Commandos:
Beyond The Call Of Duty

"Complexity Your Style, Then This Is Your Game!"

     

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Commandos: Beyond The Call Of Duty, from Eidos Interactive and Pyro Studios, is a real-time strategy game inspired by World War II events. It is a follow-up to Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines. Recommended for fans of WWII movies like "The Great Escape" and "The Dirty Dozen." (See our review of Commandos: Beyond The Call Of Duty.) This stand-alone expansion (you don't need the original game) has eight new missions using the same six original Commandos in addition to a few new characters such as a Dutch seductress, Natasha "Lips" Van Der Zand. Commandos: Beyond The Call Of Duty puts the player in charge of six individual special forces operatives, each with his own specialties and weapons. Lead the team into harms way in "Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty." You are in command of Tiny, Spooky, Duke, Fins, Tread, and Inferno as they sneak into Eastern Europe and Greece to finish the job they started in Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines. Armed with new weapons and devious decoys, the Commandos vow to fight until victory. However, the Germans have other plans for the boys. They have doubled their vigilance and strengthened their bases with Panzer and Luftwaffe reinforcements. Can you go behind the call of duty to finally win the war in Europe. Price: $29.99. The graphics on the Eidos Web site are as creative as the graphics in their games. They have contests, demos, clubs, forums, links, and news. http://www.eidosinteractive.com
     
   
     
As Commandos is a challenging game to play, with an extremely intelligent and always alert enemy, I would suggest it for intermediate or advanced game users. The different missions take patience, puzzle solving skills, and thought to out-maneuver the AI or Artificial Intelligence. Blazing guns will get you nowhere with this game. The new additions in this expansion set, along with multiple objectives for each mission, increase the number of strategic options and increase the difficulty level. Each mission can take several hours to complete.
     
     
  • New Features--8 new multiple objective missions with new goals, including kidnapping a German officer, destroying a big train-mounted gun, sabotaging prototype aircraft;
  • New Scenarios--the Channel Islands, Rastenburg, Bonn, Belgrade, Holland, and Crete;
  • New Characters--Dutch seductress, Natasha "Lips" Van Der Zand; and an officer of the Yugoslavian partisans, Dragisa Skopje.
  • New Enemy Units--Panzer and Luftwaffe guards and vehicles;
  • New Buildings--double sized maps with multiple objectives;
  • New Skills--use a cigarette pack to distract the enemy; use a stone to distract the enemy; arrest a German soldier and force him to take certain actions;
  • New Weapons--Enfield Rifle, handcuffs and a blackjack;
  • New Playing Levels--two difficulty levels: Easy level for rookies (lower number of guards and less-aggressive positioning) and the Difficult level for veterans.
     
   
     

Background–It is the late 1940s, and the Axis forces control all of Western Europe. The German army is gathering strength for an imminent invasion of Great Britain. A British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clark, has created a special unit with a handful of exceptional men who are skilled at handling any type of weapon and excel in all forms of combat. These Commandos work in small units, carrying out stealthy raids.

Commandos--You are in charge of a unit of six Commandos. You must go behind enemy lines and destroy their forces. And, you can't lose any of your men. They are indispensable, as each Commando has unique combat abilities that others cannot match. You need to eliminate every enemy who stands in your way without any of the other enemies noticing. And they see footprints, dead bodies, and hear everything unless you are silent. You have to coordinate your troops. For instance, the marine is an adept killer, but he needs the Green Beret's brawn to dispose of bodies. The Commandos have the same skills as in the previous game, plus some new abilities. In addition to these specific skills, all the Commandos now have some similar abilities: can use a cigarette pack to lure enemies into deadly traps; and throw a stone to distract or annoy an enemy. The men are:

  • Green Beret "Tiny" (there were no Green Berets in WWII, though)–the brute force of the operation. (New Skills: can knock enemies unconscious and handcuff them.)
  • Marine "Fins"–the Australian alcoholic and silent killer who can control water vehicles and sneak under water.
  • Driver "Tread"–the man who controls land vehicles. (New Skills: can use a long range rifle with unlimited ammo; and can hit an enemy soldier with a blackjack.)
  • Spy "Spooky"–a French nationalist that can imposter Germans. He can also distract and poison the enemy. (New Skills: can handcuff enemies; can steal an enemy uniform; and render an enemy unconscious with chloroform.)
  • Sniper "Duke"–English Royalty and a long range lone gunman.
  • Sapper "Inferno"–the fiery destruction person who places and detonates explosives.

