Commandos: Strike Force Xbox Interview

Commandos has always been played from an isometric view. Why was the decision made to go to the first person perspective?



Pyro Studios: We always said that with Commandos 3 we were closing a saga, and the decision was to evolve from the PC strategy game towards the multi-platform action game. There were not so many things that we could add to the proposals we had in the strategy saga, while there are lots of new challenges in this new type of game.



We looked at the WW2 first person shooters in the market, and we thought that we could bring some very interesting ideas and proposals from the Commandos world.



We've seen a multitude of world war 2 shooters already for the PC and consoles, what will make this one really stand out against the competition?



Pyro Studios: I guess you will be the one answering that question very soon, but I can tell you what we have tried to make, which is a game where the player decides the way to accomplish the objectives. Having three commandos each one of them with special abilities, deciding to solve situations using different styles of game play: action, infiltration and stealth, swapping between characters and all of this in open maps.



In the past we've been able to control multiple characters in the series. Will this continue and how will this work in the first person format?



Pyro Studios: In CSF we have three commandos: a sniper, a green beret and a spy. As I said before they have different abilities, so for instance the Spy is able to wear enemy uniforms, of distracting enemies, of killing silently with a piano wire, etc. At the beginning of most missions we will have the commando for us to solve the mission with, as we wanted for the player to explore the different capabilities of each of the commandos. In some missions the player will have two commandos and will be able to swap from one to the other at any time. We are not giving the option of having the three characters at the same time, not because of technical reasons, but because in our tests it became a problem for the player.



What has going to the first person allowed you to do in the franchise that you've never been able to do before and what has it limited you from doing that may have been in past games.



Pyro Studios: We have been able to involve the player more into the action. We are going from the commander role, giving orders to his team, to experiencing the action in first person. We are also making it much more accessible to players, as we are designing it not only for the PC but for the consoles too. On the other side, we have lost the possibility of selecting any character at any time.



Can players expect to play through real events or is it a case of the game being set in world war 2 with a fictional storyline for some part of the game?



Pyro Studios: There are three campaigns in the game: One takes place in France, being the background of it the actions with the French resistance, the second one takes place in Norway, with the operations around the heavy water plants, and the last one takes place in Stalingrad, where some of the most brutal combats of WWII took place.



So the game is inspired in real events and locations, but the player will not be playing specific parts of the History.



Will the game feature any online play at all?



Pyro Studios: There are on line modes for the three platforms, with 16 players on PC, and 8 players on consoles (PS2 and Xbox). Apart from the well known multiplayer modes Deathmatch and Team Deatmatch we are including modes that will take advantage of the commandos' special abilities. Right now we are working in two of them that we have called Sabotage and Postmen.



Will there be any major differences between the console and PC versions of the game?



Pyro Studios: Differences will be minimal, we are adapting the game to the machine performance in order to take the consoles to their limits, but we will be playing the same missions. The control mechanics will be different.



Are you planning to continue the high level of difficulty from the previous games or will the game focus more on action then stealth?



Pyro Studios: We will have three levels of difficulty, being the easiest quite forgiving. So enemy reaction will be slower, they will be less accurate when shooting at you, and it will take them a longer period to react against you. The difficult mode will be a different story.



In any case it will be the player the one that will choose to go for an action approach or for a stealth one. Any of the characters will be able to behave both ways, and almost 100% of the scenarios will be playable in both ways.



What graphics technologies can people expect to find in the game?



Pyro Studios: Pixel shader 3.0, advanced physics, ragdolls, dynamic illumination, projected shadows, particle effects, full screen filters, etc.



Thanks to Pyro Studios for their input in this Q&A. Stay tuned to 3DAvenue for more information regarding Commandos: Strike Force as it is released.