History VideoGame / Commandos

* ArtificalBrilliance: Friendly Soldiers (even non-designated Medics) will heal an incapciatated Commando if it's safe and while you can't give them orders, un-controlled Commandos, while immobile, will engage any enemies that see them (holding fire to keep stealth/preserve ammo, but once spotted by an enemy will quickly open fire first.) and can even pop up/down from cover to fire back to defend themselves.

Also of interest, is ''VideoGame/ShadowTacticsBladesOfTheShogun'', a SpiritualSuccessor by Creator/DaedalicEntertainment attempting to revive the gameplay style of ''Commandos'', but swapping the World War II setting for the JidaiGeki, and the ''VideoGame/{{Desperados}}'' series, which is basically ''Commandos'' but set in the [[TheWildWest American Old West]].

* ShoutOut: Lots, especially to movies -- note in particular "[[Film/TheBridgeOnTheRiverKwai Bridge Over the River Kwai]]" from ''Men of Courage'', involving the demolition of a (different) bridge over said river, and the rescue of "Colonel Guinness" (Creator/AlecGuinness played Colonel Nicholson in the movie), and the final mission of the same game, "Film/IsParisBurning".

In July 2018, Kalypso Media, publisher of ''VideoGame/{{Tropico}}'', acquired the rights to the IP, with plans to develop 'completely new games.' The first of their new releases is ''Commandos 2 - HD Remaster'', a remaster of ''Men of Courage'' released the 24th January of 2020 with console ports on the 18th of September 2020.

* ShoutOut: Lots, especially to movies -- note in particular "Bridge Over the River Kwai" from ''Men of Courage'', involving the demolition of a (different) bridge over said river, and the rescue of "Colonel Guinness" (Alec Guinness played Colonel Nicholson in the movie).

[[folder:Commandos: Strike Force]]

* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: There are penguins in [[MisplacedWildlife the North Pole]] mission of ''Men of Courage''.

* KillEmAll: While generally possible, if incredibly difficult to pull off, most missions don't have neutralising every enemy on the map as an objective. Notably examples of missions that do are the final mission of the Normandy campaign in ''Destination Berlin'', where the Green Beret leads a platoon to storm Omaha Beach, most of the tutorial missions throughout the series, and a number of bonus missions in ''Men Of Courage'', which range from clearing outposts, destroying tank squadrons, or fending off assaults.

* WeaponOfChoice: Each of the three main characters' preferred sidearm reflects their playstyle; The Spy's Walther is silenced, the Sniper's Luger has a reputation for being very accurate, and the Green Beret's 1911 is no nonsense with good stopping power.

* ArbitraryGunPower: All pistols, whether they be chambered in .45ACP, 9mm Parabellum or 8mm Nambu, kill in three shots. The [[RareGuns Stg44]] kills in two shots. All rifles, regardless of being chambered in .303 British, .30-06, 7.92mm Mauser or 6.5mm Arisaka, fire {{Instant Death Bullet}}s. The [[MoreDakka MP40]] will kill in one burst, but that counts as multiple hits, obviously.

* RareGuns: The [=StG44=] appears in ''Destination Berlin'', even during the "Stalingrad" campaign (set before the invention of this weapon).

* GratuitousGerman: [[ThoseWackyNazis Obviously]]. In ''Behind Enemy Lines'', the enemy soldiers' entire vocabulary consists of "''[[OhCrap Ein verletzte!]]''"[[note]]lit. "a casualty"[[/note]], "''[[StealthHiBye Wer ist da?!]]''"[[note]]"Who's there?!"[[/note]], "''[[ConvenientlyTimedGuard Halt!]]''" and of course "''[[SoMuchForStealth Alarm! ALARM!]]''".

** A couple of missions involve an ally which can drag to safety an injuried commando or give medkits when asked.

* MultinationalTeam: The Strike Force is a unit of the American army, but only one of them (the Green Beret) is actually American. The Sniper is British and the Spy is German.

* ContrastingSequelProtagonist: The trio are still a British Commandos MultinationalTeam but their nationalities/abilties are different. The Spy this time around is actually [[spoiler German]] as opposed to French and prefers a Garrote and Gas Grenades over a Syringe, the Sniper is more working class than Duke and is more versatile with Throwing Knives like the Diver, and the Green Beret is an American, though likely of Irish descent given his name. Also, they're all commissioned officers.

* AmericaWonWorldWarII: Sort of. The team belongs to American special forces, but only one of them is American (the two others are British and German).

* ContrastingSequelProtagonist: The trio are still a British Commandos MultinationalTeam but their nationalities/abilties are different. The Spy this time around is actually [[spoiler German]] as opposed to French and prefers a Garrote and Gas Grenades over a Syringe, the Sniper is more working class than Duke, and the Green Beret is an American, though likely of Irish descent given his name. Also, they're all commissioned officers.

