"Far from just your Normandy trenches, Commandos Origins spans the globe."

Right off the bat, I was struck by how much biome diversity the team at Claymore managed to squeeze out of the tried and true World War II setting. Far from just your Normandy trenches, Commandos Origins spans the globe. The visual distinction from mission to mission is stark and appreciated.

And there’s a lot of missions to chew through here: 14 to be exact. This is a notable jump up in content from the 10 missions from Commandos 2 and 12 from Commandos 3. But it’s really the quality of said missions that really matters, and in this, Commandos Origins doesn’t disappoint. Each map provides numerous ways to accomplish your objectives. Want to go in guns blazing? Well, you can shoot up the place if you can manage to avoid alarms and reinforcements. It’s also possible to go the pacifist route and avoid conflict altogether, though this might be even more difficult than the Rambo method. Most players will find themselves somewhere in the middle between these two extremes, avoiding patrols that are out of the way and stealth killing soldiers one at a time to avoid setting off alarms.

The game’s wide map design accommodates either (and both) of these playstyles well, providing plenty of tools and equipment for commandos to take advantage of along the way. There’s even some incentive to explore and comb every inch of maps with the a handful of collectibles in each mission. Obtaining these collectibles provides a nice side challenge in itself due to their being tucked away in soldier’s bunkers and other heavily patrolled areas off-the-beaten-path. Managing to grab these secrets won’t grant any gameplay boons or anything, but they do provide some historic text and images of things like the Willy’s Jeep and its usage in WWII, for instance. Additionally, there’s side objectives which add even more replayability and challenge.

The nitty gritty of how you interact with these maps is quite another matter. As expected, the isometric camera from previous games returns, except it’s fully controllable this time around instead of the limited rotation controls from Commandos 3. You can zoom in and out and fully rotate the cam here. The UI on console is rather minimalistic. All your tools and weapons are found on a hotkey menu using RT, as are your units and orders using LT. The team did a fine job avoiding a clustered and overwhelming UI, just showing unit portraits and tool graphics in the upper corners, with a minimap chilling in the bottom right. Players will find console controls quite streamlined and intuitive for the most part, though toggling and interacting with viewcones is a tad bit clunky.

Since this is such a stealth-oriented game, knowing an enemy’s line of sight is crucial. That’s where viewcones come in. Unfortunately, you can’t just toggle all enemy viewcones in the immediate area on; you have to either set a viewcone marker or select enemy cones individually. I like the idea of setting a viewcone in a dedicated spot, but it’s too small to be useful. Also, enemies patrol and move in and out of zones often, invalidating the usefulness of most viewcone markers. Highlighting individual enemy viewcones isn’t much better since it can be finicky aiming at the individual you want when they’re in groups. The more imprecise nature of a control stick just doesn’t compare to the fine pinpoint accuracy of a mouse in this regard.

Another issue I had with viewcones is how inconsistent they are at times. There have been moments when I was clearly outside the viewcone when all a sudden the enemy starts gunning me down without warning. What’s the point of viewcones if they’re not 100% reliable? Yes, there are other variables at play that override viewcones. If you make noise or enemies see footprints, enemies will be alerted to your presence (and there’s even a visual indicator of noise made). As a result, I found myself mistrusting viewcones throughout my playthrough, which kinda defeats the purpose of such a mechanic.

"The meat and potatoes of the Commandos series lies in the tools each of your units wields."

Speaking of visual distinction, you can highlight interactable aspects of the environment and tell enemies from comrades with an ‘highlight mode’ toggle. I highly recommend turning manual toggle on, since the countdown duration options seems to be bugged at the moment, often leaving everything highlighted until a cutscene or combat occurs.

Of course, by now you may be asking yourselves why Commandos is labelled as a real-time-tactics game despite its actionable stealth gameplay. The answer lies with Command Mode. This tactical mode can be initiated at any time, and will pause all gameplay allowing you to set up movement and commands for your squad to perform. Command Mode isn’t forced upon the player, but it is often helpful when simultaneous control of units is needed. Another option is to play with another player via 2-player co-op. Co-op can be done online or split-screen.

The meat and potatoes of the Commandos series lies in the tools each of your units wields. You take control of six distinct commando units throughout the game, each with their own skillset and playstyle. While all commandos share certain abilities, like using medkits or knocking out opponents, certain abilities like setting bear traps are unique to a particular unit. I found the broad tookit to be satisfying and open-ended. Your Green Beret can set a sound decoy or you can just whistle with the Sapper to accomplish a similar, though slightly altered outcome.

What’s more impressive is how each mission has unique abilities for each of the commandos based on the distinct properties of the environment. For example, the mission in the Arctic Circle has some communication lines with poles between them. The Green Beret can shimmy up and climb across the various poles, allowing quicker access without being seen. Just because you’ve seen all of one unit’s abilities doesn’t mean a mission won’t introduce a new way to interact with the environment.

