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When you send your Renoir nude off to the restorer for a spruce-up there’s no danger it will return with the nipples painted out because the restorer thought they might cause offence or arousal. Things work a little differently with computer games it seems. Much-loved isometric sneak-em-upCommandos 2has come back from refurbishment missing a few aesthetic details. German flags have shed their swastikas,Hinomarushave disappeared from the wings and fuselages of Japanese aircraft, and footage of vile misery-monger Adolf Hitler has been cut from the intro cinematic. The edits plus a host of bugs and shortcomings explain the game’s less than rapturous reception and the waspish words about to waft from my word piano.
Kalypso’s attempt to explain the bitmap alterations has probably riled more purchasers than it has placated:
“We have consciously decided to release only one global version ofCommandos 2 HD Remaster, one which as far as possible avoids the use of political symbols such as Swastika or SS-runes. We do not want to encourage racism, discrimination or exclusion with our games. As a cosmopolitan but German company, we see it as our duty to refrain from any kind of radical symbolism.
Asmanyhave pointed out, removing “extreme political symbols” such as swastikas from a game as thoroughly steeped in WW2 as C2 can’t fail to diminish authenticity. The fact that German judges now takea more nuanced viewof fascist logos in games, that Pyro used Nazi iconography sparingly back in 2001, and Kalypso is perfectly happy to selltitlesthat cast players as energetic Großgermanisches Reich enlargers like Guderian and Bock, makes the publisher’s position seem even shakier.
If you’re a history buff there’s a world of difference between this image:
…and this one:
The originalEmilybuttresses the illusion, the roundel-stripped HD one undermines it.
Two days ago, players got a tantalising glimpse of what C2HDR could and should have been at launch. The 1.05 patch introduced camera zooming, a truly transformative improvement that almost single-handedly justifies the re-release.* Although Pyro’s fabulous pre-rendered backgrounds - arguably the one element of C2 thatShadow Tacticsdidn’t outshine - haven’t benefited in the slightest from the HD treatment, it’s splendid that we can now decide, with a roll of a mouse wheel, how much ravishing real-estate we have on our screen at any one time. Before 1.05 the most tangible and – to me – most welcome things the newcomer brought to the table were crisper interiors, commandos and sentries. There’s no denying, Tiny and co. look awfully fuzzy in legacy versions.
- Zoom levels in C2 aren’t entirely new. Italian modder, Stankan,implemented thembefore Yippee did.
The sections of this review concerned with censorship and bugs really should have been devoted to extra content and engine improvements. If the new IP owners had provided an extra bonus map or two, figured out a way to add Desperados-style synchronised actions, randomised sentry positions or mission variants to the game, then C2HDR might seem more attractive to those of us who’ve already purchased Pyro’s magnum opus twice before. As it stands, bug-speckled and prudishly pruned of period sigils, it’s eminently ignorable.
While the unimaginative can, if they wish to, painstakingly depopulate most of the game’s ten main dioramas using the dull/efficient combination ofcigarette packet and knife, there are inducements to use more novel tactics everywhere. Creative commando choreographers cull with the aid of trip wires, disguises, drugged wine, radio decoys, fists, firearms, fire*, hastily dug holes, freshly applied lipstick… They employ performing mice, tame elephants, even hungry crocodiles at times.
- Squeamish Kalypso have modified molotovs so that they kill instantly.
The freedom to tackle the magnificent levels almost any way you choose, remains one of C2’s most beguiling attractions.
