Commandos is a Stealth-based strategy game franchise set in World War II, created by Spanish game developer Pyro Studios. In each game of the series, the player commands an elite squad composed of 6 to 8 Allied soldiers/spies and tries to succeed in Rule Of Cool missions - ideally without getting caught by Nazis.The games in the series so far :
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (1998)
Commandos: Beyond The Call Of Duty (1999 - a Standalone Expansion Pack for the original)
The characters' names are mentioned ingame in Destination Berlin. Prior to that, they are only mentioned by job title (Natasha excluded) or nicknames.
America Wins The War: Averted mostly. The Green Beret is Irish, the Sniper and Sapper are both English, the Marine is Australian, Natasha is Russian and the Spy and Thief are French. Only the Driver is American and he is removed from the third game. Strike Force's Green Beret, however...
Badass Normal: The Allied soldiers that turn up from Men Of Courage onwards. They can shoot from longer distances than the commandos and can take cover behind their backpacks.
Bear Trap: One of the weapons used by the Sapper in Behind Enemy Lines and Beyond the Call of Duty. They're used by the Driver in Men of Courage.
Covers Always Lie: Commandos 3 cover features the Green Beret armed with a Thompson submachinegun, which is a weapon which doesn't appear at all in the game.
The backcover of Commandos 2 shows pictures of missions in which some important elements have changed when the games has been released (day missions shown as night missions, a commando member appears in a mission he/she isn't supposed to be according to the released product, a tank appears at Colditz, etc).
Crew Of One: Averted in Men of Courage. The Driver can drive tanks, but the Sapper must be on-board to fire the cannon.
Crippling Overspecialization: Particularly in the first game, the Commandos have very little abilities beyond their own field of excellence. later installments remedy this somewhat by making most Commandos able to knock out enemies and use weapons beyond their puny pistols.
Did Not Do the Research: See the entry on the Video Game Geography page for details. In all fairness, the manual suggests that they did Shown Their Work, but took artistic license where they felt it necessary for convenience or interest.
Dressing as the Enemy: Aside from the Spy (and Natasha in Men of courage), the rest of the commandos can do this in later games, only it's not as effective.
Elite Mooks: The Nazi machine gunners in the first games and the paratroopers in Destination Berlin.
Also, those Gestapo officers that can see immediately through the Spy and Natasha's disguise in Beyond the Call of Duty.
In Men of Courage, SS officers can do the same at any range as well as Wehrmacht officers at close range.
The paratroopers are able to unmask the Spy in Destination Berlin.
Fog of War: Notably averted; the Commandos can see what's happening all over the outdoor map, although this typically shouldn't be possible.
Freak Out: Very rarely and mostly in the earlier maps, if you kill 2-3 members of a patrol the remaining one will run awkwardly to the end of the map and never be seen again.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: In one level of Destination Berlin, the Green Beret, the Sniper and the Sapper have been captured and taken to Berlin. The level begins with the Green Beret locked in a cell with a guard, who turns his back on a huge, muscular, unrestrained and incredibly angry Irishman with a penchant for beating the crap out of everyone who pisses him off.
Heal Thyself: The medkits in every game. One of your commandos (primarily the Driver, but the Sniper of Spy if he's not present) is issued with a medical kit with limited uses in Behind Enemy Lines and Beyond The Call Of Duty. Med kits are more abudant in later games, but they are automatically used in Destination Berlin. Army rations are also available in Men Of Courage.
Instant Death Bullet: The rifle and sniper rifle both kill with one shot. Averted with the pistol, which takes three shots to kill someone, and the assault rifle from Destination Berlin, which takes two.
Ironic Nickname: Most of the characters have fairly descriptive nicknames: the explosive specialist is Inferno, the uncanny master of disguises is Spooky, the guy who swam across the English channel is Fins... and then, there's Tiny, who is simply huge. Averted in Destination Berlin where his nickname is Butcher.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: The Nazis try this on your men when they've been captured in Men Of Courage. They're not exactly successful.
Made of Explodium: In Behind the Enemy Lines and Beyond the Call of Duty every building and vehicle can be taken out with a single grenade or an oil barrel. Hell, even a few pistol shots can destroy cars and trucks.
The Mentor: Although the Lt. Dudley Clark is only mentioned ingame in the intro as the founder of the Commandos, Colonel Montague Smith fills The Mentor role more accurately.
The Destination Paris mod takes this Up to Eleven.