For longtime Commandos fans, it’s worth pointing out that enemies don’t have inventory here. They drop single items, like medkits, if anything at all. This makes Commandos Origins more streamlined, eliminating some of the inventory management the classic games had. Something this does share with those classics is difficulty. Even on the easiest of the three difficulty settings, Commandos Origins has a steep learning curve that brutally punishes mistakes. You’ll find yourself getting caught and dying often. This brings up load times. The load times may not be egregious on PS5, but they do take a while compared to similar games on the console. I wish the load times were shorter, if not instantaneous, since they occur quite often considering the difficulty of the game.

This leads to several technical issues that I continue to encounter in the game. Some of the more egregious glitches were corrected with a patch. Unfortunately, persistent screen tearing continues to plague Commandos Origins. Whether your playing on graphics or performance mode, rotating the camera up and down results in noticeable screen tearing. And I wouldn’t recommend playing on graphics mode, by the way, the framerate and screen tearing issues are too persistent. Another issue I had occurred within the save menus. For example, looking through autosaves scrolls up and down wildly, at times leading to a softlock situation.

On the gameplay side of things, I’ve encountered a couple of invisible walls preventing me from hiding in time, leading to an early death or two. These invisible walls could have something to do with the vertical terrain they tried to implement, but with no way to measure terrain height with the isometric view, it’s too hard to tell what might just be a slight hill preventing interactivity (and the highlight mode doesn’t show anything).

"By far my favorite aspect of the visuals are the variety of biomes and doodads populating each of the maps."

While Commandos 2 felt ahead of its time with its detailed isometric graphics, Origins is average when compared with its peers. The fidelity of textures is nice and detailed and the lighting is indicative of the Unreal Engine 5 lumen tech it’s using, but it doesn’t do anything other games in the genre aren’t doing better. By far my favorite aspect of the visuals are the variety of biomes and doodads populating each of the maps.

One area that is found particularly lacking graphics-wise are the animations. Vehicles move about with no subtlety or finesse, looking like loosely animated cartoons in spots. Then there’s the absence of proper transition animations with certain character actions. The lack of animation finesse coupled with all the glitches I experienced made Commandos Origins a rather lukewarm experience on the graphical and technical end.

The soundscape is hit or miss, much like the graphics. Commandos has taken a live orchestra approach with its soundtrack, but the compositions themselves lack the punchiness and melodic strength of the original games. The soundtrack comes off as your expected military background music; nothing bad but not memorable either. It would’ve been nice to have the original soundtrack option via toggle, but I didn’t expect that kind of thing. The voices of all six commandos are serviceable, but didn’t particularly wow me. This reboot brings back those delightfully charming sound effects, thankfully. When zoomed-in, buzzing of telephone polls or the engine of vehicles is heard, which makes for some good atmosphere.

Overall, Commandos Origins packs a lot of strategic fun into a modern nostalgic package. The six commando units offer a lot of gameplay variety and the missions vary with distinct biomes and multiple ways to complete them. The game still has some bugs to iron out, but Commandos Origins comes recommended if you’re a fan of methodical stealth and real-time-tactics games.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

What is it?

Commandos: Origins is a long-in-the-making revival of the legendary real-time tactics-come-stealth series, this being the first entry since 2003’s Commandos 3: Destination Berlin (ignoring 2006 first-person departure Commandos: Strike Force). In prequel Origins, you’ll undertake covert operations, daring raids, and heroic rescues; seminal missions integral to changing the course of World War II, their significance forging the elite espionage unit’s legacy.

Origins differs from previous Commandos games

The complex, isometric gameplay championed by Commandos games of old is present here, but Origins provides even larger maps, real-time environments with zoom in and perspective rotation capability, multi-storey buildings integrated into the map, and more widespread opportunity to interact with the environment and to utilize the surroundings to stay hidden.

How stealth works

Success in Commandos: Origins is all about tactics. Combining your squad’s abilities to coordinate complex actions and execute in real-time is the game’s bread and butter. Flavour though comes in its stealth mechanics and there’re numerous approaches to consider to best the unit’s Nazi foe. Guns blazing is an option, but loud noises will of course attract attention. Instead, tried and true bush hiding, patrol route study, and utilising environmental objects such as radios to create audible diversions mix with enemy fields of vision; ostensibly, eye-line cones which you can’t enter, with a section farthest from enemy’s eyes where detection is evaded by crawling through. Failing to observe surroundings, not hiding bodies, leaving footprints, these are swift ways to raise alarms too.

