Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty

good

It doesn't run on modern PCs well and crashes often. Even then, it is really playable on the 800x600 resolution size and if you even try to play it on windowed mode to accommodate this limitation, the game freezes and becomes unplayable.

the best action strategy i ever played

Just finished my play-through of this on Youtube (link at end of review for anyone interested in seeing a gameplay sample before buying) and quite enjoyed it!

If you've played Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, then you know what to expect here: more point-and-click stealth action from a top-down perspective, where you take teams of WW2 commandos (each with their own skills, weapons and abilities) on missions against the Axis forces.

Compared to its predecessor, Behind Enemy Lines, Beyond the Call of Duty feels like a definite step up in quality. This is mainly due to the implementation of a lot of finer details. Some of these consist of extra gameplay mechanics for your commandos to utilise (such as throwing cigarette packs to distract enemies, through to knocking out enemies, taking them captive and having them do your bidding, to name a couple of exmaples). Other added details are more atmospheric, such as background music and ambient SFX to bring maps more to life than was the case in Behind Enemy Lines.

There's also a definite step up in challenge, which players of Behind Enemy Lines will particularly note. Whilst Beyond the Call of Duty only has 8 missions (compared to 20 in Behind Enemy Lines), the difficulty in these levels ramps up much more quickly. Not too hard, but there will definitely be moments which will make you scratch your head and ponder how to sneak through the enemy patrols. My advice: if unsure, keep saving regularly and start trying out different abilities until something sticks.

Are there any negatives? Only one or two minor ones. Firstly, using explosives to blow things up can be a little finicky in certain missions. Namely, the first mission of the game requires you to blow up a lighthouse - make sure to save before you do so, as I found that I had to position the explosives in a particular spot to get it to work. Secondly, being an older game, sometimes the pathing of your commandos can be a bit awkward if there are slight obstacles in their way. But these are fairly minor issues and don't detract much from the overall experience.

So, to sum up, Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty is a great instalment in the Commandos franchise and is well worth playing if you're a fan of WW2 stealth games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkYgwf_xSlA&list=PL05Yc3_TEBpPTwdCIHnk9edNNKen1ydfY&index=1

I first played this game back in 2001, but I couldn’t manage to finish it at the time. Flash forward to today, and I bought it again on Steam to finally cross that finish line. I’m happy that I completed it just before the release of the new game in March 2025.

The experience was incredibly nostalgic, but there was one thing that really bothered me: the end-game video refused to play. I tried reloading my save multiple times, but the cutscene still wouldn’t trigger. It’s such a small issue in the grand scheme, but it definitely left a slight blemish on what was otherwise a great journey.

Ah yes, Commandos Beyond the Call of Duty, a game im very nostalgic of, cause this was the first installment of this franchise i played. This is a standalone expansion pack for the original game that further expands the mechanics of all the soldiers at your disposal and brings a total of 8 new missions, each different from the other. Let's go into the more noticeable differences:

All the Commandos are now capable of using Rocks and Cigarette packs to annoy and distract enemies, they can also now use the puppet command to force tied soldiers to move and distract enemies, however be aware that moving them too far away from the range of your Pistol will allow them to escape and alert the enemy. While everyone is able to do this, only the Green Beret and the Spy can handcuff enemies. The Green Beret is now also able to punch enemies to knock them out, same with the Driver who can do the same using a Baton, he also now has access to a rifle to dispatch enemies in one shot instead of doing multiple with the Pistol. The Sapper now has access to Shears to cut off enemy fences and allow pass through. The Spy recieved the most updates, gaining access to chloroform to knock out enemies in a similar fashion to the Green Beret and the Driver. His ability to take enemy uniforms has been updated and he can now strip off any soldier from their clothing to allow camouflage, ranging from soldiers to officers and generals, he won't be recognized as long as someone from a higher rank doesn't notice him. His equipment depends on the kind of uniform he's wearing, for example, as a soldier he can wield and fire a rifle. His ability to distract enemies while camouflaged remains mostly unchanged.
The Sniper and the Marine recieved no major updates to their kit besides those general changes.
This game, however, adds a brand new commando to the game:

The Seductress (Natasha Nikochevski) is the sole female agent of the Commandos and only appears in one mission ("Dangerous Friendships"), she, however is a valuable member of the team as during this final mission the Spy is not available and you'll have to rely on her to distract enemies to go unnoticed. She, however, has no real way to defend herself so if she's revealed she might get instantly slain, making her even more vulnerable than the Sniper and the Sapper when out of their special weapons.

Gameplay wise the game plays similar to the first, however each level stands out from the other and makes use of the new mechanics. For example both "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Guess Who's Coming Tonight" make heavy use of the new distraction methods, knocking out enemies, the handcuffs, the puppet option and the Spy improved uniform swapping to avoid being detected by the enemy, as they require being stealthy and go unnoticed to avoid either an important person to be slain or the target to escape respectively. The latter mission is the one that was featured in the demo of this game and i must say, i enjoyed it quite a lot.
It's a shame that there's no mission with all the Commandos available in this pack, however it's a really solid game overall that doesn't get old and tries it best to capture the spirit of this franchise in only a few missions.

Last but not least, the little soundtrack this game has, composed by Mateo Pascual, is amazing! It's available on Spotify too so give it a listen, it really captures the WW2 vibe the Commandos Saga aims for.

Be aware, yet again, that to play this game in Spanish you'll require a patch since the original version is not available on Steam.

Score: 8/10

Pure Nostalgia.

this game is MASTERPIECE

More of an expansion than a whole new game, but still an awesome entry in this strategy series!

This was among the first games I had when I got my first PC in 2000. I remember ending up on Gonzoopera after 30-40 minutes in because it was too hard for me back then.

BEL was fun, but it was a walk in a park, compared to this. 8 missions but enough to keep you hours on one.

Very good game !

Masterclass in strategy and patience. Absolute classic!

Legendary strategy game of old times. Must play with lot of history lessons

Ran perfectly on windows 10. Recommended to complete Behind Enemy Lines before taking on this one. Only 8 missions but difficulty is far greater than Behind Enemy Lines. Amazing game

This was my childhood game, although I cracked it back then. I didn’t dare to play it at the time, just sat and watched my dad play. Back then, I was like his biggest fan. Now I can afford to buy the full version of this game and confidently play it, but unfortunately, he’s no longer here to see it. I bought this game to play again and to keep some memories of my childhood. I wish he were still alive to play this game with me.

this game is very addictive old school commando!