Missions--You must take your troops successfully through a series of missions that are inspired by the various fronts where the allied commandos participated during the Second World War. Each of the eight missions is unique, and they have different objectives, landscapes, problems, and various possible approaches depending on your tactical skill and your skill in handling weapons. All missions have multiple objectives, with one main objective such as blowing up an enemy installation; rescuing a prisoner; or taking out an enemy general. If you do not succeed in this one main objective, you will not have successfully completed the mission and will not be allowed to continue to the next assignment. The eight missions take place in Eastern Europe and Greece at the following locations:

  1. Island--destroy radar antenna and A/A gun;
  2. Gardens--kidnap a German general;
  3. Train Station--destroy a Big Gun and two armored coaches;
  4. Airport--destroy prototypes and steal an airplane;
  5. Zoo--meet up with a deserter;
  6. P.O.W. Camp--flee from the camp;
  7. Dutch Canals--assassinate a high-ranking officer;
  8. Greek Ruins--recover a German prototype bomb.

At the start of each mission, you will be given a briefing. These brief instructions outline the context of the mission and your team's objectives. You will receive such information as:

  • The strategic circumstances in which the mission takes place.
  • The main objective of the mission.
  • A brief mission run through of the scenario of the mission, in which you will be given the position of the objectives, the location of the points of interest or danger, and brief tactical advice.

To be able to commence a mission, it is absolutely necessary that you have successfully completed the main objective of the previous mission. Each time you finish a mission successfully, the game will assign points depending on the degree of completion, and will give you access to the following mission. The points will depend mainly on the amount of time you have needed to complete the mission and the wounds you have suffered. The number of enemy casualties that you cause is totally irrelevant to the number of points you receive, although you will be informed of this figure at the end of the mission. As you complete missions, the points received will keep adding up. Depending on the accumulated points, you may be promoted. You begin the game with the rank of Sergeant and can reach the rank of Field Marshal which means that your acts have been absolutely brilliant.

Manual and cards–There is a manual that contains quite a bit of information. There is a plastic card with Camera View, Camera Selection, Action Keys, and Combat Hot Keys.

Tutorials–There are two kinds of tutorials:

  1. Seven Theory Sessions: These are short video lessons in which you get an explanation of the game controls. There is one Theory Session that shows the general concepts of the game and and six other shorter sessions that show you the capabilities of each of your Commandos.
  2. One Training Mission: This is a small mission that works as in the real game, except that it takes place in a training camp. Furthermore, your soldier can suffer unlimited damage. With this training mission, you can become familiar with the specific actions of each of your soldiers.

Features & Interface–The interface is intelligent and doesn't get in the way of the game, and is virtually the same as the original game, except for the hot key layout which has been redesigned.

Graphics–The graphics are even sharper and more detailed than in the previous game. Enemy soldiers now stand out better from the background. You have waves crashing into the shore and birds flying overhead. The buildings, structures, vehicles and characters are intricately detailed and well animated.

Sound–The sound effects are authentic. Each of the Commandos has a unique voice and accent representative of his place of origin. Environmental sounds aid to the realistic atmosphere. New to this expansion is a full orchestrative score that is professionally done.

Personal Comments–This is a wonderful game if you like great style; authentic settings; realistic graphics; and difficulty. The setting and detail in the Commando games make them original. They require precision timing and moving of your men. The original game Commands: Behind Enemy Lines was difficult but this one is even more challenging. If you like to think as you play, check this one out!

Wish List
–Players being able to choose the Commandos for individual missions;
a multiple command feature.

 
 
 
     
Operating System: Windows 95/98
Processor: Pentium 166 MHz minimum ( 233MHz recommended)
Memory: 32MB RAM minimum(64MB recommended)
CD-ROM: 4X minimum (8X recommended)
1MB SVGA graphics card minimum (2MB recommended)
Soundcard: 100% DirectX 6.1 compliant Sound Card
DirectX 6.1
Hard Disk Space: 225MB
Multiplayer Requirements (2-6 players): Pentium 200 MHz; TCP/IP local area network; 33.6 Kbs or faster Internet connection.
     

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