Six playable commandos

Poster boy for the series, the ‘Green Beret’ Jack O’Hara is the first soldier you’ll command. Under his leadership, also comprising the elite unit are Thomas ‘The Engineer’ Hancock, Francis T ‘The Sniper’ Woolridge, Samuel ‘The Driver’ Brooklyn, James ‘The Marine’ Blackwood, and Rene ‘The Spy’ Duchamp. Each playable commando shares numerous skills, but their nicknames should clue you in to their specialty. The Spy, for example, can don Nazi uniforms to infiltrate camps, whilst The Driver is, of course, a dab hand at manoeuvring vehicles.

Missions at launch

Commandos: Origins has fourteen missions, each with at least one unique objective but, moreover, numerous objectives to complete. Assignments will take the squad to all corners of the war in Europe, with the harsh inclemency of the Eastern Front, Arctic frozen tundra, rugged Western coastlines, and historically authentic locales our team will operate.

Multiple paths to victory

The levels in Commandos: Origins are diverse environments, stuffed with detail and interactivity. As a result of their design, mission victory is achievable via multiple means. Stealthy versus non-stealthy approaches aside, numerous paths are possible, and elevation is achievable. Hiding, climbing, and even driving vehicles are viable options to completing each level’s objectives.

Enemy types

Throughout each mission in Commandos: Origins you squad will encounter various enemy types. Guards, for instance, are usually stationed watching the approach to locations of high tactical value. Furthermore, guards tend to holster formidable weaponry such as the fearsome German submachine gun the MP40. Unlike guards who won’t abandon their post, officers will float between patrols. Snipers hide in eagle’s nests, ready to kill the squad from afar. Sappers, combat engineers, and regular solders, the latter of whom are more easily lured, round out the enemies O’Hara and his team will encounter.

Vehicles

There are numerous vehicles dotted throughout the environments of Commandos: Origins that can be commandeered by the squad. The standard military truck Opel Blitz can be found in four variants alongside the Volkswagen Kübelwagen and American made Jeep Willys, providing options to transport the unit. More hardcore is the Panzerkampfwagen 3 – or Panzer – an infamous German tank that’ll be well-known to anyone who’s played or watched anything to do with World War II. Mission specific Zodiac boats for aquatic infiltration will also be controllable. Worth pointing out at this juncture as, whilst not vehicles, anti-tank guns like the PAK 38, anti-aircraft guns such as the Flakvierling and Flak 88, and station mounted MG34 machine gun will be controllable too.

Loot

Loot in Commandos: Origins comes in the form of collectibles dropped from slain enemies like first aid kits and ammunition, plus items found out in the wilds. In a system described as modernised by the developer, loot acquired here supports Origins’ stealth rather than promote a guns-blazing approach, with collectibles like enemy uniforms discoverable.

Difficulty levels

There’re three difficulty levels to choose from in Commandos: Origins. Beginner gives players room for tactical error, with slow reacting enemies and increased commando health. Normal is more fitting for those with combat experience, with strategic knowledge and combat skill already at their disposal. Here, enemies will react faster whilst commandos, still able to withstand moderate amounts of damage, aren’t as resilient as they are at beginner difficulty. The third tier – hard – is for veterans. Actions must be planned and executed perfectly as enemies react immediately and commando health is at a premium.

Command Mode

To execute your plans to pinpoint perfection, Commandos: Origins includes a new-to-the-series Command Mode. Entering the mode is as simple as pausing the game before issuing orders to each of your squad. Orders can then be executed individually or together simultaneously. The example given in a demonstration video sees the Engineer lay a trap for a patrolling guard before both the Green Beret and the Marine are instructed to take down two stationary guards.

Multiplayer modes

All missions in Commandos: Origins – the first mission aside – are playable in two player co-op either online or via local split-screen.

Platforms, release date, and price

Commandos: Origins releases April 9^th to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S – with day one access via game pass – and PC via Steam. Priced at $49.99, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are coming later in the year. A retail edition has been confirmed for current-gen consoles and PC, although exact details are yet to be shared.

Deluxe edition

In addition to the standard digital version, Commandos: Origins will also come in a deluxe edition available on the same April 9^th date. Included in the deluxe edition are legacy skins which each commando can adorn to reflect their classic appearance in Commandos 2: Men of Courage, a digital calendar with twelve unique motifs from the game, a digital copy of the original 15-track soundtrack, and a unique 3D print template allowing you to print your own 3D Green Beret bust. The deluxe edition will also be available as a physical version on May 22^nd.

PC requirements

Minimum specs to run Commandos: Origins on your PC include an i5-4690K or Ryzen 7 2700 processor, GeForce GTX 970 or Radeon RX 580 GPU, and 8GB RAM. Recommended specs demand an i7-9700 or Ryzen 7 3700X processor, GeForce RTX 3060 or Radeon RX 6600 XT GPU, and 16GB RAM. Upscaling via FSR or DLSS is available depending on your PC hardware. 31GB of storage space is required.

Dungeon Keeper would inspire several titles throughout gaming’s history. There’s also Dungeons, Realmforge Studios’ franchise, which evolved from killing fully satisfied heroes (don’t ask, I don’t know) to a closer adaptation of Bullfrog’s formula. It mixes dungeon management and building while allowing you to take your forces to the surface to wreak havoc.

