War Mongrels Review (AlexTSK)
I grew up on Commandos 2 so this review will contain some bias but I would like to give a fair critique as I did find quite a few issues with this game. It seems like the devs made a 'love letter' to Commandos here and while not every gameplay change is a hit for me, overall this is the closest you will get to a proper Commandos sequel. At the time of writing I have only finished the first few missions but I feel there's more than enough to write about.
There are some significant changes and what seems like 'streamlining' of certain gameplay elements compared to the Commandoes series. Having played Commandos 2 (the best one imo) and this almost back to back I do have some personal gripes as well as overall opinions on what could be improved etc. Some heavy Commandos 2 comparisons incoming!
Pros
The free camera rotation and fully 3D environments are just great, nothing to fault there
Lack of inventory management from C2 can be seen as a pro to some, I personally didn't miss the inventory management from C2 here (feels more streamlined)
Levels are beautifully put together, color choices and grading look great
Heroes abilities make sense and have some interesting flavour
The game really plays like Commandos, same setting, very reminiscent music/score, bombed out locations, atmosphere is A +
The atmosphere and story is quite a bit bleaker but I like that personally, might not be to everyone’s taste though
The new 'action' system is great (slow down time and give multiple heroes a bunch of orders, then execute them all at once). Super cool system however it doesn't always work as intended which is a bit of a letdown.
Cons
My most frustrating issue with this game is that sometimes certain orders given to your heroes just straight up don't work. They won't pick up a body, or the new 'action' system just fails, one hero will do the action you assigned, and another will just stand there, or walk up to the enemy and do nothing. This caused many reloads for me, your mileage may vary though
While I appreciate ragdoll physics on enemy bodies, perhaps only some of the enemies (such as ones on rooftops) should ragdoll. The falling corpses sometimes just disappear, or in the worst case the 'pick up body' prompts just vanishes and you cannot move a dead enemy out of the way. Its not a deal breaker but the inconsistency is what annoyed me personally.
Getting locked into certain animations (such as climbing ladders, and Lukas throwing his grappling hook for example) is pretty annoying. Once you are in an animation such as a ladder climb you cannot change direction like you can in commandos (from 2001 no less). Also cannot drop from ladders mid animation.
Soldier AI bugs out a fair bit depending on how you approach missions. Stealthy kills sometimes cause nearby soldiers to just run away randomly, sometimes not. Can be quite inconsistent.
Nitpicks
Default 'reversed' right click control scheme is annoying at the start, luckily it can be inverted easily, not sure why the default setting is set to be reversed. I have a bunch of muscle memory from playing Commandos and this messed with me in the first mission until I found the option.
Left click to walk seems to sensitive, sometimes registering as a double click causing the hero to stand up and start running at the most inappropriate moment causing a reload. (This may be my mouse, but it feels very weird)
I wish the maps had more interior spaces with more things to interact with however I do understand that time constrains and scope need to be kept in check. There are a couple of maps
Some ladders, windows etc are oddly placed. You can only climb out one way out of some windows which very clearly look like they can be entered in both directions causing some frustration
The voice acting leaves much to be desired and is quite inconsistent. I understand this may just be a result of budget but I almost feel like dialogue boxes without VO might have been better as to not mess with the immersion. Why do the German deserters speak with an American accent? Slightly off putting but not a dealbreaker.
On the topic of dialogue, the writing and delivery also ranges from complete cringe to being genuinely great.
I'll amend the review with any more feedback when I finish the game.
Thank you all at Destructive Creations for creating this gem of a game!