“Alarm! Alarm !”
The launch of “Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun” a few years ago not only aroused the curiosity of many players about real-time tactical games, but also reminded many people of another outstanding game of this type – the “Commandos” series.
This real-time tactical game based on World War II, designed and developed by the famous Eidos in the 1990s, was sought after by countless players as soon as it was released due to its excellent quality and realistic practical experience. However, after the series was transformed into an FPS game in the middle and late stages and failed completely, the classic series “Commandos” was no longer mentioned, and the real-time tactical game genre fell into decline.
Although the “Commandos” series has no possibility of continuing to develop new works, this highly topical and unique game type in the game market is still attracting many people to try it, at least in the HD version of “Commandos”, many people are still eager to try it. As the developer of “Commandos 2”, Pyro Studios once announced at E3 2019 that it would remake this classic in HD, and now this game has arrived as promised. How about this return work personally directed by Ignacio Pérez Dolset, the founder of Pyro Studios? It is also more exciting because of the name.
I like it, but it’s still a rehash.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this century. In 2000, Pryo announced the details of “Commandos 2” at E3 of that year. Compared with the slightly immature graphics and gameplay settings of the first generation, “Commandos 2” has inherited the basic spirit of the previous work, and has extended the plot, added characters, and strengthened the game content experience as the biggest highlight of this generation of works. Therefore, it has become one of the most talked-about PC games at E3 that year.
Perhaps this is why Pryo put “Commandos 2: HD Remaster” on the shelves nearly 20 years later. Compared with the previous generation, the richer game settings and playable content make “Commandos 2” more likely to be a high-definition remake. However, perhaps because they just want to repackage a classic work so that more people have a common platform to have a centralized place to recall the memories of the past, in addition to a large number of updates to the art resources, “Commandos 2: HD Remaster” does not have more expansions on the game content, such as new campaigns, new characters or any remade content.
The “Commandos 2” released 20 years ago had a resolution of 1024*768, so from the first glance at “Commandos 2: HD Remastered”, you won’t feel that there is a particularly obvious improvement in picture quality.
However, the remastered version supports more different resolutions (up to 3620*1527), and more importantly, the screen ratio is adapted to widescreen, which makes it convenient for current players to revisit the game on their own devices. In addition to supporting more resolutions, the game also makes corresponding adjustments to the character portraits, the appearance of weapons in the backpack, and the UI. As for the improvement of special effects, due to the overall improvement of image quality and resolution, the special effects that have not been remastered from the root, such as the fluctuations of snow and water, will look more dull than the original version.
However, for old fans of “Commandos”, the greatest significance of “Commandos 2: HD Remaster” may be the perfect restoration of the original cutscenes and texts in the game, especially the setting of adding the shocking black-and-white historical film clips to the game, which is well preserved in “Commandos 2: HD Remaster”, which may be the biggest advantage and benefit of the original studio remaking its own work. Although the only drawback is that the game does not provide a Chinese version, if you like this work very much, trying to translate the text and dubbing commentary in the game yourself may be another kind of fun.
As a work native to the PC platform, in addition to the obvious improvement in picture quality and the provision of a large number of gameplay guides and more detailed explanations than the original for novice players, the biggest highlight of “Commandos 2: HD Remastered” is the launch of a full-platform version. In addition to the traditional PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, iOS and Android versions are also provided, which shows Pryo’s sincerity.
Why Commandos 2?
Compared to the first generation of “Commandos”, the improvement of “Commandos 2” can be described as a qualitative leap. This is not only reflected in the upgrade of picture quality, the first appearance of the design concept of internal combat in buildings and more team members with different personalities, but also the expansion and improvement of the entire gameplay concept of the game starting from the second generation.
First of all, the design and use of art style, the “Commandos” series can be regarded as unique. Twenty years ago, Pryo used pre-rendered background technology to pseudo-3D fixed 2D scenes, and the light and dark changes of buildings, facilities, vehicles and characters brought about by excellent shadow design made the entire series of games not only reveal a strong sense of realism, but also shocked the players who were in it. The strong sense of reality that the game can bring. Perhaps it is because of this series that countless players have fallen in love with video games since then. In the second generation of works, in addition to further strengthening the sense of reality brought by pre-rendering technology, the game has added a gameplay that allows team members to fight inside buildings. This not only expands the game experience content, but also allows players to have a wider space for real-time tactical expression compared to the first generation of works.
Secondly, the game content is diversified. Unlike the first game, which focused on the Western Front of World War II, Commandos 2 began to layout the global battlefield. In addition to Europe, the Arctic Circle, the South Pacific, and East Asia during the Japanese occupation period all became the source of ideas for the design of new levels in Commandos 2. In particular, the attempt to integrate classic World War II movies into the game levels allows players to personally experience scenes from movies such as Saving Private Ryan and The Bridge on the River Kwai, which undoubtedly further enhances the game experience.
Summary: A feast exclusively for old fans of “Commandos”
For the work “Commandos 2: HD Remastered”, it is definitely difficult to attract new players to try to buy and get into it just by its HD appearance. In addition, the game does not currently support Chinese localization, which makes the original difficulty of “Commandos 2: HD Remastered” reject a group of curious new players. However, if you are a loyal fan of the “Commandos” series, then “Commandos 2: HD Remastered”, which maintains the original flavor and uses modern technology to whitewash, will definitely let you regain the tense strategic feeling of walking on the battlefield, planning thousands of miles, and sweating palms.