"While the story is fairly tongue-in-cheek and doesn’t mess around too much with fantasy tropes, the jokes range from grating to awful."

Over eight years since Dungeons 2 and a whopping 26 years since the original Dungeon Keeper, we have Dungeons 4. It’s bigger, brighter and tries way too hard with the humor, but still an entertaining experience with enough new features.

The story sees Thalya, the Dark Elf, leading her forces against her stepbrother Tristan after murdering her father Tanos. As the Absolute Evil’s servant, Thalya boasts special abilities and can rally nearby units into a frenzy. After laying waste to her brother and seizing his magical gauntlet, she returns to the Dungeon Lord and inadvertently causes their demise. Taking up leadership of the evil armies is outside Thalya’s realm of expertise, and she’s swiftly captured. As the disembodied Evil Hand, it’s your job to rescue her, while going about and laying waste to the forces of good.

While the story is fairly tongue-in-cheek and doesn’t mess around too much with fantasy tropes, the jokes range from grating to awful. You’ll face jokes that mock the Marvel Cinematic Universe, microtransactions, heroic speeches and game design at a rapid clip, with no time to breathe and barely any set-up. It’s like the writers are throwing anything even somewhat relevant to the wall and see if it lands, which rarely happens.

The Narrator tries his best to roll with the punches and deliver them in a deadpan but sophisticated manner, but it all meshes together so horribly. It also doesn’t help that the in-game cinematic sequences (not the 2D cutscenes, which display some noticeable screen-tearing) are so awkwardly put together and executed. I’m not expecting triple-A production values, but these could have been handled better. It may sound overly harsh, but considering how prominent the story and dialogues are during the campaign, it’s a drag every time a new development occurs.

"While it’s possible to pick up and place units anywhere in your dungeon, smacking them around for an added boost, the overworld requires designating spots to attack."

Gameplay-wise, the opening sequence starts with real-time strategy combat. You can select Thalya and different units with the directional pad on the Xbox controller or lasso them all at once. It can get chaotic, especially when thrown into the game for the first time. The good news is that past the annoying story set-up and unfunny circumstances – Thalya doing “the snap” with the Gauntlet of Finitude, har de har – the gameplay proceeds to the actual dungeon building.

You start with a Dungeon Heart and some minions who can mine out different sections underground, discovering Gold Veins and building Treasuries. Hoard enough, and you can spend Gold to hire Goblins, Orcs and Nagas or invest in further research. These units – and many more that pop up during gameplay, like Demons and the Undead – require different resources to sustain themselves. You need to build a Hideout where they can rest and Gobblers to eat.

Demons, on the other hand, don’t need rest but require a Vortex to regenerate if slain. It’s all standard RTS fare, and once you’ve made enough headway with research, you can start constructing Traps to impede any heroes that wander into your dungeon. A new addition to Dungeons 4 are Dwarves, who are also mining for Gold and will try to infiltrate your abode. Since they fall on the side of good, you get some Evil for slaying them, which can bolster your forces and technology.

After enough preparation, you send your forces to the overworld to take out the forces of good. While it’s possible to pick up and place units anywhere in your dungeon, smacking them around for an added boost, the overworld requires designating spots to attack. Sometimes, you encounter other units who are caged – free them, and they join your rampaging army, which further adds to the snowball (and helps get around unit caps).

"Whether you’re underground or in the overworld, environments and character models are vibrant, and the weather effects and lighting can be crisp."

As you destroy more heroic buildings and conquer their armies, the landscape transforms and twists with a dark aura. Assail the required objectives, reap the Evil that comes with them (while building a Vault to store it) and then proceed to the next mission to repeat the process from scratch.

The mission design is decent but not spectacular, and initially familiarizes you with the mechanics while presenting a fun, if not altogether challenging experience, at least on Normal. Getting your bearings can be a little tough initially, especially when your units tire or hunger after a single battle and won’t attack an enemy structure unless plopped next to it. Nevertheless, while it seems lacking in strategic depth, it’s fun to watch your army wash over the enemy and obliterate them.

Maintaining that fervor while adjusting your dungeon, whether it’s traps that slow heroes down and push them into nearby lava, can feel oddly satisfying and somewhat addictive. Being able to rain down magic on unsuspecting enemies also doesn’t hurt and adds to the experience of being the Absolute Evil. The Narrator also doesn’t feel too overbearing throughout all this, though there’s an option to tone down the frequency of his commentary.

Co-op is supported for the campaign and Skirmish, and you can replay missions to unlock different Achievements. Outside of the cutscenes, the presentation is good. Whether you’re underground or in the overworld, environments and character models are vibrant, and the weather effects and lighting can be crisp.

