Commandos 2 review

Recently, the creators of the tactical Commandos series released a remaster of the second part. The game received improved graphics and many negative reviews from fans of the original. We tell why this tactic in real time needs a complete remake, and not extra polygons.

Classic Tactics

The original Commandos 2 was released in 2001 and received high marks, and also confirmed the status of one of the best tactics (the first part of the series was also widely praised). It was easy to lose track of time in it – so many options for passing offered the game.

In Commandos, the user controls a squad of fighters who are tasked with completing a series of missions during World War II. This is not the Company of Heroes, where you need to beat the enemy and occupy heights with battle – tactics and patience are important here. You can go through the game in the style of “Rambo”, but Commandos 2 is revealed in all its glory if the user chooses the path of strategic thinking.

Even after 19 years, the game surprises with a variety of mechanics and tactical capabilities at each level. Initially, the commando squad includes eight fighters, each of which has different skills. For example, only a sapper can detect mines, and only a spy in the form of an enemy officer can make a German soldier turn away.

In each mission, the player controls certain heroes, but the variability of the gameplay does not suffer from this. Almost all levels are real operations, the passage of which takes several hours. Add to this a variety of mechanics to distract the enemy, traps, a dog named Whiskey and transport – you don’t get bored.

Military affairs of the past

Commandos 2 was and remains a very good game, especially for fans of long thoughtful sessions. However, like many old releases, it has its own problems, which are not limited to outdated graphics and which could be worked on in a remaster.

What exactly did not pay attention in 2001 was the friendly interface and ease of management. Now in Commandos 2 it’s just painful to play in places, especially if you stop in the middle of the mission and return to it after a day. You have to constantly look for the necessary hot keys that each hero is responsible for different actions. Of course, this is not the original DotA with a unique layout for each hero, but here it is difficult after modern templates.

Most of all, the game lacks an advanced interface and an intuitive inventory. You have to search for the desired item in the drop-down menus of the tiny quick access panel or in the backpack, which opens in a separate window. In this case, it may turn out that the selected character is not able to use a certain thing. Of course, after an hour in the mission, you start to do all this without looking, effortlessly, but before that you feel like you missed all the training, although you read all the certificates from beginning to end.

For comparison, I launched Shadow Tactics, where the interface is as simple as possible, and all the basic mechanics explain immediately on specific gameplay situations. In Commandos 2, you have to learn everything on the go again and again, until you know the game by heart. In 2001, it was interesting and funny, but now such a system only interferes with enjoying the gameplay.

Remaster from the apprentice

The only thing that Commandos 2 HD Remaster can be praised for is the ability to play the original version without any problems with running on Windows 10. Otherwise, the developers are obviously cheating: they don’t smell good graphics and polished gameplay here.