Review by: Pete Hines
Published: August 23, 1998

I feel like I’ve been playing Commandos forever. I played the demo, a six-mission beta, the non-US version (v1.0), and now the US version (v1.1). You know what? I’m not tired of playing it yet, and not because I haven’t finished the game…because I have. I’ve completed the campaign and played most of the missions more than once in both single and multiplayer mode. I like the game because it’s unique and creative. In Commandos you lead a band of six commandos through 20 missions in a campaign that spans many critical locations of WWII. Every mission features a different mix of these commandos, each of whom has different abilities and skills crucial to the completion of each mission.

The Green Beret is pretty much a killing machine, and his ability to use his knife with deadly force and carry bodies makes him a veritable one-man wrecking crew. Indeed you’ll find that he’s included in almost every mission and is crucial to the completion of each for this reason. He can climb walls and rocks, use his shovel to dig in the snow and dirt to hide, and has a decoy that can be deployed and then turned on and off to get enemy soldiers to look that direction or come over and investigate. The Spy is the only other commando who can move bodies, but his real strength lies in his ability to wear an enemy uniform (when he can find one) and move about undetected, just as long as he isn’t spotted trying to off somebody. He can also distract enemy guards when he’s in his uniform, which often allows your other commandos to access areas or kill guards without being spotted. He carries a syringe full of deadly sodium cyanide for taking out the enemy quietly and also has a first-aid kit.

The Marine is important anywhere you have water to traverse, because he comes equipped with scuba gear that allows him to travel underwater without being detected. He is also able to take other commandos around in the inflatable raft if he starts with one or finds it during the course of the mission. He also carries a knife as well as a harpoon gun, which is helpful for making silent kills. The Sapper is an engineer who is proficient in blowing things up. He often uses explosives, time bombs or even grenades to take out key structures. He has the use of a trap that will kill any enemy soldier who steps in it and, on certain missions, may also carry wire cutters to get through fences.

The Driver is important because he can drive trucks and tanks if he can find one that is unoccupied. In several missions this is the key to escaping after you’ve blown up a structure, or is great for just blasting your way through the enemy (which happens to be Avault editor in chief Emil Pagliarulo’s favorite way of finishing any mission). On some missions the Driver is also capable of using large artillery guns if they are unmanned. He also carries a serious submachine gun that takes out a number of targets in a hurry. The last, but certainly not least, commando is the Sniper. His most important asset is the ability to take out targets from a distance quickly and silently. He carries a limited number of bullets for his precision rifle, so you can’t just finish a mission without ever moving. At the same time, he is key in taking out targets on walls and rooftops who are either too tough to kill where they are or simply inaccessible. Both the Sniper and the Driver can carry a first-aid kit.

All of your commandos will carry a standard issue pistol. There are really only four commands that can be issued to your commandos when you have more than one selected: stand, lie down, move, and fire pistol. Otherwise you’ll need to issue them commands individually if you want someone to use a knife, pick something up, or other such actions. The two positions (standing and prone) are very important to the game; this is because each of the enemy soldiers or guards in the game have what is called a field of vision, which indicates how far they can see and what they see. To see a guard’s field of view, select the eye icon and select the guard (or simply hold down “Shift” and click on him). You’ll see a green cone that has two shades: the darker shade indicates the area where he can spot your commando regardless of whether he is standing or prone; and the lighter shade indicates the areas where he cannot see your commando if he is prone (it doesn’t matter if you are moving or not). Herein lies the importance of the two positions, because as this field of view moves from left to right, which simulates the guard looking around as he stands at his post or is on patrol, you can figure out where you can move undetected and how. As long as no one is looking in that area, you can walk directly behind a guard without being detected, as long as you don’t run him over and he doesn’t turn around.

In fact, this concept is pretty much the entire focus of the game. Your challenge is to use the skills of the different commandos in any given mission to get from the starting point(s) to the objective(s) and make your getaway in the shortest amount of time possible, and with as little injury as possible. One of the things that makes the game tough is that you can only see the field of view of one soldier at a time. Now, you have the ability to break up your main screen into multiple views so that you can watch several guards at the same time, but you can only see the field of view of one of those soldiers. You can have the camera in each view stay still so you can watch a particular area or move with a certain soldier within that view. You need to time your movements with the patrols and when you know guards will be looking away, so that you can take out other guards, plant an explosive, or do whatever you need to do. It requires the ability to solve puzzles, be creative, and think and act fast when need be.

The earlier missions will have guards more spread out, offer more places to hide, and it will generally be easier for you to take out the enemy soldiers you need to in order to reach your objective and complete it. However, in later missions things get much trickier. Not only are there more guards to avoid, but each guard on the map can be seen by more than one enemy soldier. It’s sort of like a game of dominos where you have to figure out which guard to take out first, so that subsequent guards can be taken out. For example, you may need to use your Sniper to take out a guard on the roof of a building whose field of view reaches both a guard at his post and another one patrolling around. Once that guard is gone, you can take out the soldier standing still while the one on patrol moves away, and then hide the body and wait for the other guard to return so you can sneak up on him and kill him.