954th played so far
Genre: Strategy
Platform: PC
Year of Release: 2001
Developer: Pyro Studios
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’ve covered all the games for this blog that I’ve played in the past. That does, however, leave a game like today’s Commandos 2, where I played the original game but not the sequel. I have some idea of what to expect. I’m not sure how much translates as I mostly remember the overall feel rather than gameplay and I think it was mostly from playing the demo, which obviously was just the start. It means that I feel I will finally get to see where the series goes beyond that initial work.
Our Thoughts
When working as a small group of commandos rather than a large army you can occasionally replenish, your decisions become more specific. Add to that that the numbers aren’t in your favours to treat it as a tactical game like Final Fantasy Tactics or Jeanne d’Arc. Instead, your goal is to take your enemies out by stealth if you can, doing small things one character at a time, and you take a lot of time to figure out each step and finding out the consequences of that step.
What you get instead is something closer to a stealth game, where you try to figure out these small puzzles to break down a larger area and take it on step by step. You’re quite limited in what you can do, although it seems like later levels both slowly grow your force and the options you have.
The main downfall becomes the lack of information, as it can be a bit unclear what things are and what you can do – climbing down poles occasionally felt off on UI, but there are some other issues as well.
Final Thoughts
Commandos 2: Men of Courage struggles a bit to escape its time in how it controls and informs you, but the levels present some interesting puzzles. They’re not necessarily what I look for in my strategy games, but as a stealth approach to the genre there’s a lot to like here.