"The series may never live up to Dungeon Keeper’s legacy, but it’s doing a good enough job of establishing its niche and continuously refining it."

The downside is that performance slogs when multiple units are slaying out. It’s not unplayable, but definitely noticeable – thankfully, the combat speed is easy enough to manage even with these issues. The music can get repetitive, especially if your preferred genre isn’t “low-fi evil schemes to terrorize” but thankfully doesn’t grate (your mileage may vary).

Dungeons 4 doesn’t drastically overhaul the formula of its predecessors, instead focusing on refining and adding to it in fun ways. Realmforge knows its core gameplay loop and how to accentuate it in fun ways without overwhelming the player. Given the effort put into the story and its humor, it’s a shame that it feels so throwaway and the characters so bland.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking to build the dungeon of your dreams (or nightmares) and send evil armies out to cause chaos, Dungeons 4 may scratch that particular itch. The series may never live up to Dungeon Keeper’s legacy, but it’s doing a good enough job of establishing its niche and continuously refining it.

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.

As a prequel to the series, the real-time tactics title follows the beginnings of the World War 2 squad. Jack O’Hara returns as a Green Beret, and with his companions, players can utilize their skill sets – from the explosive Sapper to the elusive Spy – to conduct rescue missions and raids. Stealth and sabotage are your main objectives instead of straight-up gun fights.

There are over ten missions based on authentic World War 2 environments, from the Arctic to the African desert, with two-player co-op support (both online and via split-screen). You can simultaneously execute commands across your squad, drive vehicles, and more. Stay tuned for more details ahead of the game’s release.

Upon booting up the game, you will be greeted with a short tutorial that takes you through the basics of tennis such as how to deal serves and the different kinds of shots one can play. On the PlayStation 5, the cross button is for a flat shot – which is a straight shot and great for when you want a lot of speed. The circle button is for a topspin shot which when used correctly, can make it really hard for your opponents to follow up. The triangle is for a lob shot which helps when you need time to reposition yourself, and so on and so forth. The triggers are used for prioritizing shots like volleys, which can also prove to be useful in certain tactical situations. Positioning is also an important part of the equation, and you need to have a solid grasp on both player position and where the ball bounces – which is done through a well-implemented and responsive targeting system.

"The AI can be pretty aggressive at times, and when given the chance – your opponents will easily close the points gap in mere moments."

Matchpoint Tennis Championships seems to be aiming for a fine-tuned balance between accessibility and depth with its mix of simulation and arcade mechanics – and it generally hits the sweet spot with its moment-to-moment gameplay. Those just starting out with tennis titles may find this tutorial a bit overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it – you will be easily switching between shot types as and when needed easily. That said, it’s really important that you actually complete the tutorial and gain a basic understanding of how the actual gameplay works before diving head-first to matches.

Because booting up into a quick match without a proper knowledge of the systems is essentially a death sentence, since opponents are fierce and will quickly ace through sets if you don’t know what you are doing. My time with Matchpoint Tennis Championships was mostly spent on the Semi-Pro difficulty, and most opponents would require me to carefully assess the situation everytime and make meaningful plays to win points. The AI can be pretty aggressive at times, and when given the chance – your opponents will easily close the points gap in mere moments.

"Strengths can be anything from a strong backhand shot to an increased spin in top spin shots, while weaknesses range from being unable to play cross-court shots to becoming anxious on breakpoint."

Matchpoint Tennis Championships has two basic gameplay modes – a quick match and a career mode. The former allows you to select your player character and an opponent from the game’s humbly sized roster of tennis superstars along with the ruleset and type of ground where you want to play. The Career mode on the other hand, sees you create your own tennis player from a fleshed-out character creator and embark on a long journey to make it to the top. You will undergo multiple training routines, exhibition matches, and championship matches as you try to make a name for yourself in the prestiged sport. Winning these matches will earn you new gear like rackets, shoes which increase your MPT points that are your player stats.

One of the more interesting parts of the Career mode matches is the game’s strengths and weaknesses system. As you start to exchange a few shots with your arch nemesis, a pop-up will indicate the opponent’s strength and weakness. Strengths can be anything from a strong backhand shot to an increased spin in top spin shots, while weaknesses range from being unable to play cross-court shots to becoming anxious on breakpoint. One time I came across an opponent who would get impatient after playing a couple of shots and charge towards the net. So I intently exchanged a few shots, and sure enough when the enemy charged at the net – I followed up with a fast fiat shot aimed at the back of the court for an easy win again and again. Since you will be facing threats with stats mostly superior to your own, it’s vital that you study your opponent and build a strategy around avoiding their strengths and exploiting their weaknesses.

"In conclusion, Matchpoint Tennis Championships ends up feeling like a game of two halves."

