Commandos Strike Force – PS2 – Review

In the future, all
first-person shooters are likely to be team-based. We’ll end up commanding
large armies of soldiers, almost as if the shooter world became one with
real-time strategy. Leading up to this dramatic change are action games with a
bit of tactical warfare. Commandos: Strike Force is one such title, letting
you take control of a spy, a sniper, and a green beret. Leading these men into
battle one at a time, the player can switch between them to overcome an enemy
who hunts in greater numbers. Steal their uniforms, sneak up from behind,
sniper from afar, disable their equipment – do whatever it takes to survive.

Though I’d like to follow up
with something a little more intimidating, the reality of this game is that
there isn’t much reality. Survival isn’t as much about clever thinking as it
is about cracking the code laid out for you. Missions are based on unclear
goals, unclear requirements, and a fair amount of experimentation. On the
upside these goals are generally easier to complete than they sound.
Experimenting can be fun and lead to interesting success stories. Getting easy
kills, however, isn’t a welcome addition. I’d rather have clearer mission
goals with harder and more intricate challenges.

Mixing elements of
stealth, action, and team-based shooters, Strike Force lets you sneak up on
your enemies for a painful strangle move. All you do, in pretty much every
circumstance, is walk up to the enemy (from behind) and press the X button.
That’s it. No button-mashing. No enemy struggle. Just a simple,
do-as-the-game-says action that practically executes itself.

There are essentially two
kinds of enemies you’ll have the opportunity to strangle: the sleepers and the
pacers. The sleepers are enemy soldiers saddled with guard duty. They’re
bored, lifeless, and are in no hurry to take action. They can’t hear your
footsteps, no matter how fast you run (an element Metal Gear Solid and its
many clones picked up on eight years ago. In MGS you must walk slowly to avoid
detection). Sleepers tend to yawn and stretch their arms, and will not be able
to see you if you’re standing at their side. Granted, the same may be true for
a guard in real-life – I suppose not every soldier would catch someone in his
blind spot. Nonetheless, sleepers are the easiest to kill. Just walk up and,
once you’re standing behind him, follow the on-screen directions ("press X").

Pacers are a little
different. They pace the area searching for…now that I think about it I’m not
quite sure. Their field of vision isn’t too great, especially if you’re
wearing a disguise. Disguises may be obtained from certain enemies after
killing them. Once again the X button is an all-access pass to game progress.
You take the enemy’s uniform in the same way you strangled him, except this
time you must have the camera pointed down.

Pacers can be killed
almost as easily as the sleepers. Wait for them to turn around and walk the
other way, then go for the kill. There is a risk of being spotted by other
nearby enemies, which is where the game gets somewhat interesting. You can
plan your attack to kill the enemy in seclusion, assuming that he walks to an
area where he can’t be seen. His comrades won’t miss him if he doesn’t return,
but I suppose I shouldn’t expect them to when guards don’t even notice the
sound of my feet hitting the ground.

There are times when it
seems you have no choice but to stealthily kill an enemy being watched by
others. This will alert them of your presence, and they’ll eventually sound
the alarm. Meanwhile you double-check the mission objectives (hold the left
directional button) and are reminded that you can’t let that happen. The
enemies here are supposed to be killed with stealth. You could switch to the
sniper up in the tower – he could take out a few guys for certain. But then
they’d be aware of your presence.

In this scenario I ended
up performing as many stealth kills as possible. When I knew no more could be
had without being spotted, I drew my weapon and dove in. Though I could’ve
switched to my sniper for safe kills from afar, I stuck with the spy and
killed every enemy with a handgun before they could sound the alarm. I then
freed the prisoners and won the mission.

Had this moment lasted
longer, and had the frame rate and gameplay not been so slow, this probably
would have made Strike Force a winner.

The reality, as I said
before, is that this isn’t a realistic game. Intensity is lost when soldiers
can barely run. Enemy AI is pretty weak, and I was repeatedly bothered by the
weapon change function. It’s not a huge problem, primarily due to the lack of
objective variety (the game is mostly about finding objects and killing
enemies). But to change my weapon I have to press down on the D-pad. Big deal,
right? It is – until I’m running. How can I place my thumb on the left analog
stick to run and strafe and press the D-pad at the same time? I can
bend my index finger inward to accomplish this task, but it’s not very
comfortable. The controller wasn’t designed to be used that way – no game
controller has been.

Review Scoring Details for Commandos: Strike Force

Gameplay: 5.9
Brief moments of
excitement aren’t enough to spice up the slow gameplay. Real-time story
sequences introduce each mission. When you see the poor visuals and listen to
the horrendous voice-overs, you’ll be glad there’s a skip button. Arrows
litter your radar, telling you where enemies are (useful) and where you need
to go to complete the next objective. I dislike radar systems of this design
because I always end up walking in circles. The arrows are a general guide,
and with levels that have similar rooms, buildings, and other repetitive
structures, it’s not hard to mistake a new area for one you’ve been to. Or
vice versa.

This is one of many
boring elements that detract from the rare moments of excitement. Commandos:
Strike Force was a nice idea, but it needs a lot more speed (and more variety)
to overcome its weaknesses, neither of which it received.

Graphics: 4
Strike Force has
some of the most unrealistic background elements seen in a new PS2 game. The
textures look like they were designed with the ancient computer program Paint
– or by someone like me who lacks the patience to apply the detail necessary
to make a building come to life. Bland color splotches drench the walls,
doors, ground, trees, vehicles, etc. Nearly everything you come in contact
with. Bullets do not add color to the scene, let alone a permanent mark that
scars the wall till the mission’s end. Windows break, but only on the rarest
of occasions. Not all windows are breakable. Zero doors are destructible.
Walls/structures cannot be breached unless you absolutely must breach them.

Sound: 4
A war game with
bad sound? What gives? I can deal with bad voice acting if the music is
top-tier, but neither element left a lasting impression.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 5
I like the idea
of being able to switch between three different characters, but I’m not too
fond of the way the game restricts them. Not only that, but since when can’t
soldiers multi-task? Wouldn’t it have made more sense if they could all snipe,
spy, perform stealth kills, etc., to some degree? Maybe that wouldn’t have
been the most realistic way to tackle this game, but if Strike Force is going
to worry about realism, it needs to re-think its enemy AI first. It would also
need to re-think its world physics, enemy reactions, and make stealth kills
more challenging, etc.

Multiplayer: 5
Online monotony
for up eight players. If a game is slow and sub-par offline, why bother going
online to play it?

Overall: 5.9
Nowhere near the
commando king. Commandos: Strike Force lacks the forcefulness of its
predecessors and of other first-person shooters. It’s cool to see a franchise
try new things, but the finished product doesn’t live up to the standards of
the series.