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While you are forced to follow an almost too linear path to meet your objectives, the game does allow some freedom in giving gamers alternate paths to finish your goals, although one path generally is a suicide mission compared to a stealthier road. And there is an abundance of invisible walls that frustratingly block seemingly travelable areas throughout. I have to say, though, that at least there are plenty of objectives to complete, as most missions last at least a half hour in order to advance to the next mission.
Also making objective completion easier, despite some pretty taxing challenges in many missions (particularly later in the game), is the excellent game controls. Targeting enemies for weapon fire is really fluid, as is the actual shooting, especially for the sniper. When you use the sniper to target Nazis, focusing the shot (by going into a bullet-time state using the left trigger that slows gameplay down so you can “focus” your shot better) is one of the game’s more gratifying gameplay elements, especially as you witness the blood spray that flies from your successfully hit (and now dead) targets.

Graphically,
Commandos Strike Force is a mix of mediocre environmental visuals, with a variety of different looks from bombed-out cities to small French towns to the snow-covered fjords of Norway, along with good character modeling, including very good animated behavior that gives each a realistic movement appearance.
So the single-player action is generally a good time. Let’s talk about the multiplayer. Or rather, the lack of multiplayer in
Commandos Strike Force. I’ve experienced a first with Commandos Strike Force in relation to its online play via Xbox Live. I’ve played games that had very little players online. But Commandos Strike Force is the only game I’ve ever attempted to play on Xbox Live where there wasn’t a single player playing.
Not one. I literally had the entire online game to myself. It isn’t like this is a just released title either. It’s been out nearly two months. I didn’t ever think I would be on Xbox Live with a FPS game and not have anybody to compete against. That tells me that
Commandos Strike Force must not be exactly flying off store shelves (and it may be telling developers that enough already, no more WWII FPS games for a while!)
Good controls and a good story with gameplay that requires strategic thinking and allows for switching between characters place Commandos Strike Force somewhere in the middle ground of WWII FPS titles. If you are one of the few Xbox gamers who hasn’t tired of the genre that has you fighting Hitler’s Nazi forces yet again, then Commandos Strike Force is a good title to play, but only if you are looking for a good, 20-hours-or-so single-player shooter, because unfortunately there isn’t any online play to speak of.
Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com
(May
25, 2006)
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