The Basics
Crash Commando puts you in the boots of a soldier from one of two warring factions: The Jarheads or The grunts, the war rages across (at time of release) 8 Different Maps. Its simple yet appealing graphics are reminiscent of
Bionic Commando Rearmed's style. The over the top Gore, childish taunts and
fast paced, twitch warfare is similar to the
Unreal tournament series. The main method of transport is a mixture of running, jumping, crouching and flying with the aid of a jetpack, the left analog stick being used to perform commando rolls and aerial stunts that can even be turned into vicious attacks once enough kills have been earmed. Scattered throughout the map is also an assortment of Vehicles and turrets that can be used at any time by any player, providing extra speed, protection or firepower.
The weapons arsenal compromises of fairly standard class based types, and on top of that there are two super weapons which appear as pickups at random throughout each map.
Ground rules
Each map available from release has two 'layers' to it, which are stuck back to back, players can travel freely between these layers so long as they find a doorway to do so, vehicles can also traverse these portals, so long as they find a big enough one to do so, Stationary turrets fire from your current layer INTO the other layer, whilst RC rockets can also be maneuvered through doors.
Survival Bonuses
In the bottom left of the HUD is a small Picture of the D-pad along with a meter which fills up with each kill, and empties once killed when this meter is completely full, each D-pad arrow will light up, prompting the player to select one of the bonuses from the following:
The d-pad selection once the metre is fullHealth regeneration (Left d-pad): Regenerates health
Super speed (Up d-pad): Increases movement speed
Death spin (Right d-pad): Turns the jetpack spin maneuver into a fiery vortex of pain and death
These bonuses, once active, will remain active until the player dies.
Once the player has filled up the meter again (after activating his/her first bonus) they will be allowed to choose a second, and even third bonus , making it possible for good players to have all three active at once! A trophy is also awarded for doing this a set amount of times
Crash Combos
If you manage to kill more than one player within a short period of time you are given a 'crash combo' counter, this follows a fairly typical line , similar to the unreal tournament series, in which:
- Double kill
- Triple kill
- Multi kill
Leveling Up and Experience
Each round you play in, you are awarded a score based on kill points, and bonus points. Kill points are obviously given for each related kill, Bonus points are awarded for destroying enemy vehicles, crash combos, and completing objectives in the map objective mode!
Points can also be deducted if you end up killing teammates or yourself -- so avoid pressing the suicidal select button unless it's absolutely necessary!
Aside from The kill and bonus points, you will also gain experience points every round, they have no bearing on your score for that round or your teams score, but contribute towards your profiles total XP count and level.
Each level brings a promotion, and certain promotional levels will award you with trophies. There's no character progression or advancement of any kind in relation to your experience points.
There are also some set challenges which bring small XP bonuses, mainly consisting of killing a set amount of enemies with each weapon type :
- Killer - kill 100 enemies
- Crash killer - kill 1000 enemies
- Sniper psycho - Kill 50 enemies with the sniper rifle
- Machine gun maniac - Kill 50 enemies with the machine gun
- Shotgun stud :- Kill 50 enemies with the shotgun
- Grenade launcher gangsta - kill 50 enemies with grenade launcher
- Rocket launcher rebel - kill 50 enemies with the rocket launcher
- Cab Driver - Kill 50 enemies with the CAB
Weapons
There are Six Primary weapons available for the player to select both before the round, and between each respawn:
The Machine gun: All round offense, spray and run away weapon, has a long range and mild arch, good place for beginners to start but tricky to master
The Shotgun: Whilst it has a large arching range and spread, its effectiveness is limited to close range only, but if you get that close? Get ready for the
gibs! The Sniper rifle: Quick aiming and a one shot kill (against unarmored foes) but miss at your own risk, a slow reload time and small clip means you gotta make every shot count, No arch and high range
The rocket launcher: A direct hit from this will Gib, but its splash damage is just as effective, knocking vehicles and enemies around and backwards with ease!! However splash damage has no friends, so don't use it at point blank yeah? No arch long range
Grenade launcher: This is a masters gun, its hard to master, and requires 1 'bounce' before it will detonate, making it hard to use, but mastery of that bounce will allow killing from range and cover, making it a no holds barred terror weapon. High arch, variable range
The CAB: a strange laser, It will melt the enemies, but heal your teammates , players wielding this will be akin to the
medic class from
TF2, It's useless against vehicles, but its 100 round clip, quick fire rate and healing ability make it a good suppression / support tool in team games.
