Dom Robinson reviews
Commando: Behind Enemy Lines
for PC CD-ROM
Distributed by
Eidos
- Price: £14.99
- Players : 1-online
System Requirements :
- Windows 95/98
- Pentium PC 100 Mhz
- 16Mb RAM
- 4-speed CD-ROM Drive
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
is one for all the fans of Command and Conquer.
It's late 1940 - dictators are about to be toppled, Ryan's privates are soon to
be saved and you, as Lt. Col. Dudley Clark, get to control a squad of troopers
made up of green berets, snipers, marines and more dropped behind enemy lines
playing in 26 separate, hazardous missions, with the aim of defeating the bad
guys and coming home alive.
Walk or crawl about, keep out of the enemies' view otherwise you're likely
to be shot on sight, then fight back with knives, guns and explosive
charges that come with remote detonators.
The AI system allows control of over 40 different enemy vehicles and troops
and the baddies will react depending on what the see, hear and even feel.
Internet gaming is also an option with multi-player action via a modem or
Local Area Network.
As you'd expect from the name of the game I compared this with, you view
the area from an isometric 3D point of view. The ground and surroundings
are well-detailed and you can zoom in or out of the playing field, but
everything does look rather on the small side as a result.
The game has some background music which tries to create some atmosphere
but is fairly generic stuff. Add to this spot-effects of gunfire and
crawling about, plus a rotation of sayings as you point where you man
should go and he replies with a succession of "Okey dokey", "Coming..." and
"Just leave it to me", plus a hail of shouting from the enemy when they
spot you and it's nothing to tax your soundcard.
The gameplay has a serious problem though. While it's easy to point-and-click to
move your man and select a weapon, your squad are not made of bullet-proof
material and in the time it takes to click on the various icons to move a
man and select a weapon, then point and shoot... you're dead! Oh dear.
Overall, this kind of game has been done several times, but here there's an
army bent to it. If you're screaming for more then it's worth a look, especially
at a budget price, but it's not one for the casual gamer as it ends up way
too frustrating.
Command and Conquer. You may be far from perfect, but your crown is safe.
Overall: 2/5
This review was on Freeloader.com before it closed.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
