Commandos: Strike Force

Commandos: Strike Force
Developer(s)	Pyro Studios
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Producer(s)	José Manuel García Franco
Designer(s)	Jorge Rosado de Álvaro
Writer(s)	Ignacio Pérez Dolset Jorge Rosado de Álvaro
Series	Commandos
Engine	RenderWare
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox
Release date(s)	2006
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Commandos: Strike Force is a first person tactical shooter video game and the fifth and final installment of the Commandos series. It is developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive.

Released during the first months of 2006, the game makes a departure from the first four games. Although the missions are set up in a similar fashion (several different objectives, some to be achieved through stealth, others through use of force) and in most occasions the player is allowed to change between different characters, this is the first game in the series to apply a first-person perspective, like many other World War II-inspired games, in contrast to the overhead view of the earlier games. Hence, the game is far more similar to the Medal of Honor or Call of Duty games than to earlier entries of the series.

Plot

The game is split between three campaigns in France, Norway and Russia during World War 2. The first campaign is in France. It's October 1942 - a German sniffer dog detects an enemy nearby - a sniper from London, who reveals himself to be Lieutenant William Hawkins, of the OSS Strike Force consisting of the Green Beret, Captain Francis O'Brien from New York, himself and "the boss" Colonel George Brown, a German spy. (Each Character has different abilities such as the Green Berets ability to Dual wield Pistols and submachineguns, The Snipers scoped rifle and the Spies ability to wear Nazi Uniforms.)

Hawkins sneaks up with his sniper rifle and snipes the German troops stationed around the French village where he is heading for. Upon arriving the village he clears a farmhouse full of German soldiers and rescues three hostages within. He then sends Maurice, a French Resistance contact to the Green Beret's landing zone. In the plane carrying the Green Beret, one of the pilots go rogue, shoots the other pilot and kills nearly everyone else on the plane before the Green Beret overpowers and kills him. The plane explodes after he jumps out. The Green Beret covers the landing of some allied soldiers and a wounded Captain before blowing up a bridge. Earlier that evening, Brown had made contact with a Resistance member named Pascal and destroyed Nazi trucks and AA guns. They soon realize that there has to be a Nazi informer among their ranks which builds tension between O'Brien and Brown. O'Brien suspects Brown himself is the informer. Brown later takes on another task when he liberates a French doctor to help a wounded resistance member, he also helps the resistance even more when he steals explosives from a train yard, sabotages the railroad tracks and kills the garrison commander in a Bordello.

The next campaign takes the Green Beret, the Sniper and the Spy to Norway where Green Beret and Sniper are locked in a deadly fight with the Germans. Upon eliminating all the Germans in the area, the Spy Goes ahead and destroys a German patrol boat and steals one of their trucks. Covered in the darkness of night the Sniper and the Spy prepare for a surprise attack on the town's Nazi garrison. The Sniper moves up to a high building, gets to the attic and signals the Spy with his torch. The Spy receives the signal, moves up to the bridge on the far side of the town and neutralizes explosives set by the Germans. Again he moves to the farther corner of the town and upon taking control of the radio, sends the radio signal to Green Beret to initiate the strike. After a heavy battle, the town is captured by the commandos and the Norwegian resistance members. But the following morning, the Nazis started a full-scaled invasion sending massive reinforcements supported by mortar strikes and Panzer Tanks which the Green Beret and the Sniper successfully repel.

The final campaign takes the commandos to Stalingrad, Russia. Led by a certain Russian Officer named Salenkov, the commandos head for a Nazi garrison through the sewers. They soon realize it's a trap, and the Spy, disguised as a Nazi soldier, out of compulsion, acts to arrest Green Beret and Sniper and let them taken to the garrison as prisoners. He then makes his way to the garrison using stealth and disguise and rescues both of them. While attempting to plan their escape, he sneaks through the window and recognizes Salenkov as the Nazi informer. The Spy, prior to stealing a truck and escape along with his comrades, came to Green Beret and Spy, revealing the true identity of the treacherous Salenkov and managed to kill him. When boarding the truck, Green Beret apologized to the Spy for suspecting him to be the German informer. The Spy reveals to him that he is indeed a German, but he "detests the Nazis, and all they stand for". The Green Beret and The Sniper then manages to bring much damage to the Nazi forces and armors present in that area separately. The Sniper takes out most of the high-ranking officers by his deadly marksmanship and the Green Beret destroys tanks and artillery. In the final phase of the campaign, there is a final heavy Nazi attack to the Allied positions and the Green Beret and the Sniper fights them back gallantly. The game ends with a dog coming to the Spy, wagging it's tails and the three commandos, joking and laughing among themselves, celebrating and rejoicing their victory over the German War Machine.

Reception

The game was met with mixed reactions,^[4] especially from those coming from fans of the earlier games in the series. These fans felt that Strike Force lacked the trademark difficulty of the previous games. Similarly, it was promoted as mixing elements of strategy from the past games with traditional first-person shooter gameplay, but instead only hinted them while being predominantly action oriented. As a result, both critics and fans felt it did little to distance itself from the recent flood of similar games..

References

External links

• Official Commandos: Strike Force website