Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

The setting is World War II, and England has made and trained a small group of special elite forces called "commandos". These commandos are specially trained to take on the most crucial and risky missions. These men are sent in to covertly take out installations, sabotage plans, assassinate leaders, and cause as much disruption to the enemies of the free world.

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is a real-time tactics game. The goal is to lead a team of six men throughout 20 missions across the entire WWII theater, with missions in the North African desert, Italy, France, and even in Norway. Strategy is a key element, as the team is vastly outnumbered in most missions, and stealth a main aspect of the gameplay, stealth kills being usually preferable over going in guns blazing. Missions get much harder once the alarm is sounded, with double the amount of guards and reinforcements possibly coming for every enemy killed in the open.

Every mission comes with specific (and usually multiple) objectives to disrupt enemy activity. These may range from destroying trains, battleships, and structures, to rescuing captured GI's. The commandos team includes six highly trained operatives: Tiny, the heavy-duty trained killer; Duke, the silent sniper; Inferno, the demolitions and mechanical expert; Spooky, the spy; Fins, the navy diver; and Tread, the surly driver. Each mission only provides with the soldiers required to complete it. Some missions may require all six characters while others will only use two of them.

Each man is essential to each mission, and if one dies, the mission must be loaded to an earlier point. Each performs a specific duty that is required to make the plan go off without a hitch. For example, the driver is necessary in order to drive the escape truck in most missions. The diver might be needed as a specific travel method to reach an island. The demolitions expert might be needed to cut a hole through a fence. Only through teamwork and careful planning can the missions be beaten.

During the missions, the player will also have some tools at their disposal that provide extra info and tips. The eye tool allows for example to see the field of vision of the selected enemy. Every mission also comes with a fully animated map indicating the positions of the enemies. It is also possible to split the screen up to eight times, and use the camera tool to follow the path of specific soldiers in every screen.

Commandos is an open game with no linear progression. There are no scripted events, and all soldiers act according to their AI. There is no true way to beat each mission, though some paths might be more difficult than others. Only by utilizing all of the soldiers' abilities and available resources will the player be able to complete each mission and have everyone return home alive.