Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is a stealth-based squad strategy game. The player takes control of a small team of elite WWII commandos who must infiltrate Axis-controlled areas to carry out a series of missions. Your commandos aren't heavily armed, and they're badly outnumbered, so you'll have to rely on stealth and tactical thinking rather than on blowing the bad guys away. Losing even one of your men means failing the mission, so practice and planning are key.

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines uses an isometric map that allows you to see the whole map -- apparently Allied reconnaissance is pretty good -- and plan your assault in afvance. You'll need to think not only about how to stay out of enemy soldiers' line of sight but how to avoid them seeing traces of your passage. Some surfaces will retain your footprints, for example, so yo'll need to avoid them if enemy troops are nearby. When you see an enemy soldier, look for the cone extending from him; the light green area is his close-range vision, while the dark green area is long-range. At long range, the soldier won't see you when you're hidden, while nothing can hide you from him at short range.

Each commando has special abilities that will help you complete your mission. For example: the Green Beret is an expert at hand-to-hand combat, while the Marine can swim underwater and use his speargun to take out enemies silently. The Driver can take control of vehicles, the Sniper excels at long-range marksmanship, the Sapper lays deadly traps and so on.

There are 20 missions in Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, many of them based on classic war movies like Where Eagles Dare. Be warned, though: the missions are tooth-grindingly difficult, requiring patience, planning and usually several attempts to complete. Don't count on finishing even easy missions on the first try. There's usually only one way to do it, and it can be quite tricky to figure out.

Although this is an older game, the graphics don't look too bad; they're realistic, detailed and colourful, if not exactly high-resolution.

Despite its age, Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is still worth checking out if you prefer timing and tactical puzzles to charging forward blasting.

Pros

• Tense tactical gameplay

Cons

• Outdated graphics
• High difficulty level
• Limited replay value