Commandos 3: Destination Berlin Preview

The Commandos series, perpetuated by recognized publisher Eidos Interactive and the Spanish development team Pyro Studios, achieved great critical acclaim throughout the gaming community. Its original concept soon found home in the hearts of countless gamers worldwide (our resident tech anchor-man, Dex, is a hopelessly devoted fan of the series). Well, ladies and gamers (and Dex), we're happy to report that Pyro Studios are back to craft yet another Commandos game. Commandos 3: Destination Berlin brings several essential innovations to the gameplay, graphics, and it carries numerous new features and challenges for players. Above all, you can also expect to find an all-new multiplayer mode - an aspect which changes the whole experience and takes the Commandos series to a higher level.

Man, I’m freezing my boots off here!

Just try to find your way out of this one.

Commandos 3: Destination Berlin puts gamers at the very beginning of the historical events of World War 2. You begin your missions in London, after which you'll be transported to various regions across Europe and Russia; such as Stalingrad, Berlin, and even France where you get to take part in the landing on Omaha Beach. Adding various distinguishing changes over the previous games, the developers clearly have their hearts set on offering players a slightly different feel this time around. The missions and tasks, which spread through three huge campaigns, are more story-driven than before. As opposed to any of the previous titles, Commandos 3 also includes a narrative, tighter plot, and richer characterization, which, you have to admit, is a rather welcome improvement. After all, every one of those cute little soldiers that were lead fearlessly into battle was all cool, but somehow they lacked punch.

Commandos devotees should be thrilled to know that their favorite characters are back to join the action once again. Jerry "Tiny" McHale, and his comrades Paul "Lupin" Toledo, Thomas "Inferno" Hancock, and others, will once again be heading into combat. Natasha, the charming female spy from Commandos 2: Men of Courage, unfortunately won't be making an appearance in this sequel (quite a shame to be disregarding such a cool character). But, you shouldn't despair too much, because there will be various new characters thrown into the picture. Also, each character possesses the abilities and equipment they had in the previous game. Several new abilities were added though, that give players a chance to experiment with a wide range of new actions, while using objects and weapons they weren't able to take advantage of before. The most significant step up here is that all of your troops are able to use various firearms in order to protect themselves from nearby foes. Besides that, each and every soldier can enter and operate vehicles - be they tanks, trucks, jeeps, or motorcycles with sidecars.

Pyro, who has been working on the title for a while now, has strived to put in as much improvements as possible. Their goal was to alter the game so that it brings an even greater challenge to hardcore fans, while having a straightforward and intuitive gameplay mechanism that's simultaneously easy for players who are new to the series. As many of you probably recall, Commandos 2: Men of Courage featured a few elements that made the whole game a bit difficult for newbies. Fortunately, all you Commandos virgins (Now that sounds f---ed up! - 2Lions), will have no problem getting into the spirit of proceedings thanks to the new in-depth tutorial that helps you learn the abilities of each and every soldier you march into battle with. This, in turn, helps you to get acquainted with unit control and all the strategic possibilities that are on offer throughout the game. Additionally, it will be possible to set the level of difficulty, which makes the game open to each and every type of gamer (The same as you could in the previous Commandos games - 2Lions).

Experienced Commandos players probably remember how difficult if was to complete any mission without alarming the guards. To our surprise, we've learned that Commandos 3 sets up a new enemy AI that's a lot more complex than in any of the previous games. This means that the game will be more challenging than ever before. There are many diverse types of enemy troops patrolling the area and they all react differently to your presence. In order to avoid the enemy, players we have to assess the situation and plan out their actions according to the intelligence of the units they run into. This improved AI should increase the use of a strategic approach as you devise your line of attack, so don't think you'll be able to rush in with destructive firearms and start killing away. Precise tactics have an even more important role now. This doesn't mean, however, that the game will be more difficult. The reactions of the AI should be more believable (human-like), and therefore, easier to understand.

It’s best not to hassle these guys...

The new explosions look fabulous.

