Commandos Strike Force

Commandos Strike Force is a new spin on the WWII first-person shooter genre, giving players multiple ways to complete missions using strategy. Commandos now takes you directly into the action of war.

Before starting a mission in Strike Force you are given tips on how to take care of certain situations. This way when the level begins you aren’t overwhelmed and left in the dark. After that short preview you are ready to go. The mission I saw took place on a bridge. The Nazis have lost contact with the town you just took over, so scouts are being sent across this bridge to check things out. This level is a good example of some of the missions that start fairly slow and then escalate into something epic.

The biggest use of strategy in Strike Force is the ability to switch between up to 3 provided soldiers on the fly. This means that before the Nazis cross the bridge you can position your sniper at a good vantage point. From here you can use your sniper rifle to pick off enemies early, and even make use of the sniper’s ability to hold his breath which causes everything to slow way down, allowing for a better shot. Then you can use your heavy arms guy to lay mines and toss some smoke grenades, or to face enemies head on since he can wield two weapons simultaneously as well as use anti-tank weaponry. The third selectable character is a spy, but was not provided for this particular mission.

Things heated up pretty quick on the bridge as more Nazis crossed. One thing that really stood out was the amazing ragdoll physics. The way gravity and the environment affected bodies was extremely realistic.

Another helpful tool is the picture in picture alerts. Every once in awhile, when something important is happening elsewhere, a picture in picture will pop up to show you what’s going on. On the bridge missions the PIP would show an enemy commander that was spotting weak points with binoculars. This sort of alerts players to take that guy out or else you might be in more trouble later on.

I also caught a short glimpse of a stealth mission starring the spy character. The objective here was to help a couple prisoners escape, so stealth was the primary goal. To start you have a wire to strangle the first guard possible. Once disposed of you can take their uniform to help disguise yourself among your peers. But stand in front of a similar or higher rank for too long and they’ll bust you. Fortunately being spotted does not spell doom just yet, since Strike Force doesn’t end the mission if you’re spotted. The odds will be stacked heavily against you, but at least you’re given the option to defend yourself.

At the end of each mission you are ranked on many stats that were recorded during the mission. For the dedicated gamer this is a great tool for mastering the game.

Commandos Strike Force is being developed for the PC, Xbox, and PS2. PC will support up to 16 players online while the console versions will max out at 8. The release date is only set at a general 2005, so keep your eye out for further updates.

 

For All E3 2005 Previews