Commandos: Origins is finally here. Against all odds, a new game in the long-dormant stealth tactics franchise that inspired an entire genre, is upon us! As two of its biggest fans around over at Entertainium, we decided to team up and tackle this review, so without further ado, let’s get this going. Oki doki!
Andy Johnson: The prospect of a new real-time stealth tactics game – let alone a new Commandos game – seemed very distant indeed. The genre pioneered by Pyro Studios with Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines in 1998 was all but dead just a decade later. With Commandos Origins, the series returns into a changed context. After 2016, the genre it paved was revived – chiefly by the much-missed Mimimi Games. This new entry aims to apply their enhancements to the series that started it all.
Made in Germany by new developers Claymore Game Studios under Kalypso Media, Commandos Origins is the first real game in the series for 22 years. This is a welcome return for the Green Beret and comrades, a prequel showing how they were brought together in 1940. While Claymore’s approach could have been bolder, this is a competent and engaging return – albeit one marred by some frustrating bugs and a poor UI.
Eduardo Rebouças: This is a moment that I thought would never happen, seeing another Commandos game come to fruition is a dream come true for me. It’s a formative videogame series for me for sure, as I’ve talked about numerous times in the past. I played through the entirety of all its entries, with the exception of 3 – which I’ve talked about in my review of its remaster – and absolutely loved them to death. When I heard the news that there was going to be a brand new one coming out, I couldn’t believe it and was honestly skeptical given Kalypso’s dodgy record with the remasters.
However, I did like how Commandos Origins turned out. They’ve made good use of some of the innovations brought by Mimimi, Pyro’s de facto torch bearers, while cutting back on some bits that overcomplicated the later sequels, like taking away the inventory – something which some fans were irked about – having the entire group be able to carry or drag bodies, each with their usefulness since dragging can be slow but can avoid detection more readily than carrying, and having hiding spots. I do miss being able to tie unconscious enemies, though…
A: I hate to say it, but Origins is in serious need of a patch to correct numerous bugs. There are issues with pathfinding, spelling, save states, disappearing items (especially the Marine’s harpoon), dialogue, enemy view cones, and more besides. These are never game-breaking, but force an even higher number of quickloads when bugs impede progress.
E: I do agree with you about its issues. There are plenty of them and yes, there are some game-breaking ones present, sadly. For one, I am simply not able to finish the game’s 9th mission (out of 14). It’s a long, especially drawn-out level with compounding objectives that expand the original briefing a lot. After hours of play, during the very final section, it just refuses to end even after more than satisfying its requirements.
Other than that, there are problems that remain from previous games that aren’t exactly bugs, having to do with the game’s design. With indoor sections, it’s extremely difficult to tell your guys how to enter and keep track of different floors in multi-storied buildings, for one. Then there’s an overall clunkiness with simply issuing orders, even more so during the planning system borrowed from Desperados III, where some of the commandos simply refuse to go through with simple commands.
It’s an uneven experience to be sure and if this was any other game, I would’ve probably quit ahead of any further annoyances. But this is a freaking Commandos game, something I’ve been hoping for decades, so I was willing to endure and keep going. As it is, though, I’ll be waiting for patches to go through with that plan.
But let’s talk about other aspects of the game, shall we, Andy? What did you think about the commandos themselves?
A: Sure! Amusingly, Claymore have struggled with the perennial Commandos dilemma – how to make the Driver in any way useful. This time around, he can plant landmines and distract guards by throwing packets of cigarettes (which for some reason, he sets on fire), but his driving skills are largely shared by every other character.
Pyro Studios barely attempted to give the commandos any real personality, but Claymore have made an effort. Unfortunately, most of the commandos’ interactions amount to ill-tempered bickering, as they very slowly gain a grudging respect for each other.
E: I dug what they tried to do with the soldiers. This is supposed to be a prequel of sorts that shows us how the band got together, and it was cool to see, for instance, the Green Beret getting excused from prison in order to join the group, only to be biggest jerk for most of the game, slowly and begrudgingly respecting the others. He remains extremely self-reliant in Origins, with a ridiculously good set of skills that make him the go-to guy in the early missions where there’s not much to go around in terms of other commandos.
I have to disagree with you: I think the Driver turned out okay! Sure, he was clearly the least useful one in previous games, but his skill set now is good, albeit kind of forced. While the cigarettes make sense and are easily the best out of all the distractions, but I have to ask, why would he be the one handling mines when there’s an explosives expert in the team? Still, getting to see him shine manning turrets, tearing through Nazi soldiers with his Tommy Gun and the idea of seeing him potentially drive a tank (apparently, that happens in the 10th mission, I want to get there bad, ugh!) makes him a good guy to have around.
