Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 Review

Help Wolf, Coyote, and Fox beat their adversaries

By Simmo44

© 2008 Chris Simpson:

“`Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 is the sequel to the classic title Mercs. It is a top down shooter developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by CAPCOM. With multiple shooters on XBLA can this be the one to top the rest?

“`The previous two titles of the series (Commando and Mercs) were great games of the shooting genre in general, and were instantly fantastic games to play. Many gamers globally loved the simplistic controls and top down shooting. The controls in Commando 3 are still ultra smooth and are easy to use. Even a gamer with no previous experience in shooting games will find it easy to pick up and play.

The shooting is done solely with the right analogue stick, whilst the left is used solely for moving your chosen character around the map. The right trigger is used for grenades, whilst the left trigger is used for your special power-up, which obliterates anyone and anything in your path.

The controls however don’t always serve you well. Once you progress further into the game you gain control of certain vehicles. The controls are woeful compared to the non-vehicle controls. The slightest little movement that you put on the left analogue stick makes the vehicle jerk sharply, not giving you the complete control and movability that is needed. The Vehicles are definitely one of the lowest points of the game and are not enjoyable to use at all.

Commando 3 allows you to play as three very dull and unimaginative characters throughout the adventure. They are Wolf, Coyote, and Fox. Each character has their own unique characteristics which vary from speed, strength and firepower. The characteristics can play a vital role while playing the game. For instance a better fire power stat gives you more damage to expel on enemies, whilst the speed stat makes the character more agile to move around and dodge incoming bullets. It really depends on the player’s preference, which is a good move by the developers.

The enemies, much like the characters, are also very dull and unimaginative. You’ll find yourself fighting wave after wave of the exact same enemy throughout the 5 different levels, which makes the level you’re playing on seem boring and repetitive.

Click any image for full rez view:

WOTB: Commando 3 graphically is one of the best looking games on Live Arcade to date. With some extremely detailed environments, the game is great to look at. Whilst some of the character models aren’t the best, the overall presentation is a major win for CAPCOM.

There’re four difficulty levels included in Commando 3. They are cake walk (easy), routine exercise (normal), black ops (hard) and suicide mission (very hard). The harder difficulty levels are quite challenging, so there is some replayability in the form of multiple game completions on different difficulties.

After playing Commando 3 for a lengthy time period the levels do start to get extremely boring and repetitive. The game doesn’t really add any new elements into the mix. Basically its just run, shoot, dodge, and repeat. The game does lose a lot of it’s charm as time goes on, however at the end of each level you are thrown into an intense Boss fight.

The Boss fights are extremely fun to play, and once you find the gameplay starts to get on the repetitive side, these are one of the few experiences you look forward to. They differ between difficulty making some extremely challenging and requiring some strategy to an extent.

Xbox Live capability also plays a part in Commando 3, making it possible for you and two friends online to play through the campaign together, making the game more fun to play and a lot easier. Local Play is also included into the game.

Overall WOTB: Commando 3 is an average shooter for XBLA. It is certainly not as good as its two predecessors, but it still packs a punch. Live play is the best feature throughout the game and is great fun to play with your mates.

Media Blowout

Click any image for full rez view:

”6.8/10

© 2008 Chris Simpson:

Filed under: 3rd Party Games, Console Customizing, XBLA News-Reviews, Xbox 360 News Tagged: | "Wolf of the battlefield commando 3 review", "WOTB Commando 3 review", "WOTB reviews", Backbone Etertainment, Capcom, Capcom games