Review: Commando Steel Disaster (DS)

Reviews, Run and Gun — By Jeffrey L. Wilson on June 5, 2009 at 12:07 pm

One would think oneself on the corner of Good Times Ave and LOL Blvd when playing a game that has the words “Commando”, “Steel”, and “Disaster” on the game’s cover, accompanied by box art showcasing a smirking grunt who somehow manages to tote a gat larger than his upper body with just one hand. Such is Commando: Steel Disaster, a run-and-gunner that, very much like a digital Diddy, “samples” heavily from SNK Playmore’s beloved military action franchise, but mucks the whole affair up with shortsighted gameplay.

Let’s not pussyfoot here: Commando: Steel Disaster is an unabashed Metal Slug clone. This is evident from the moment when you pop the cart into the DS and tackle the opening level in which you pilot a snowmobile through an artic area blasting rocket-pack wearing enemy troops from the sky. As in SNK Playmore’s aforementioned five-star series, the sprites are all very nice cartoony takes on the hell-on-earth that is war, but without Metal Slug’s hyper-animation. Commando: Steel Disaster‘s visuals also suffer from dull, washed-out characters and backgrounds.

There is an official story to Commando: Steel Disaster which involves the protagonist, Storm (tee hee), who is described on the back of the box as being “a highly skilled soldier”, waging a one man war against the villainous “Rattlesnake” (double tee hee), a madman with aims of ruling the world. It’s a run-and-gunner – - thats all you need, idnit?

There’s abundant firepower to assist in escorting Rattlesanke’s henchmen to hell. Flamethrowers, machine guns, and rocket launchers are plentiful, but you better hold on to the good guns and use your limited supply of grenades wisely. Why? Two reasons. One: Storm’s standard issue piece, naturally, isn’t very powerful and doesn’t allow you to shoot diagonally. Two: Commando: Steel Disaster is hard for all the wrong reasons.

There are only five levels in the game, but they are long. Looooooong. Just when you’re positive that the tank battle you’ve survived was a mid-boss encounter, you begin to realize as the additional minutes that pass, that the fight was only about 1/5 of the way through the level. Make sure to keep blasting open crates to keep your health and body armor up to snuff or you won’t have the honor of seeing level two.

Seriously, level one is so long, it took me hours to pass it, mostly due to some of the cheapness that occurs. Off-screen enemies can obliterate you with their weaponry before you even see the enemy sprite itself. If it isn’t frustrating enough, the teleporting robo-ninjas (which kinda-sorta resemble Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid) can appear out of nowhere to drain your life. Oh, did I mention that there are no checkpoints? and that you only get one life? Still interested?

To be perfectly fair, Commando: Steel Disaster is a somewhat decent title – - the explosions are nice, controls are tight, and action should prove suitable for fans of the genre. Still, I have to question Manasoft’s one life/no checkpoint/super-long level design;  it seems like it was done to artificially lengthen play time of the scant five levels. Sado-masochist gamers will drool over the title, but those that haven’t cut their teeth on the Metal Slugs and Contras of the world are better served with Mario Kart DS or the like.

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More 2D-X News, Features, and Reviews:

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2. Review: Contra (NES)
3. Metal Slug XX brings more run and gun to your PSP
4. Virtual Vox Pop: What’s You Favorite Metal Slug Game?
5. Review: Metal Slug XX (PSP)

Tags: commando: steel disaster, grey fox, metal gear solid, metal slug, metal slug 7, nintendo ds, snk playmore