The Spy is another highlight. When we meet him, he’s there doing his own thing and helps the group out expecting to see them to see out his mission as well. In fact, a lot of what goes down during Commandos Origins second half has got to do with the Spy’s intel, with the elimination of key agents in a secret sect within the Nazi regime. His abilities remain unchanged, but thanks to not having to worry about picking up more poison like in the other Commandos games, he can be fairly overpowered if you can dodge senior officers while having him wear a disguise.
Other commandos also have neat personality quirks, like the Marine’s traumatic experiences during a particularly tough mission that inspire him to be a little more heroic than the official orders would allow so he can save some captives. I absolutely adore his bowgun and the throwing knives are a lifesaver during some of the game’s biggest pinches. The Sapper was made to be the Lee Marvin-ish character of the group, recruiting and trying to keep them all together by offering support. I’ll excuse Claymore for being inspired by Mimimi, handing him a beat trap and teaching him how to whistle, the signature weapons of Hector from Desperados III. He’s the slowest out of all, but oh-so deadly!
The Sniper is perhaps the weakest in terms of personality out of all of them, the usual lone wolf, silent type, but his skills more than make up for the lack of talking, thankfully. All the commandos now have some manner of distraction ability and his feels like a big stretch, but I’ll throw them a bone for trying to get a sniper to actively want to make some noise, going against the entire point of being a marksmith, heh.
A: Claymore have included a few missions which pay tribute to real-life commando raids of World War II. For example, a return to the Lofoten Islands (the setting for the first mission in Behind Enemy Lines) recalls Operation Claymore, from which the studio have taken their name. Origins also credits the Marine, the Spy, and the Sapper with paving the way for “greatest raid of all” at Saint Nazaire.
E: Oh, don’t talk to me about Saint Nazaire – it’s the 9th mission, after all, the one that bugged out for me. All kidding aside, I did also appreciate that aspect of the game. Previous entries paid homage to WWII movies like A Bridge Over River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, A Bridge Too Far, and such, those were all incredibly well done and entertaining.
It’s amusing to see the effort go into bringing actual historical significance to the game by having us play through missions inspired by real world events in the war. I’m a sucker for stuff like that. What there is in the game was very well thought out, with some tricky mission objectives and situations. The aforementioned compounding design wherein new objectives pop up as the levels progress proved to be an inspired idea; if only that pesky 9th mission wasn’t bugged…
(Note: Claymore is aware of that and other mission-breaking issues and are working on issuing patches for them, but at the time of this writing, they are not out yet — this review will be updated to reflect those fixes!)
In terms of presentation, the game is positively gorgeous. The levels reminded me of Commandos 2: Men of Courage with all their small details and beautiful, painterly quality. Their scale is equally terrific, seeing every nook and cranny while exploring seems daunting at first but proves to be a must and not at all forced as we make our way through them. I would’ve loved to see original composer Mateo Pascual making a return as the limited music given to Origins is just that, limited. On the other hand, it was neat as a fan to see the new voice actors hitting the original commandos’ signature lines and tone for sure.
Also bears mentioning that the game was released on consoles and features a control scheme exclusively to gamepads, with unique UI elements and direct character analog control. Given the evolution of RTS games on consoles and the successful translation of complex keyboard and mouse commands to the much more limited layout of a controller, Commandos Origins is equally as playable as other similar games we’ve reviewed that were brought to console. It can take a little getting used to setting up view cone points on the map with the same button used for moving, though.
There’s also online and local split screen co-op, and as far as it was tested, it works well. Partners can switch between characters as needed and the action takes place much in the way that Larian’s Divinity games do, showing each member what the other is doing when far away from one another. It requires good communication between players given the very trial and error nature of the game, so keep that in mind when picking a partner to avoid frustration.
Commandos Origins has us going through some mixed feelings. Hopefully, with patches and fixes, it’ll become the game that it has the potential to be, as it’s already a very fun time for genre veterans like ourselves in its current state. We can expect it to be even more so down the line when there aren’t as many technical annoyances as there are now. I also hold onto the hope that it does well enough sales-wise to warrant more games in the series and those bring the rest of the cast in, or maybe even expand it? It’s a mission that Claymore Game Studios should most definitely accept.
I have to disagree on some parts. I think a lot of what you said is on point. It’s an exciting new entry into a series I thought was lost to time, but I do miss the more complex mechanics of the later games in the series, including the inventory system you mentioned.
I’ll also say that I miss the ability to change different outfits as the Spy agent 47 style. Other games in the series where this ability was present still managed to find a way to make it not feel so overpowered. And that’s part of this games issue for me. I seem to be flying through these missions with a relative ease following the generally set path that has been laid out. The challenge is definitely a lot less than previous games and I think that’s a shame. While a lot of fun, I don’t have that same sense of challenge and so I don’t think Origins is going to stay on my mind as much as the original series has for the last 20+ years.
I agree about the difficulty. It’s not really a matter of making patrol patterns more strict and all, but that you don’t use as much cunning as you would have in the past games. Thanks for reading!