Unlike something like WWE 2k22, there’s no overarching story tying the career mode matches all together; you simply choose matches and play through them one after the other. As such, playing through the career starts becoming boring after a while – which is made even more aggravating when you consider there isn’t much to play other than that. Matchpoint Tennis Championships allows you to compete in online matches and even supports cross-platform play, but since I wasn’t able to find any matches during review – I am reserving my judgments on the matter. Apart from these three major modes, you only get a handful of FIFA-esque Skill Games that hone in on a certain aspect of training, and the only reason to revisit them after gaining an understanding of the system is to try and beat your high score which is to say there isn’t anything much there as well.

Furthermore, you can’t even participate in tournaments without entering the career mode. Add that with the lack of popular match types like doubles, and Matchpoint Tennis Championships starts to feel like a package that’s really light on content. On that note, I should also mention that there are only 20 tennis superstars in the roster, and while all of them are licensed players – almost none of them are widely renowned like Roger Federer or Maria Sharapova which are obviously enough, absent from the roster. The same feeling of being a half-baked package extends to the presentation as well, as the game’s visuals do leave a lot to be desired. It’s fine enough to not be distracting to the experience, but it certainly feels lacking in the textures and facial models department. The game’s soundtrack is also composed of generic-sounding tracks, which obviously does not hold a candle to the many licensed tracks that the likes of FIFA feature with their annualized entries.

"In its current state, Matchpoint Tennis Championships is a decent game but not one that you’d want to really sink your teeth into. "

In conclusion, Matchpoint Tennis Championships ends up feeling like a game of two halves. On one hand, the on-court experience of trading a flurry of shots with your opponent is great – all thanks to a simple but effective control scheme and formidable opponents that will test your understanding of these mechanics. On the other hand though, everything supporting that basic structure like the career mode and training mini-games and player roster- all end up feeling barebones. Topping it all off is a lack of support for additional game modes like doubles tennis alongside a visual and audio presentation that leaves a lot to be desired. In its current state, Matchpoint Tennis Championships is a decent game but not one that you’d want to really sink your teeth into. 

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the game’s launch.

"There are a lot of miniscule movements that tennis players make that are imperceptible in full speed but are integral to their performance. With the use of the Xsens mocap suit, we suited up real pro tennis players in our quest for accurate motion capture."

What can you tell us about Matchpoint: Tennis Championships’ career mode? How is it structured, and what does its overall progression work like?

In Career Mode players will face the challenge in climbing from a low ranked player all the way to World #1. Start by creating your character and customising their features and outfit, then commence your training to improve your skills and unlock a series of coaches, rackets, and shoes to boost your performance. Tactical decision making is integral to your success as your choice of coach will ascertain which of your player’s strengths improve. Across your career, players can compete in 65 tournaments across 6 continents, against 500 opponents, all with unique combinations of strengths and weaknesses – including the superstars that are waiting for you near the top.

How extensive will the game’s character creation and customization options be?

The character customisation in Matchpoint – Tennis Championships is broad and allows players extensive choice in changing their look, fashion and playstyle. Select your outfits from a vast array of apparel and unlock special equipment by winning competitive matches.

I imagine getting the balance right for different techniques and styles is as tricky to pull off as it is crucial. What was that process like, especially for a game that’s putting so much emphasis on authenticity and realism?

During the early stages of development research, we watched a lot of tennis in slow motion and studied the sport in as much depth as possible. There are a lot of miniscule movements that tennis players make that are imperceptible in full speed but are integral to their performance. With the use of the Xsens mocap suit, we suited up real pro tennis players in our quest for accurate motion capture. In doing this, we then approached gameplay movement from the perspective that professional tennis players never stop and are in a constantly moving state out on the court. This influenced the recreation of small movements such as shuffle and split-steps to increase in-game realism. We also wanted to replicate the real-life complexities in moment-to-moment tactics and shot selection. Our game encourages players to be creative in their decision making. Tactical shot and power selection can all make the difference between winning and losing – just like in a real game.

"Multiplayer mode is easily one of our favourite parts of the game! 1 vs. 1 tennis is always going to be a lot of fun and playing against another human is the greatest test of strategy for even the most confident of players; it really forces you to be more creative when trying to overcome different strategies."

What steps have you taken to ensure that Matchpoint: Tennis Championships offers compelling, balanced competitive gameplay in online and multiplayer modes?

Multiplayer mode is easily one of our favourite parts of the game! 1 vs. 1 tennis is always going to be a lot of fun and playing against another human is the greatest test of strategy for even the most confident of players; it really forces you to be more creative when trying to overcome different strategies. In terms of balanced multiplayer gameplay, Matchpoint features a ranked multiplayer that uses the ELO ranking system in matchmaking. Whether it’s a local or online match – in our fully cross-platform online multiplayer – we think multiplayer mode is a feature that will really keep players coming back again and again.

Do you have any post-launch plans for the game right now in terms of additional content or modes?

