Review – Commandos 2 and Praetorians HD Remaster

With some real-time strategic goodness, today courtesy of Kalypso Media, I’m taking a look through the Commandos 2 and Praetorians HD Remaster Double Pack. While they are available separately, I’m bringing you the video and extended written review of both here today much as I received them (in one neat package).

The Basics

It’s been a number of years since these two first saw the light of day, with Commandos 2 releasing in 2001 closely followed by Praetorians in 2003. Now, nearly 20 years on, they have been remastered for the current generation, and I’ve been playing along with both on Xbox One.

The two titles provide two distinctly different play styles, and while both fall under the umbrella of real time strategy they compliment each other well within this double pack. Commandos brings slow and measured stealth based gameplay, controlling each member of your small commando force one by one. In contrast Praetorians brings battlefield combat with executive control over your Roman army, and a number of troops and abilities to choose from.

I’ve been a huge fan of real-time strategy, and the Commandos franchise in particular, since the late 90s with Behind Enemy Lines. I was excited to see Commandos 2 coming to this generation, and while I hadn’t dabbled in Praetorians at the time I was eager to give this remastered version a go. Sadly, I’ve found that while the strategic gameplay does still hold up overall, there are a number of niggles with controls and visuals which have undersold the title for me.

Parent’s Eye View

The Commandos 2 & Praetorians: HD Remaster Double Pack is rated by PEGI at 16 and above, and by the ESRB at T for Teen. While the ESRB rating remains at Teen, it’s worth noting that standing on its own, Praetorians drops down to a PEGI 12.

While they do it in their own style, both Commandos and Praetorians bring strategic warfare, and while neither are too in-your-face they do of course come with some violence. Even in combat, Praetorians is a relatively bloodless affair, devoid of gore entirely, however during cutscenes there can still be some pretty deep cutting violence.

Within Commandos 2, there are blood effects, which you’ll likely come across fairly often. You can see in the video above these are, however, rather small, and the isometric view of the action does separate you from it considerably.

Suitability here really does depend on the individual micro-bandits in your family. In terms of violence, it’s definitely present but certainly far from a gory blood fest. In terms of difficulty, however, there are a number of controls to remember which the younger generation might get frustrated with. Even with the remastered visuals, the titles do still appear dated, sadly, which might also put the younger generation off all together.

Accessibility

For Accessibility, this double pack is picking up a Moderate. There are a good number of difficulty options available for Praetorians, while Commandos will rely on stealth and player skill to make a dent in the Nazi menace. There’s enough content here to keep you sat at a monitor all night if you want to (and god knows I did when I was at college), but if you just want to rock up and play a level or even half a level here and there, it doesn’t pressure you into spending all your time with it

The Run Down

Visuals – Lacking: Given the focus on being an HD remaster, I had hoped that the visuals on this would be slightly more polished. With some janky camera controls and a lack of real detail still close up, as well as some aged cut scenes, I would have liked to see more focus given to the visuals on this to bring them more up to date

Audio – Fair: A bit of a mixed bag here. The audio effects and music are good enough, but dragged down by some sub-par voice acting and some very repetitive acknowledgements from troops while in each title

Narrative – Fair: Both titles provide a relatively accurate historical narrative, and both do it fairly well. For real time strategy titles such as these, while not setting the world aflame I would say it’s a fair offering.

Replay – Great: Strong replay value here, and while there’s no multiplayer in these it does have the power to suck your life away if you let it. Tactical gameplay in each provides numerous ways to approach each battlefield, and there are a good number of missions throughout both titles in order to keep you busy.

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The Verdict

Overall the Pixel Bandits Greenius Berretus Level for the Commandos 2 & Praetorians: HD Remaster Double Pack is Approach With Caution . I was really hoping for more of a visual upgrade to these ones, but I can’t say I haven’t had a good time with them. As a big fan of strategy titles, this double pack has satisfied a craving for some hands on real time tactical action, but I would be lying if I said there weren’t issues.

Controls here on Xbox can be funky with both titles, and with the quick troop movement and actions required that can be a pretty big problem at times. Overall I would say that if you’re not a die hard strategy fan, look elsewhere for this one, but if like me you love the genre you’ll be ok here as long as you don’t expect polished perfection.