
11. Field-Marshal

The mission in Artica, the destroyer on the left is fully enterable with what atleast seems to be a realistic interior of a german destroyer.


It should also be mentioned that every building/door/vehicle can be entered, nothing is JUST for show in this game, if its there, you can use it tactically.
One of your commandos is the thief, he's so small and agile that he can even jump in windows and climb walls, amongst other things.

What also is astonishing with this game is that there are so very few bugs, some exploits sure enough, but almost no bugs that ruins the game for you.

Conclusion

Commandos 2 is an excellent game even for today's standards, it's resolution is unfortunately maxed at 1024x768, yet it's no problem running it on widescreen.
I played it recently on a 42" Full HD tv and it looked good.

The graphics might be outdated but it, also isn't bad considering it's 10 years old(!!!)

The only thing negative about this game is strangely enough because of modern games, they all tend to be too easy, which this game isn't. It's hard, and that's what makes it so extremely rewarding completing a mission, because regardless of the score, you know you did good. But as i said, the negative thing is that we are all so used to not having to save all the time because games today is too easy, and if you don't save your game often you can suddenly find yourself loosing an hour of progression because you got too confident.

At any rate it's still worth picking up a copy of this game if you don't own it allready, it belongs in a PC gamers game library. That is, if you like in the genre.

9.5/10

A bit of gameplay, It's the second training mission so i don't spoil any of the plot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VxVZtYpHJ4

[paecmaker]

Great review, I love commandos and still play the third game.

[egg-whites333]

great review you are just on the border line of classic but still classic i will add it now.

[Exentenzed]

Thanks Paec, Yea i only play the second one, i don't like any other than the 1st and 2nd ones. :P

Yea i was a bit in doubt egw333, but i checked it and it should count as a classic.

[paecmaker]

Thanks Paec, Yea i only play the second one, i don't like any other than the 1st and 2nd ones. :P

Yea i was a bit in doubt egw333, but i checked it and it should count as a classic.

I wasnt exactly sure my would also class as a classic, first I thought of doing halo ce but that wasnt old enough

[NumberedEyes]

great review you are just on the border line of classic but still classic i will add it now.

gameboy advance and back i believe you said,
Gba was released 2001, commandos 2 was released 2001 its spot on.

also really great review this is a game i had all but forgotten your review really makes me want to try and pick this up does she still run ok on modern operating systems?

again great review

[LiNuX]

Nice review. I remember this game, I think I had it on my old desktop (or at least the first one).

And I thought this was a strategy game?

[egg-whites333]

i said game boy color not advance and i said before but i will accept it because its kinda classic.

[Exentenzed]

It's more tactical than strategy, the best way to remember the difference is: Tactics wins the battle, Strategy wins the war.

Also, i think i was one of the last to buy it from steam before they removed it or something. :/ But you can probably ask steam to put it back up, i run it on 64bit Windows 7 flawlessly via steam, Bought it for 5€, since i have misplaced my CD. Well worth it.

Also has a cool multiplayer if anyone would be interested.

Oh, thanks Egw, appriciate it.

[NumberedEyes]

i said game boy color not advance and i said before but i will accept it because its kinda classic.

well there goes my memory >.> sorry EGW i ment no dissrespect
stay classy sunshine ^.^


i think ill try to get the ps2 version to avoid compatability issues on the pc, hopfully i can get around the controlls