We do have post-launch plans that we will soon share with the community. As for now our focus is to support our players on release to make sure they enjoy Matchpoint as much as we enjoyed working on it.

Tennis fans haven’t had access to a great many well-made sims in recent years- why do you think that is? How do you hope to change that with Matchpoint: Tennis Championships?

Tricky to say! With the lasting popularity of titles including Top Spin 4 and Virtua Tennis, it is a tough act to follow. As huge tennis fans ourselves, we knew we wanted the game to have a deep focus on rally tactics, so we spent a lot of time studying real tennis players on court to implement true-to-life gameplay features that you’d find in a real match. Mostly, however, we wanted the game to be a lot of fun and we hope we have achieved this!

"We wanted the game to be a lot of fun and we hope we have achieved this!"

Do you have any plans to optimize the game for Steam Deck? If yes, what kind of specifications can we expect?

Matchpoint has been thoroughly tested on the Steam Deck and we’re quite satisfied with the results. At the moment we are not planning further optimization, but we’re not excluding additional support for the upcoming patches and updates.

What frame rate and resolution does the game on PS5 and Xbox Series X?

Matchpoint targets native 4k resolution at 60fps.

Commandos 3 – HD Remaster involves players leading a special forces unit deep behind enemy lines during World War 2. The game features improved controls and user interface over its predecessors.

Commandos 3 was also the first game in the franchise to feature 3D models and textures, all of will have been reworked in the remaster.

In Commandos 3, players will take on the trenches of Stalingrad, and even go deep into the heart of the Third Reich in Berlin, and help out with the storming of Normandy on D-Day.

The game features 6 playable commandos—the Green Beret, the Sapper, the Sniper, the Diver, the Spy, and the Thief—all of whom are experts in their field, giving them expertise over specific domains. There will be 12 missions to play through in its campaigns, across 3 major frontlines.

Commandos 3 – HD Remaster will also feature multiplayer modes for 2-8 players, including Deathmatch and Collect the Flag modes, all with distinct victory conditions.

The Nintendo Switch continues to be a port machine, acquiring several games and series that would have seemed unlikely to release on Nintendo hardware even just a few years ago. It’s perhaps no surprise, given the system’s solid if unremarkable hardware and utter sales dominance.

The latest game to come to Nintendo’s little console that could looks to be Port Royale 4, which released for other major platforms in September of last year. Publisher Kalypso Media has confirmed that the game will be releasing on Switch on 28th May. Like other console versions of the game, it’s priced at $49.99, but you can get 10% off if you pre-order.

Port Royale 4 is a fairly intense sim, which is worth keeping in mind. The Nintendo Switch version does include touchscreen support, which should make the simulation aspect of the game a little bit easier. There was supposed to be a Switch trailer for the announcement, but it’s not live yet.

As the head of your 16^th century business, you play as a god hand over the ships, convoys, and towns in the region. After a long-winded set of detailed tutorials, you’re given free reign to begin a campaign or create a sandbox free play world. In the end, Port Royale 4 is effectively a business simulator, so your goal is to make money and keep your entrepreneurial dreams alive. To do this, you have a few options. First and foremost, you are in charge of trading commodities between towns. In the classic economic idea of supply and demand, the lower the supply of a commodity in a town, the more that town is willing to pay for it. Towns that have higher supply, especially those that produce a commodity, will sell it at a lower cost, allowing you to buy and sell at a profit. Though there are some deeper systems at play, this mechanic is not particularly complicated. If a town’s supply of a commodity has two green bars, they’re at an optimal level. Any more than two and they want to sell; any fewer than two and they want to buy.

"On paper, it’s an intricate set of systems to keep yourself and your country on top, but in practice, it’s too often a slow, repetitive journey whose long stretches of downtime overshadow sparse exciting moments."

Trading is straightforward enough, but being the best way to profit, it’s easily the most important and fleshed out mechanic. To ramp up your trading, you can set up trade routes for your convoys of ships, automating and expanding your trading capabilities while forcing you to be mindful of the impressive dynamic wind cycles that slow down or speed up your ship’s movement. You can have as many of these going at once as you’d like, and once you find profitable routes, they become gold mines.

What I don’t like about trading is its simplicity and repetition. Even when done manually, it can almost entirely be boiled down to seeing which towns have fewer green bars for certain commodities and selling to them. There’s little nuance and little to truly manage, and even though you are finally allowed to set manual prices and could probably spend hours tinkering with prices and quantities to optimize trade routes, default buying and selling values are almost always enough to make a profit. It’s certainly satisfying to watch your cash increase as you sit back, which you’ll have to do a lot because of how slow the default fast forward options can be, but it’s little more than watching a number climb.

