One of the most immersive tactics games ever
I'm definitely biased when looking back at this one, so take my adulation lightly, hehe! Well, the thing is I used to play this game incessantly, over and over again, until I literally would end up falling asleep on my keyboard! Why? Well because the game was the best tactical/puzzly/strategy contraption I've ever encountered up to that point. In it, you controlled a fully fledged commando squad or only a few of the members of the commando, depending on the mission itself. You had a sapper (a guy who could defuse landmines), a strong guy/close quarters fighting specialist (with a very high health bar and who could run even if he carried huge loads), a guy that could scubadive, a small and lean guy who could sneak easier or hide in confined spaces, a dog (which was transported in a backpack and when released would head towards the area where he heard a whistle, and a beautiful but deadly spy lady, who could lure higher ranking officers away. At any rate, you saw the action from above ground, isometrically, but you had access to four different viewpoints, so that at any time you could better see the line of enemy fire or something else of that nature. Bu the actually interesting thing was that you needed to combine the work of these members of your team, so that you could gain the upper hand over your enemies. Being stealthy was also a tricky thing to do. You had to coordinate your movements with those of your enemies, so that you wouldn't enter in their field of view. Also, you had to choose whether you would run or slowly walk, because the footsteps you took would resonate and create an area around you, which, if it overlapped with an enemy, this would immediately become alert. Yap, it could be a little hard and tedious to keep track of all these options, all the time. But it was worth it. It was worth it because when you finally managed to finish a mission you were ecstatic, as the game really put you to your paces, both as a tactician, as a guy constantly on the lookout for enemies and for possible spots to hide or to climb, or to burry yourself into and so on. Not only that, but the game allowed you the freedom to explore and to finish each level in multiple ways. You could, if you played it right just go about and finish the game with a single one of your characters, you could kill all of the enemies, or you could finish, at least part of the missions, without a single kills. A truly amazing game, but as amazing as it was, the first Commandos was even better; more immersive, maybe with less accent on the style of the graphics but much more polished. Yeah, truth be told, Commandos 2: Men of Courage was rushed, a bit, as I said it still did pack such a big load of missions and the same varied gameplay. If you skip this one I get it, but if you love tactical games in real time, from a close to ground perspective, the first game just cannot be missed. Heck, play them both; they're without a doubt the most fun tactical/puzzly/action hybrids I've ever played!
