Following the success of Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, Pyro Studios and Eidos Interactive created a smaller--and far more challenging-version of the same game with a few tweaks and improvements. Though Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty appears on the surface to be an expansion pack, it doesn't require its predecessor to function; Commandos: BCD is a standalone product. Commandos: BCD's gameplay follows the same style as its predecessor. Though classified as a real-time strategy game, Commandos: BCD foregoes the use of resource collectors, buildings, and unit creation--elements seen in games like Command and Conquer and StarCraft. Instead, players assume control of one to six distinctive commandos, such as the marksman Duke and the explosives expert Inferno, and use them collectively to solve puzzle-like combat and stealth situations.
Completing the game's eight World War II-based missions requires specialized use of each of the six commandos as well as making the most out of limited ammunition against typically overwhelming odds. Though the units, both friendly and enemy, are rather small, they're easily distinguishable against the lush, detailed environments.
The interface, mostly unchanged from the first game, remains intuitive. When you've completed the relatively brief single-player campaign, you can team up with others through both local area network and Internet play via Eidos's Web site.
In a choice between Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty and its predecessor Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, go with the latter, since it offers three times as many missions and more interesting goals. --Doug Radcliffe
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