Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 did not have the diversity or excitement I was hoping for. In this top-down shooter, you will play as one of the three members of The Jackals, a special forces group formed to protect the country from a dictator who has threatened to attack using nuclear force.  The three characters, Wolf, Coyote, and Fox, are all controlled and perform similarly.

Graphics - 70%
The graphics are good, but are not great. I understand the game is based on an old coin-op title, but the developers really left room for improvement graphically, particularly with regard to enemies.  The game seemed to use only one theme for each level, so all enemies looked identical, which made for some dull visuals.

That being said, I did really enjoy the explosions; they looked great.  You could almost feel the heat radiate from them.

Sounds - 60%
Audio in Commando 3 was fairly well done - when you could hear it.  Most of the sounds throughout are all but entirely drown out by the constant firing of your weapon.  Thankfully, you will find weapons as you progress through gameplay, and they all have noticeably different sounds.  The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of voiceovers in the game.  They could have easily added simple catch phrases during play, and some dialogue to the cutscenes.

Controls - 60%
For the most part, you will be holding the left thumbstick in the up position, dodging their slow moving AK47 rounds, and aiming at the packs of identical men and with your right thumbstick.  Don't worry about square, circle, or triangle - they serve no purpose in this game.  X however is the “use” button, although it is rarely “used”.  R1 and R2 both served the purpose of throwing the grenades, and L2 was your M-Crash which nearly damages everything on the screen.  For me, I found the two stick method awkward, if you are a fan of top-down shooters, I'm sure you would like these controls.

Gameplay - 40%
One word can sum up the game play in Commando 3: redundant.  All of the levels are very similar: slap a new terrain in, give the enemy new suits, and there you have Level 2!  Thankfully, there are only five levels on this epic, re-occurring journey.  Each level will take you about 10-20 minutes, depending on if you decide to save all the hostages, or simply zip through each level.

 There are four different levels of difficulty: Cake Walk, Routine Exercise, Black Ops, and Suicide Mission.  The difference in difficulty is simply a matter of numbers.  The higher the setting the more mindless soldiers the game swarms you with.

There are a total of four guns in the game: a spread gun, a flamethrower, a machine gun, or a missile launcher, which can be found by blasting open crates scattered throughout the levels.   Additionally, grenades are available and are a proven asset in getting through the game.

The M-Crash is also a handy tool.  You will find yourself in situations where you seem to have bullets and rockets flying at you from every direction.  That's when you’ll really appreciate your L2 button.  Pressing it will initiate a short cut scene of your character firing their weapon, a shockwave explodes across the screen, and every enemy is leveled.  Although each player has their own, individual mini cut scene, the M-Crash visuals and the end result are the same.

 At the end of each level, in true arcade form, is a boss battle.  Sadly though, the bosses were quite a let down.  They were graphically boring and easy to defeat.

The highlight for me in this game would probably be the vehicles. Jumping into a jeep with a rocket launcher on top, players can demolish hundreds of men, large tanks, or anything else that stands in their way.  The game pace became a lot quicker in vehicles, and, for me at least, made the game more fun.

I didn't include a seperate multiplayer section in this review, because there just wasn't anything to talk about.  Local multiplayer is more of the same.  I tried to play online a number of times, and although admittedly I usually play games in the very late evening, I was surprised to never find anyone else playing! 

Actual gameplay aside, the single biggest downfall of this game was the complete lack of a save feature.  In a game this frustrating, I cannot even begin to comprehend this decision, unless the developers wanted to make the game even more frustrating.  Maybe it is me; maybe I do not understand the entire arcade style feel, but regardless I feel this was a very bad call.

Cut Scenes - 40%
The developers could have made the cut scenes in Commando 3 much better.  It looks as if little effort was put into them.  The scenes are comic strip recreations with no movement and, as previously stated a complete lack of voiceover.  The effect that played in conjunction with the switch of comic panels sounded like the most generic of Microsoft PowerPoint effects.

Furthermore, the cut scenes are used as a story telling tool - normally. I’m not sure why they were used here, as they barely touch on a story at all.  Instead, each seemingly unrelated scene would leave me more confused than the last.

Summary - 54%
I guess the nicest way to put it is I'm not a fan of this game. Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 just did not have the excitement or the depth I look for in a game.  If you are the type of person that likes repetitive action, by all means check it out, otherwise save your money.

This review is based on the PlayStation 3 version of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3.  The game is also avialble for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live and is rated T by the ESRB.

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