Also part of your managerial duties is the oversight of towns and local businesses. Towns around the area are each under the purview of one of the four major powers of the time: Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands, one of which you affiliate with before each campaign or at the start of your free play. All towns allow you to build sites for production of different commodities, both increasing the supply of that commodity in the town and employing a set number of workers. At a certain point, you can speak with the relevant viceroy and buy the right to be the administrator and take over all town responsibilities, which encompasses keeping residents happy, growing town populations, and avoiding problems like plagues and overcrowding.

"What I don’t like about trading is its simplicity and repetition. Even when done manually, it can almost entirely be boiled down to seeing which towns have fewer green bars for certain commodities and selling to them."

Though I spent more time trading, I enjoyed the management of towns the most of any mechanic. Population satisfaction accounts for a lot of factors, and it’s an interesting challenge to manage producing enough commodities without angering the population and keeping enough happiness-inducing areas to keep them there. When managing multiple cities, it only ramps up the amount that you have to think about what should be produced where, especially because every town has a limit on commodity production. Sometimes the game will make it evident what you should do, but having so many miniature town simulators with such interplay makes it feel more like you’re truly running the show.

Naval battles are also part of the action, allowing you to fight either roaming pirates or captains from a country with which you’re at war, but this feels more like a forgotten mechanic than an important factor in gameplay, as battles usually boil down to which side has the higher strength number. If you do, you might as well automate the battle because you’re most likely to win, and if you don’t, you should probably back out and get stronger. If you do decide to take battles manually, you’ll find a pretty standard turn-based system. Each ship has an allotted number of spots it can move and can shoot from both sides of its ship. Ships can also perform set tactics, anything from repairing a ship to sending a kraken on the enemy, and the ultimate blow is to board a ship and take it out of the fight entirely. You can loot ships and take some resources, but any benefit from these battles is almost negligible, and I found these fights uninspired and took almost any opportunity to avoid them.

The campaigns, one for each country, are much more structured. After a brief starting cutscene, each starts small in scope and broadens along the way, giving you some series of tasks to improve your business and build your empire. For the most part, though, the on-rails nature of many of the tasks makes it difficult to come out of your shell and make it your own. Most tasks, given by your country’s viceroy, give very specific instructions for what to do next, instead of allowing you to figure out a way to do so on your own. It’s usually “build X number of Y production sites in town Z” instead of anything that gives you much freedom to choose your path. As the four campaigns can take upwards of 20 hours total to finish, it’s frustrating to have such a large part of it feel so linear and allow you to go through the motions without much thought. There are a few parts that strike a great balance between allowing you freedom to operate and giving you a set goal, but it often misses the mark. The campaign is clearly meant to be a stepping stone to get your feet wet before going into free mode, but it’s hard to ignore how much of its long playtime is so underwhelming.

"Naval battles are also part of the action, allowing you to fight either roaming pirates or captains from a country with which you’re at war, but this mechanic feels more like a forgotten step-child than an important factor in gameplay."

The free mode is where the game gives you freedom to set your own goals and create your own successes. It’s very unstructured and allows you to set your own course without much interference from the higher powers, and it’s the clear end game for anyone who wants to play this game for a longer period of time. Having less structure, it’s naturally less clear how to get going, but this is much more of a satisfying long-term experience, especially when you start to take over the entire region.

When it comes down to it, though, all of Port Royale 4’s gameplay is held back by the fact that I didn’t really enjoy any single aspect, and a lot of it can get either boring or completely static. Moments like the one where I had to literally put the controller down and wait for the computer to make enough money through trade routes for me to proceed with the campaign happen frustratingly often. Even though there are a lot of things to do, almost none of them really stood out as the game’s core strength. I’d trade here and build some production sites there, and some of the benefits can be mildly invigorating, but the vast majority of it was some combination of trading and waiting that I rarely felt invested in continuing. Even looking past the underwhelming parts of the campaigns, I was never really excited about coming back to the 16^th century Caribbean. There are certainly a lot of complicated and dynamic systems at play in Port Royale 4, but too much of my time was spent looking for things that weren’t particularly worth finding.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Kalypso Media has announced that a new Commandos game is in development with Claymore Game Studios working on the same. Back in 2018, the publisher had acquired the IP and along with announcing a remaster for Commandos 2, revealed that new titles were in the works. Not much has been revealed about the upcoming sequel though.

Studio director Jürgen Reusswig stated that, “We are very pleased to confirm that we managed to have both the core team and our new offices up-and-running within this short timeframe. We have started development and we’re looking forward to adding more talented staff to our team in the coming months and thereby offering the chance to become an integral part of making an iconic strategy game.”

This pretty much confirms that the sequel is in the early stages of development. Time will tell what approach is taken with the game but at least it’s looking to be another strategy title. Whether it will be set during World War 2 or not is an interesting quandary as perhaps the development team might want to try their hand at some other period.

As for Commandos 2 HD Remaster, it’s currently available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PS4, having garnered average critical reviews. A remaster for Praetorions is also available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It also has decidedly average reviews though it’s been more positively received by users on Steam.