Commandos: Origins

Some comebacks just don't work. A review by a die-hard Commandos fan confirms that most old-school players will be happy with the new game. But perhaps a little uncritical.

Commandos: Origins strikes a great balance between the classic stealth tactics games and modern streamlined ideas, creating tons of potential for finding creative solutions to problems like “too many living fascists.” Pruning out elements like inventory management may not be to every older fan’s tastes, but that’s focused a spotlight on strict stealth – and it’s here Origins shines. Sneaking through its massive maps, each of which are swarming with hundreds of enemies, takes hours and hours of patient planning and careful clicking. I regularly gleaned a ton of pleasure from executing a perfect coordinated strike and fading away into the background, with the remaining Nazis none the wiser. No plan survives contact with this many bugs, but quick-loading will get you past nearly any issue and this otherwise might be the sneakiest fun you can have going commando with your underwear on.

As an Real-time tactics title, Commandos: Origins stands out as a solid entry in the genre. It carries over key elements from the original series while blending in modern mechanics and stylistic choices reminiscent of Shadow Tactics. The generous number of missions offers plenty of content, inviting players to revisit and refine their strategies. That said, persistent bugs and technical hiccups remain noticeable issues and they might just become the unpredictable factors on your road to victory.

It's great to see this iconic game series—one that introduced the term 'Commandos-like' to the gaming world—back in action after so many years. The fact that it preserves the traits of the characters we love and successfully blends the mechanics of the first two games is among its biggest strengths. However, there are so many minor and major bugs that they end up dragging down the overall experience. It definitely needs a few solid patches.

There's also a sneaking sense that Origins is stuck in the past. As a reimagining of the original game with modern visuals, it's a triumph, but it doesn't do much to move the realtime tactics genre forward, with little of the innovation seen in, say, Mimimi's Shaodow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. [Issue#410, p.116]

Origins can be a lot of fun, but the game lacks freshness and boldness. The mechanics turn out to be underdeveloped and glaring with numerous bugs. Commandos fans will find something to enjoy here, but it is not the refreshing breath the genre needed.

Commando: Origins was meant to revive the franchise after years of silence, but it falls short. There is no cohesive story and the missions feel quite random. However, the missions are varied and the commandos offer different strategies. Don’t expect a lot of freedom or creativity. Despite detailed gameplay mechanics, numerous bugs severely impact the experience, often forcing players to reload saves. With optimization issues also present, it's best to wait for a few patches before diving in to enjoy the nostalgic gameplay.

This game captures spirit of original Commandos perfectly. If you played the old one, you gonna have a great time. If you are new to the genre, it may take a moment to get used to it. Difficulty level is not as high as it used to be but still steep.

A great return, brain workout guaranteed, beautiful world and level design despite bugs and glitches.

I appreciate the work that went into the aesthetics, but in terms of gameplay, the game is a bug-riddled mess. It is hard for me to see any upgrade(again aside from the aesthetics) that went toward this game from its predeseeor, Commandos 2. So many functionalities removed, lame storytelling, inefficient hardware usage, this game has it all! It is a heavy downgrade from Commandos 2, which sadly has no proper sequel that would hold up to its name.

Un juego con un nivel de detalle en los escenarios muy inferior al de los originales. Eso y que los diálogos son horribles, las animaciones cartoon dan vergüenza ajena... muy feo, en general. Por si eso fuera poco, que den la posibilidad de eliminar la simbología alemana de esos años permite edulcorar una época de la Historia que todos deberíamos tener muy, muy presente hoy día para no caer en los errores del pasado. En fin, que si tiene un 3 es porque aún conserva algo de la jugabilidad de los juegos de Pyro Studios, pero por lo demás...

Pretty boring game, definitely not for me who doesn't like wasting time and rather play something funner. If you get CAUGHT ONCE in the tutorial it makes you restart the whole fkn thing!!! WITH UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENES!! That just made me go straight to uninstall.