One of the great classics of the Spanish video game returns with a competent graphic remastering although in general very conservative, for the good and not so good.
With the already somewhat distant entrance to the new millennium, a very special real-time strategy title for video game fans in our country arrived in stores; and is that a few years before Pyro Studios launched Commandos market, a kind of bet framed in the tactical action that proposed to change the course of the events of World War II controlling a small elite group with a single mission: infiltrate the enemy lines to end the plans of world domination of the Nazis. Shortly thereafter, in 2001 fans of the original received its sequel, Commandos 2, a more ambitious delivery in each and every one of its sections that, 19 years later, returns to PC (and soon on consoles and tablets) with a remastering in the strictest sense of the term, a somewhat conservative update by Yippee! Entertainment and Kalypso Media. Will this new HD version endure over the years? Discover the answer in our Reviews.
The call of duty
When we talk about Commandos 2, concepts like dangerous infiltration missions, sabotages between enemy lines and a reimagining of key events of World War II quickly come to mind. All this thanks to the skills of a small group of brave soldiers who must make their way into the purest guerrilla style, exploiting the different capacities of each of its members of different nationalities of the Allied Front such as Jack (Butcher) O'Hara, the green beret, Francis T. Woolridge, the sniper, Samuel Perkins, the driver, Thomas Hancock, the artisan, James Blackwood, the marine, René Duchamp, the spy, Natasha Nikochevski, the Soviet spy, and Paul Toledo, the thief.
The adventure encourages us to infiltrate both Nazi bases and take control of Japanese settlements on the Pacific coast, providing a great variety with respect to the original delivery. In addition, and thanks to the great cast of characters and their different abilities, we have before us a wide range of possibilities to complete the same mission, whether to save hostages, recover key objects or destroy an enemy military base, among many other objectives; One of its great virtues is the need to combine the strengths of the different characters available in each mission, posing each scenario as a great puzzle that we must solve through an interesting mixture of skill, logic and cold blood, not without suffering some another setback in the form of bugs or limitations of a title almost two decades ago, some of which are still there.
Because beyond the obvious general graphic update (more worked in characters than in scenarios, yes), the game is exactly the same that came to the market in 2001, retaining the same control scheme that, although almost 20 years ago it was suited to its time and context, today it shows something rough and not very intuitive. And all this with keyboard and mouse; We will have to wait to see how it adapts to the controls of PS4 and Xbox One when their respective versions arrive later. And it is that while some minor adjustments to the control and interface have been made, the camera remains one of its main weaknesses, with a clumsy and tedious handling, not at all comfortable.
Although the positive part of everything is that Commandos 2 in its HD version is still as fun and challenging as the original and that it offers us the possibility of completing all its missions in several ways, even improvising on the ground and adapting to the particularities of each game
On a technical level, there are obvious improvements over the classic version with a resolution in high definition with redrawn graphics on the originals, much more defined remodeled characters and all kinds of effects of particles, explosions and lighting of a new wedge; We can say the same about the different menus of the interface, all of them renewed next to the objects, newspapers, etc., in addition to having new faces of the characters. A result that does not stand out in any aspect but that meets the last name HD Remaster at hand.
The sound also receives its own updating although in a somewhat more discreet way; yes, the melodies and effects of the original videogame are maintained, including the Spanish dubbing of the 2001 version (and that was lost some time ago in its jump to Steam), applying a filter to all the tracks to clean the sound although maintaining the base, thus betraying the quality of yesteryear, well below what is currently styled at the level of clarity and quality of the sound itself.
As a curiosity and object of controversy, in this HD Remaster version any Nazi and Japanese imperial army symbology has been removed, thus altering the original by a somewhat out of place censorship issue. The reason used by those responsible is that only an international HD Remaster version has been created, which should be adapted to the sensibilities and laws of all the countries where it will be marketed. All texts arrive localized to our language.
CONCLUSION
Commandos 2 HD Remaster returns to the present to the satisfaction of the most veteran players who once enjoyed the original saga, a somewhat discreet update that serves as a trampoline to Kalypso to relaunch the brand and test the pulse he currently enjoys to future deliveries after acquisition. The result, in fact, meets what is expected of an HD remastering, although in exchange for offering conflicting sensations. And it is that his control weighs the years, much more than its staging, with keyboard and mouse combinations that could have received a much deeper treatment than has finally been applied. However, the classic Commandos formula, with that mix of real-time strategy, tactical action and stealth, still works like a charm, making us feel again as authentic elite soldiers among enemy ranks. A reference in its kind that returns as a correct remastering.
THE BEST
- Fun, tension and challenge in equal parts
- New staging with interesting news
- Great possibilities to face the missions
WORST
- Rough controls and camera much better
- Some bugs that can ruin a mission
- Remastering that does not go from discreet
Right
It is not the latest or the most original, nor does it have the best execution, but it can be fun if you like the genre. Good, but improvable.