* HarderThanHard: The unlockable Commando difficulty which is unlocked by getting 5 stars in every level, which even goes so far as to strip the Spy of starting with his Silenced Pistol.

* ArtifactTitle: Strike Force is a unit of the American OSS and not of the British Commandos, meaning that the protagonists aren't technically commandos.

* ContrastingSequelProtagonist: The trio are members of the American OSS, as opposed to the British Commandos, though are still a MultinationalTeam. The Spy this time around is actually German as opposed to French, the Sniper is more working class than Duke, and the Green Beret is an American, though likely of Irish descent given his name. Also, they're all commissioned officers.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: The heroes are three OSS agents.

** The ''Destination Paris'' mod takes this UpToEleven.

* GameBreakingBug: It's possible for medkits to vanish completely in Commandos 3 if you pick them while injured/have a single gunshot somehow deplete your entire stock automatically (since they're used automatically when injured) which only serves to make an [[NintendoHard already difficult game even harder.]]

** All your men have drastically reduced ranges with fire-arms in C3 and medkits heal significantly less health.

* NonIndicativeName: Sort of with ''Commandos 3: Destination Berlin''. There ''is'' a mission in Berlin, but it isn't the last of the game and isn't set in May 1945, when the city was in ruins and besieged by the Red Army, with the Third Reich about to be totally defeated. The Berlin mission is the ending of the first campaign and occurs in late 1942 or early 1943, with the Third Reich just entering its "total war" phase, the city still intact and big parades occuring. The last mission of the last campaign is set on a Normandy beach during D-Day.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Strike Force has been removed from Steam, meaning physical copies (which have compatability issues with modern systems) are the only legal way to obtain it nowadays.)

* BottomlessMagazines: Nobody (commandos, allies or enemies) is never shown reloading, even when a member of the team is firing a limited ammunition weapon.

** Nowhere in 3 is it stated that your commandos actually have different ranges with the Thief having a drastically shorter range compared to everyone else.

* PortingDisaster: The [=PS2=] version, while lacking some minor censorship in the PC version, has several missing weapons.

Also of interest, is ''VideoGame/ShadowTacticsBladesOfTheShogun'', a SpiritualSuccessor by Creator/DaedalicEntertainment attempting to revive the gameplay style of ''Commandos'', but swapping the World War II setting for the JidaiGeki.

** There's grenadiers in ''Men of Courage'' that can toss grenades in windows just like the Sapper can, making any cover useless. The presence of grenadiers is one of the factors that can make Bonus Mission 4 such a pain in the ass.

** There's also grenadiers in ''Men of Courage'' that can toss grenades in windows just like the Sapper can, making any cover useless. The presence of grenadiers is on of the factors that can make Bonus Mission 4 such a pain in the ass.

* NonActionGuy: Captain McRae and the German resistance members in ''Behind Enemy Lines'', Dragisa Skopje in ''Beyond The Call Of Duty'' and Wilson and Whiskey in ''Men Of Courage''. Justified in most cases as, apart from Wilson and Whiskey, the rest are prisoners being rescued.

** The Nazi machine gunners in the first games.

** In ''Men of Courage'', SS officers can do the same at any range as well as Wehrmacht officers at close range. The ''Destination Paris'' mod adds elite snipers and machine gunners with an increased range and damages. There's also grenadiers that can toss grenades in windows just like the Sapper can, making any cover useless. The presence of grenadiers is on of the factors that makes Bonus Mission 4 such a pain in the ass.
** The SMG-wielding "Gestapo" paratroopers are able to unmask the Spy in ''Destination Berlin'' while their "soldier" versions, while unable to unmask the spy, carry Assault Rifles, which are capable of shredding Commandos in a few shots and fire rapidly.

* GratuitousGerman: [[ThoseWackyNazis Obviously.]] In ''Behind Enemy Lines'', the enemy soldiers' entire vocabulary consists of "''[[OhCrap Ein verletzte!]]''"[[note]]lit. "a casualty"[[/note]], "''[[StealthHiBye Wer ist da?!]]''"[[note]]"Who's there?!"[[/note]], "''[[ConvenientlyTimedGuard Halt!]]''" and of course "''[[SoMuchForStealth Alarm! ALARM!]]''".

* BlatantItemPlacement: In ''Destination Paris'', many items can be found in places where they don't make sense, usually lying on the floor (inside, outside, or underwater). Like an unloaded Bazooka on the floor near one exit of a Japanese bunker, a German sub-machine gun in the middle of a river in the Thailand jungle, winter clothes and a fully functional rifle in the sea under the pack ice, a British flamethrower on the pack ice just behind a German destroyer, sleeping pills and wine under the sea in the Pacific Ocean, etc.