No-Gear Level: Saving Private Smith and White Death in Men Of Courage and the last level of the first campaign in Destination Berlin, which happens to be in Berlin.
Non-Action Guy: Captain Mc Rae and the German resistance members in Behind Enemy Lines, Dragisa Skopje in Beyond The Call Of Duty and Wilson and Whiskey in Men Of Courage. Justified in most cases as, apart from Wilson and Whiskey, the rest are prisoners being rescued.
Pacifist Run: Possible from Beyond The Call Of Duty onwards. In fact, Men Of Courage encourages this by giving more merit points for knocking out and tying up as many enemies as possible.
Red Shirt Army: Averted by the Allied soldiers and Ghurkas in Men Of Courage and Destination Berlin. They're pretty useful in a straight fight and in setting up ambushes.
Remixed Level: In the first game, there is a level that takes place during Operation Market Garden. The first time, the protagonists must prevent the Germans from destroying the bridge. The next time, they must destroy the very same bridge. The historical irony is justified by the fact that Operation Market Garden didn't really go that well for the Allies and they had to destroy captured bridges to prevent the Germans from taking advantage of them.
Scenery Porn: The levels set in Europe have a certain drab, grey appeal, but then you see the sunny shores of Savo Island, with its crystal blue waters and lush tropical jungle, and you wonder why the series had to return to Europe at all...
Selective Historical Armoury: The American soldiers use British weapons, at least the Japanese do use correct weapons.
Actually, that's only the rifles. They also use Colt 1911s (As do the Commandos, oddly). However, it's not stated explicitly that they are American soldiers.
More egregrious is the complete lack of any SMG apart from the MP 40 (and the Grease Gun in the original) - the Commandos were famed for using Thompsons, to the extent it featured on their insignia.
Short Range Long Range Weapon: While the pistol and submachine guns actually have a fairly realistic maximum range, the rifle and sniper rifle's maximum range have been somewhat nerfed for balance reasons. For some reason, regular allied soldiers can shoot further with the rifle than the commandos can.
Shout Out: Lots, especially to movies — note in particular "Bridge Over the River Kwai" from Commandos 2, involving the demolition of a (different) bridge over said river, and the rescue of "Colonel Guiness" (Alec Guiness played Colonel Nicholson in the movie).
Simultaneous Warning and Action: On spotting a Commando, the enemies will tell them to halt. Stopping may buy the player a few seconds, just enough to resolve the situation by killing the guards with other Commandos. If left on their own devices, the enemies will just open fire on the caught Commando. This is actually justified - the German soldiers had orders to kill any caught commandos immediately, even if they tried to surrender.
Snow Means Death: In the White Death mission in Men Of Courage, leaving your men outdoors for too long without arctic clothing for too long will result in death by exposure. Justified in that it's set somewhere in the Arctic circle.
Sprite Polygon Mix: Commandos 2 and 3 have 3D indoor areas with a fully rotatable view; the large outdoor maps, however, appear in 2D isometric view (or, more precisely, four isometric views each; the player can switch between the four cardinal directions for different views).
Tap on the Head: The punch (or kick in the Thief's case) knocks out any enemy in one blow. Though when it's first introduced as an ability for the Green Beret in Beyond The Call Of Duty, it will only work from behind on an enemy that hasn't already spotted you.
The German patrols will happily keep following the exact same route, even if one of them dies every time at the exact same spot.
Enemies are extremely careless when they see a corpse - they just blindly rush towards it, being extremely easy to ambush in the process. It is extremely easy to set up Schmuck Baits.
Took a Level in Badass: Natasha has become an accomplished sniper between Beyond the Call of Duty and Men of courage. Applies to the others as well - almost everyone in the team has learned some barehanded combat, driving cars, swimming and using clever distractions, not to mention serious rifle skills.
Unusable Enemy Equipment: Played straight in Behind Enemy Lines and Beyond The Call Of Duty, averted in Men Of Courage onwards where the commandos can strip disabled/killed enemy soldiers of their weapons, and even steal their uniforms for temporary disguises (or permanent disguises, in the case of the Spy).
Video Game Cruelty Potential: There is a quite long video on YouTube about how to feed Japanese prisoners to the crocodiles. And that's only one of many possibilities.
You Shall Not Pass: A few missions from Men Of Courage and Destination Berlin involve defending your position from hordes and hordes of incoming enemies.
Zerg Rush: One of the bonus missions in Men Of Courage involves hordes of German soldiers swarming onto your position. For many, it's That One Level.
0 reviews 