Gameplay 

Both Commandos 2 and 3 are real time squad based strategy games based on one of my favorite 

war genre for games; World 

War II. In both games, you get 

a top down perspective of your 

current location to fulfill  the 

objectives. Objectives can 

include, but are not limited to, 

rescuing Allied POWs, 

assassination, and item 

retrieval.  There are primary 

objectives and secondary 

objectives in the game.  

The missions themselves are 

huge, taking hours to finish 

and believe me, they are not 

easy. Unfortunately these 

missions caused me hours of frustration but not because the game is bad, but because it was 

really hard, at least for me. So it might be a good idea to do a little planning before you start your 

mission. Your team has a vast array of special abilities to help you get you through your 

missions. One of the key elements to a successful mission is stealth, making sure the enemy does 

not know you are there. That means taking precaution and good old fashioned sneakiness, 

otherwise you may have a swarm of guards coming to greet you. Using the combined abilities of 

snipers, spies and so on using teamwork, you will eventually be able to succeed in your missions. 

Actually, what is even harder than the missions is remembering the keys on the keyboard and 

what they correspond to. 

As far as the multiplayer aspect of the game, I did setup a GameRanger 

(

http://www.gameranger.com

) account as required for Commandos 3, but unfortunately could 

not find other Commandos players online, possibly due to early release? 

Graphics 

The background graphics for both games are pretty good. They are detailed and do a good job of 

replicating a WWII look with burnt out buildings and cool lighting effects for night missions.  

Commandos 3 does have enhanced graphics over Commandos 2, adding some 3D interiors to the 

game. While this is nice, I wonder why they did not do 3D on the landscape as well? The soldier 

animations are great looking. They are small, but detailed and fun to watch.  They really did a 

nice job on them. It's easy to see the actions they are performing. 

Sound & Music 

Commandos 2 & 3's score sets the mood very nicely, keeping to a WWII theme. The sound 

effects unfortunately are very bland and weak sounding. They could have done better job on the 

effects. They are kind of disappointing. 

  MPN, LLC 2005 macCompanion 

Page 62 

August 2005, Volume 3 Issue 8