Currently, the word around the block is that Pyro Studios plans to stretch the game across three reasonably lengthy campaigns, which comprise of 18 exciting missions. Each mission you go on is filled with intense action and unexpected twists and turns, on top of a wide variety of puzzles that need to be solved. On occasion, your missions will bring on a few historical moments that will spice up the atmosphere with realism. As mentioned earlier, the developers were inspired by classic WWII movies and that's obvious on various stages during the game. They've basically incorporated a variety of cut-scenes, locations, missions, and events that in fact represent a tribute to diverse big screen WWII classics. Encouraged by breath-taking scenes from Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, the development team reconstructed the well-known offensive of Allied forces in Normandy, which was a turning point in the course of World War II in Europe. In addition to being one of the most spectacular scenes in the game, Normandy stands as the toughest mission of all. Allied landing craft are reaching towards the beach while enemy machine guns are spitting out bullets all over the place... it's an amazing sight to behold, but it will be a precarious endeavor. Also, one of the missions in Stalingrad resembles the splendid sniper battle we saw in Enemy at the Gates. All in all, you can be sure that the game will feature many memorable and epic scenes. The mission in Stalingrad, for instance, conveys a very strong sense of realism and portrays an authentic ambiance of a war-torn city. As the players walk through streets, acting out various duties, they will observe planes flying overhead, bombing away, and drastically changing the city's appearance (also, people will run around screaming in attempt to find cover). Throughout this hazardous mission, there are certain situations when you must rely on the muscles of your Green Beret. At one point he gets to pick up a colossal machine gun and use it in order to provide suppressing fire for his comrades. A mobile 88mm gun was also included in this particular mission - operating that mother of a gun is sure to be great fun!

In its time, the Commandos series got recognized for its detailed animation and meticulously designed maps. And, it so happens that this game is no exception. The game features highly detailed scenery and, as the demo at the E3 also showed us, the developers have worked on improving stuff like explosions, particle effects, weather effects, and so on. A nice detail was thrown in with a few new effects. As the rain starts to fall, in due time it may begin to overflow certain sections on the ground and streets as it slowly drains away. To cut a long story short, the enhanced visuals in Commandos 3 display an interesting combination of beautifully designed isometric landscapes and diverse objects that were rendered in full 3D. As the designing team pointed out recently, Commandos 3 would not have benefited from a complete transition to 3D graphics. Instead they settled for a subtle mix of 2D and 3D. Therefore, Commandos fans will be delighted to see that their game has received all the necessary changes to make it look up to date, while preserving the detailed visuals of its predecessor. Buildings and other various structures in Commandos 3 will be free for exploration to a greater degree than in Commandos 2 (players will even be able to enter moving trains while carrying out their dangerous tasks - one of the missions that was shown at the E3). When players enter buildings and other different indoor sections, they'll be able to view their favorite Commandos in full 3D graphics. These segments of the game feature an intuitive and fully rotatable camera. The previous also had 3D indoor sections, but the amount of detail we've seen then is nothing close to what you'll be seeing in Commandos 3. If you check out some the shots, these 3D indoor areas are roomier and have been furnished with additional objects, lighting, and shadows. Also, for the very first time all of the characters in the game are presented as polygonal models, which comes as a significant progress in the franchise (I would hardly call that progress; they don't look nearly as detailed as in Commandos 2 - 2Lions). Such a change creates a completely new feel as you play and it improves the appearance of your troops, making them look more lifelike.

The game also introduces an all-new multiplayer mode that allows you to engage in combat against human-controlled opponents for the very first time. This means that next to the standard co-op mode, you may enjoy a variety of multiplayer missions with your friends, participating in exciting Deathmatch as well as CTF rounds. You'll be able to play through different types of matches: commandos vs. commandos, commandos vs. enemies, commandos, and allies vs. commandos vs. allies, and allies vs. allies. Playing as Allies gives you a chance to choose eight different types of troops - Gunman, Rifleman, Medic, Engineer, Bazookaman, Grenadier, Paratrooper, and Submachine Gunner. As you'd expect it, their success in combat is largely defined by the way you utilize their special abilities.

That's about all the info we have for now people. The folks over at Eidos Interactive didn't want to reveal any more specifics about the game at this point, so you're gonna have to wait a bit more for additional coverage. Until then, we hope these details will keep you satisfied and be on the look out for the final version of the game some time this Fall.