Commando
Main game
3.04 average rating based on 109 ratings
- Developers
- Capcom
- Publishers
- ASCII Corporation, Atari Corporation, Capcom, Data East USA, Elite Systems, INTV Corporation
- Series
- Commando
- Platforms
- Acorn Electron, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Arcade, Atari 7800, Atari ST/STE, BBC Microcomputer System, Commodore 16, Commodore C64/128/MAX, Commodore Plus/4, DOS, FM-7, Intellivision, MSX, PC-8800 Series, Wii, ZX Spectrum
- Genres
- Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Warfare
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Commando?
Related Content
Like 1942, But On The Ground... And A Bit Worse Controls
This review is for the Arcade version
Look: 7/10 This was the most familiar aspect--I swear I had watched this game on the arcade or NES, maybe, when young. As familiar as it was, and with well-developed sprites, still... nothing special.
Sound: 7/10 Nice Nintendo-esque success jingle at end of First Duty. Otherwise, neither annoying nor striking. Quite catchy main tune, but gets repetitive after a while.
Play: 7/10 Such basic features one would expect from an 85 arcade game, like all directional shooting (sure I got a hang of the 8 directions you can shoot toward, but still...)... and that you have to face/go toward the direction you're shooting. But I found myself keep going on and on, much like 1942 and other vertical scrollers. Indeed, right from the get-go, this game felt much like 1942 etc just with a guy running instead of a plane flying. And like with 1942, I wanted to finish it (THERE'S AN ACTUAL SET ENDING!). I didn't think I wanted to because of the limited controls (even if they are quite responsive), but next thing I knew, it says "Now rush to the Last Area"!!! what the heck! welp, let's acccidentally finish this up then.
Pro-tip: at first I thought …
Look: 7/10 This was the most familiar aspect--I swear I had watched this game on the arcade or NES, maybe, when young. As familiar as it was, and with well-developed sprites, still... nothing special.
Sound: 7/10 Nice Nintendo-esque success jingle at end of First Duty. Otherwise, neither annoying nor striking. Quite catchy main tune, but gets repetitive after a while.
Play: 7/10 Such basic features one would expect from an 85 arcade game, like all directional shooting (sure I got a hang of the 8 directions you can shoot toward, but still...)... and that you have to face/go toward the direction you're shooting. But I found myself keep going on and on, much like 1942 and other vertical scrollers. Indeed, right from the get-go, this game felt much like 1942 etc just with a guy running instead of a plane flying. And like with 1942, I wanted to finish it (THERE'S AN ACTUAL SET ENDING!). I didn't think I wanted to because of the limited controls (even if they are quite responsive), but next thing I knew, it says "Now rush to the Last Area"!!! what the heck! welp, let's acccidentally finish this up then.
Pro-tip: at first I thought the sweep motion would be best due to the limited controls, but tho that does have its uses, getting used to the quick jerk in a direction once the enemy is at that exact angle (you'll get used to this unnecessary, but acceptable-enough quirk) to shoot instead of a chaotic sweep around.
Feel: 7/10 Much like 1942, I kept having to remind myself it's okay to just focus on moving forward and prioritizing dodging projectiles/enemies over killing them. Most my deaths were from getting overzealous and trying to kill an enemy instead of just dodging and pushing on. I remember having that same dilemma with 1942 :-p
Attachment: 7/10
OMG! My disappointment when I got through that "Last Area" and it specified "First" Duty. Lol! 
Overall, I was decidedly disappointed in the game--I had heard so much about the series and tho this is the first one, 1985 has had some quality games so far... Nothing wrong with another vertical scroller a la 1942 but I guess I was expecting something a little more exciting and unique. I had to debate whether it was worth pushing on--at least I see there's only one more round of the same levels (ugh, re-cycling), buttttt there is indeed an "every duty"/end. Hmmm
Needless to say, I wound up pushing... and not entirely regretting it heh. If only the controls and gameplay were a bit more advanced (or, well, up to its time imo), because it has an addictive allure to it. 
When I saw that, even after your Every Duty is done, it re-cycles again... I was lied to!! Haha. That's not really a true ending then... But whatevs, it's an arcade game after all. A bit disappointing, but obviously can't be bad considering I finished it lol. Moving on!
Completion: All 8 unique Areas, "Every Duty Finished" Playtime: ~55 mins
A tad-bit Easy... a tad-bit Tedious... a tad-bit Hard.
This review is for the Nintendo Entertainment System version
Took me about an hour to finish this. It began way too easy. 1st and 2nd worlds (1-1 / 2-1) were too easy. Once you reach world 3, the difficulty goes from 1 to 100 very fast.
Too many enemies on screen, too much projectiles, a lot of sudden spawning. The difficulty spikes are horrendous and cheap near the end.
Other point of the spectrum, there is barely any verity in this game. It's just the same levels with different numbers over and over again. to their credit though, I liked the hidden places thrown throughout the level.
The music is catchy despite being repetitive, and the controls can easily work against you near the end of the game along with some slowdowns here and there.
But to be perfectly honest; I enjoyed this game a lot before the the sudden difficulty spikes. If you want to give it a go, then you should prepare to fight with this game.
Beat all 4 missions in slow motion mode. It was lame that the game only had 4 stages that repeated 4 times with harder difficulty each time. I didn't find any bunkers until stage 4, where I had to look up how to get out due to the exit being hidden. It was then that I learned how frequent hidden bunkers were and about the power ups. I never did find a gun powerup. I almost quit during the 1st stage due to not particularly enjoying the game. Die in 1 hit, infinite enemies and only shooting in the direction the guy was moving was lame. I would much rather fixed limited enemies, different weapons, limited ammo and non repeating stages. And a button to lock the direction of aim. As it was it was difficult to both hit enemies and avoid their shots, especially as the bullet hell ramped up later on. Often times it was best to push forward while not bothering to kill, though that was punished at a few places by vehicles and heavy weapons. Moving left and right to create a cone of fire was effective against enemies in front but that fell apart when …
Beat all 4 missions in slow motion mode. It was lame that the game only had 4 stages that repeated 4 times with harder difficulty each time. I didn't find any bunkers until stage 4, where I had to look up how to get out due to the exit being hidden. It was then that I learned how frequent hidden bunkers were and about the power ups. I never did find a gun powerup. I almost quit during the 1st stage due to not particularly enjoying the game. Die in 1 hit, infinite enemies and only shooting in the direction the guy was moving was lame. I would much rather fixed limited enemies, different weapons, limited ammo and non repeating stages. And a button to lock the direction of aim. As it was it was difficult to both hit enemies and avoid their shots, especially as the bullet hell ramped up later on. Often times it was best to push forward while not bothering to kill, though that was punished at a few places by vehicles and heavy weapons. Moving left and right to create a cone of fire was effective against enemies in front but that fell apart when they were close or to the flanks. Sometimes I had to stop and kill for a bit, or dance in circles to find an opening in enemy fire. Grenades had better range than the gun but only hit at that specific range. They were the only way to kill guys in cover or with shields. They were also used to reveal hidden bunkers but I didn't go out of my way for that. There were significant graphical glitches from too much going on that sometimes got me killed by bullets I could not see.
Hard to say how much I would have liked this back in the day. I did not much like it now due to the design but it was a very influential game for it's time.
6.2/10
