A double-bill of revamped Pyro Studios games are coming our approach on January 24th, 2020, publishers Kalypso introduced as we speak: “HD Remasters” of Commandos 2 and Praetorians. 2001’s Commandos 2 is a correct good’un, a squad-based tactical isometric sneak-o-shooter about covert operations in World War 2 – and an enormous inspiration for newer games like Shadow Tactics. Praetorians is a Roman RTS, which I don’t know however I guess Ghoastus does. The HD Remasters look worse to my eye and the originals are nonetheless bought so I’m not wholly certain what the purpose is, however hey, any excuse to remind folks of Commandos?
Kalypso bought Pyro’s games in 2018, saying they deliberate to revive ’em with revamps and new games. Still no phrase on a Commandos 3, however right here’s Commandos 2 – HD Remaster and Praetorians – HD Remaster coming in a number of months. Kalypso discuss enhancing the controls and UI in each games, which does sound welcome, however the marquee characteristic is the revamped artwork. This artwork appears unhealthy.
In 2016, resident RPS warman Tim Stone declared his favourite art style to be Commandos 2. He defined:
“No-one looks at a Vermeer or a Caravaggio and goes ‘Beautiful! In an old fashioned sort of way’. It’s the same with Commandos 2 screenshots. Despite being almost old enough to vote and kill for king and country, Pyro Studio’s team tactics triumph looks as fresh and fabulous today as it did when it was released in 2001.”
And it does. Commandos 2 appears wholly like itself with exact, painterly pixels. The HD Remaster is noisy, messy, over-sharpened, clashing, and charmless. This is especially clear within the screenshots on Steam. It has extra extra element, little question, nevertheless it appears worse. The noise crushes implied and imagined element with ugly actual particulars.
This is a mistake numerous remasters and makeover mods make. They chase greater texture resolutions and polygon counts with a deal with ‘detail’ and ‘realism’ over fashion. Technology trumps artistry. Games tradition normally has an actual drawback with this, fed by {hardware} producers pushing the march of technological progress and better constancy as aesthetic enhancements. Nvidia are making old games look worse with high-tech features to get folks to purchase new graphics playing cards. PC gaming has no style. We’re so cheesy.
Commands 2 – HD Remaster and Praetorians – HD Remaster are approaching January 24th. The originals are nonetheless bought on Steam and GOG for about £4. Bet the brand new ones will price extra.
While we’ve no phrase on any Commandos Three but, the Desperados sequence (which is so very Commandos-y) is being revived by THQ Nordic with a Desperados III made by the studio behind Shadow Tactics.
