Commandos Origins, a reboot of the classic Commandos franchise is out today on PC, Xbox and PlayStation as well as Xbox Game Pass. Many will likely be trying the franchise for the first time and not sure what to expect. This article will give you some tips to get you started.
As an RTS Commandos Origins won’t have a broad appeal compared to many other games out there. It’s slow, methodical approach probably won’t click with fans of say Call of Duty, but for those strategy lovers out there, you should find something you like. That said, Commandos is quite difficult, even on the easiest difficulty.
Understanding the View Cone
At it’s core the most basic thing you need to understand about Commandos Origins is the enemies view cone. Each enemy will have a view cone that you can see if you use the proper button prompt (this is different for each system). The view cone will have a solid section and a section that is lines.
Where the solid section is you will be spotted no matter what you do if you are out in the open. This means you are too close to the enemy to be stealthy and their view cone will begin to fill. If the view cone turns yellow it means they are suspicious and will come investigate. If it turns red you’ve been identified and they will attack.
The non solid section of the view cone however is where you can get away with going prone and not being spotted. This section of the cone means you are far enough away that they can’t spot you unless you stand up. Use this to your advantage as much as you can by getting closer and helping you assess, perhaps use your gun or explosives, or find a better way around the enemy.
You can also take advantage of this by standing to move quicker and just before the cone fills up going into stealth. The cone will eventually go back down to green as the enemies decide they didn’t see anything. This isn’t as viable on the harder difficulties as you get spotted much quicker, but sometimes the best course of action will be to quickly run past an enemy before the cone fills up.
Carefully Assess Each Encounter
As is the case with most strategy games, each encounter you will want to carefully assess before doing anything. Often times you will see 3-4 enemies in an area you have to get around. Should you sneak around them? Should you take them out, and if so how? You might want to take out the first enemy but if you do enemy 2 will spot you.
In many ways these encounters are like a game of chess. Each Commando has it’s own unique skills that will help you and depending on what chapter you are in you will have to change up your strategy based on who you have. Perhaps you will need to distract enemy 2 with a rock throw to get them to look away and quickly take out enemy one. Maybe you can lure an enemy around a corner with a whistle. Whatever strategy you use, make sure to take your time to fully understand what you need to do.
Trial And Error
Don’t be afraid to go with this strategy to help you understand each situation. Take out the first enemy and see what happens. Does killing him instantly get you noticed? Does it take a moment before you get noticed, and if that’s the case do you have enough time to get to them and hide the body? If it isn’t possible on the first enemy what happens if you take out the second enemy first?
While this method might not be the most satisfying way to get your strategy down, it can definitely help you better understand what is going on and how to execute a strategy. With how many enemies the game throws at you there’s definitely going to be some times where you just want to use this method to get through quicker. It can be a nice way to give your brain a little break from all the strategy, and a great method for players new to RTS.
Commandos Mode Is Your Friend
One of the best ways to navigate tough areas is to utilize the commandos mode. Commandos Mode freezes the game to help you plot your next moves and also make multiple moves at once. For example if you have 2 enemies you cant figure out how to get around maybe you need to take them out both at the same time.
Commandos Mode allows you to do just that. You can tell the Sniper to shoot enemy 1 while the Green Beret stealth kills enemy 2. Once set up you can hold the execute button down and watch it all go down. It can be really satisfying watching it all play out in perfect harmony.
Save, Save, Save
I cannot stress this enough but you are going to want to spam the save button. Commandos Origins does not feature an auto save on purpose as they don’t want you getting an auto save at a bad time. Having said that you will want to manually save like your life depends on it, because it probably does. There is nothing worse than getting through a section that took you awhile only to have forgotten to save, die and get thrown back to have to do it all over again.
My personal recommendation is to save after every encounter. There’s enough save slots that you can always go back two or 3 of them if you saved only to find it was a bad spot to save. You will save in Commandos more than you have in any other game, but I promise you its worth it.
Remember To Collect Your Special Items
As mentioned above many of the Commandos have special abilities and items. A lot of the time those items need to be picked up after use. For example the Sapper can put down bear traps to kill enemies, however after you using it you need to return to the item and pick it back up.
Look For Additional Resources
Speaking of remembering to pick things up, make sure to keep an eye out for additional items such as ammo and grenades. You will find them scattered about each map to help you get through the chapter. The Sniper ammo is particularly valuable in the chapters you have access to the Sniper.
Hopefully these simple yet effective tips will help you traverse through Commandos Origins. With it being on Game Pass I know many of you will try this game and maybe not understand it as you aren’t used to RTS games. If you stick with it you might find a game you end up enjoying and explore a whole new genre.
