Reviews / previews
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines had a peculiar
combination of open structure--you could try its
missions every way from Sunday--and formidable
obstacles that made it irresistible. Each scenario felt
overwhelming, and each victory was glorious.
The follow-up, Commandos: Beyond the Call of
Duty--a standalone product with eight new
missions--recaptures that feeling perfectly. Indeed, it
captures it even
better than the first
game. While
Beyond still
operates under
certain constraints
of the original's
design, developer
Pyro Studios has
beefed up elements
to lend a sense of
greater flexibility.
As in the original game, Beyond finds you dispatching
a selection of six World War II commandos (along
with two new allies) on perilous missions within
German installations rendered (beautifully) in stark,
contrasting colors. The accent is still on
stealth--staying outside the green cones that
represent sentries' fields of vision--and teamwork.
Each trooper shares
general skills with
his mates--everyone
can use a pistol, for
instance--but certain abilities continue to be
cast in absolute terms. (If you need to cross
a body of water, and the fellow with the
inflatable boat skill happens to stand up
while a German sentry is looking in his
direction, the mission is probably over.
Apparently, no one else in the team ever
rowed a boat.)
At the same time, the designers have
expanded the range of available activities so the original game's limitations
seem less onerous. The main change, and one from which others flow, is that
you don't have to kill or evade everyone you encounter. Three commandos
have the ability to render German guards temporarily unconscious with their
fists, a blackjack, or chloroform, and two to handcuff guards once knocked
out. And once an enemy soldier is down, all
the commandos can force him to perform a
wide range of tasksand one can steal his
uniform. The happy result is that Beyond the
Call feels less hemmed in.
In addition, you can now lure sentries out of
position with dropped cigarette packs and
thrown stones. And you'll have to deal with
members of the Gestapo, who can penetrate
your spy's disguise (and also recognize one
of your allies). (Pyro has also added "easy"
and "hard" difficulty levels, though "easy"
still seems every bit as challenging as the original game.)
Now, the enemy AI could still use some
fine-tuning. A patrolling squad allowed its
members to be picked off one by one by my
sniper without taking cover. On the friendly
side, I'd like to see the ability to give your
commandos a measure of autonomy in
self-preservation situations. Then when an
unexpected sentry stumbles onto one of my
men while I'm busy on the other side of the
map, he at least has the wherewithal to
return fire or just run. (In the current game,
he's pretty much dead meat.)
But I'm as happy as someone who's addicted to a game and not very good at
it can be. While not officially the sequel, Beyond the Call of Duty has a lot of
the things I'd like to see in one. Well done, men. Medals all around.-- Peter Olafson / GamePro
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