Commando

Copyright : Elite Systems Ltd | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

This is another arcade game that to most doesn?t need any kind of introduction what so ever, but for those that have just entered the world of computer games and have been playing on a PlayStation from as far back as they can remember, Commando is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up that came about some time in the late 1980s.

You are the best soldier in the force and such is life you have been hand picked to be dropped off inside enemy grounds and kill them all, while of course collecting the stolen money and weapons they took from your beloved country. Fight your way into the enemy bases and kill anyone that comes at you (they?ll be the ones in blue holding a grenade and rather large gun), this to many people is a shoot-em-up classic.

But how does it fair on the Amstrad?

Graphics

Time to come clean in this review, I first played Commando on the C64 and yes I know that was naughty of me but it was the first game my cousin showed me on the C64. While they were glued to the game I wasn?t so interested, I mean walking up a screen and shooting people (only in one direction) there simply wasn?t enough to keep me entertained, plus it was a little hard for me back then.

The graphics are fine, there aren?t so many colours in the original game so the CPC handles the game pretty well and keeps them almost faithful to the original. They are well drawn and it does look in many ways like an early version of the Amiga classic Cannon Fodder.

Sound

There are plenty of sounds to keep you happy through the levels of the game (gun shots, grenades and everything you expect to hear while being attacked by a group of nut cases). Elite have also treated us with a nice opening track for the title screen, one that has since been repeated on other Elite games - how is that for laziness!?

Gameplay

Gameplay is pretty simple and you can?t go wrong what so ever, you just point your little green soldier man at those enemy blue men (that description fits another known force "men in blue" :O() and hit the fire button while trying to avoid any grenades that come towards you. Elite give you plenty of lives to get from one end to another so it shouldn?t be that difficult to get there, in fact you can almost walk it providing you dodge the on-coming fire. While a little difficult for younger players, fans of the game should be happy.