It can also be used to destroy enemy mines (only gun in the game that can)
Side arms
As well as The primary weapon, you may also carry one sidearm choosing between:
A pistol: 16 shot clip, quick switching, and will fire as quickly as your trigger finger will let you. Drawbacks however include its short range, low power and general Lack of fear factor against someone with a rocket launcher, Infinite ammo though.
The knife: A 1-2 hit kill weapon -- if you can get close enough.
Explosives
The final piece of equipment you can choose is an explosive device, Ranging form offense, to defense:
Grenades: High arch, One shot kill on direct hit! Tendency to bounce back into your own face.
C4: Sticks to walls, vehicles, floors, ceilings, once its stuck, run away and hit your explosive button again to detonate, watch the fireworks!
Mines: Put them on the floor someone /thing steps on them, one hit kill on all vehicles/ people, However once you die, all your mines explode, also the CAB weapon can be used to explode them from range, and you CAN get blown up by stepping on your own mines, so remember where you left them!
Vehicles
Vehicles are open for everyone to take, and consist of tanks and jeeps, (both one seat)
Tanks cannon, makes a messThe jeep is Quick but vulnerable, and comes with a powerful 24 shot machine gun, the tank Is slower, but has a big ol' cannon that 1 hits mostly everything (except vehicles) and has some Hefty amour to boot. There are special electro Magnetic rails that the vehicles attach too allowing for them to travel sideways, vertically and all over places they really shouldn't!
Turrets
Turrets come in Two forms:
Turret Gun: Fires at enemies on the opposite 'layer' Useful for stopping the enemy escaping with mission objectives, or providing covering fire for your own troop. when in it however, you can not see your surroundings, and the armor provides only mild cover.
RC Rocket: A
redeemer type missile that has limited availability. When in the bunker (you'll hop in to take control of the missile) you are invulnerable. The launched rocket is steered by the player and can even move between layers, to gain access to any point in the map. Once it contacts something, be it a wall, player, or vehicle, it will detonate, melting anyone and anything within its considerably large splash range.
Super weapons
Alongside the standard arsenal, a pair of extra weapons will appear amongst regular pickups. These weapons are devastating and have unlimited ammo, but expire after 30 seconds or when the player dies.
Plasma riflePlasma pulse rifle: Fires charges of blue energy that will 1-3 hit kill anyone at any range.
The mini gun: A standard, fully automatic chain-gun that will actually travel through shallow objects and surfaces of up to one layer, allowing the player obliterate his foes from behind cove.
Pickups
There are 5 types of other picuk available throughout the maps, their locations are always the same
Health pack: restores your health by half
Ammo: Gives you a full stash of primary weapon ammo
Explosives: Gives you a full stash of explosive supply
Full armour helmet: Gives you 2 health bars worth of armour
Flak jacket: Gives you one health bar of armour
Game modes
The game ships with a 'Boot camp' single player campaign, though this is very watered down, and merely a preperation for the online game.
There are 16 missions in total, each with a score of 1000 as a target to earn a Commando medal, A trophy is awarded for achieveing medal status on every level. You CAN play offline with bots in a custom match setup of your choice.
Objectives (Espionage)
A very simple game, there are four areas - A,B,C and D - Each containing terminals, One team must access each of the terminals in that area (ranging from 1-3) and download both blocks of data from each one. The other team must defend their terminals and kill any intrder that manages to download data, to send it back to its corresponding terminal. Once all the data in a terminal has been stolen, the thief must make his way back to his teams satellite and 'upload' the data in order to capture it. (a trophy is given for uploading 20 blocks of data). The game ends when all data has been stolen, or the time runs out (stealaing one block of data increases the time available)Objectives (Sabotage)
Also simple as hell, each of the terminals is now a target for bombing,the assaulting team needs to place bombs on them and wait for the fuse to expire, each terminal blown up = more time for the next area, The defending team must prevent access to the terminals, AND defuse the bombs should any be planted.Deathmatch
Well what do you think? 12 player all out death match across all maps , all vehicles no holds barred, first to the frag count wins
Team Deathmatch
Same as deatmatch but played in a 6v6 formation.
Bear in mind there are alaso ''showdown' game types in which the maps are shortened and madde comfortable for 6 player carnage.
Maps
The game ships with 8 Maps
The cave: an evil layer built into a cave with lots of high platforms and jetpack arenas
The tower: a rickety old tower getting higher and higher with a turret overlooking the courtyard
The base: Similr to the cavem but blue, and with outdoors elements and vehicles
The volcano: lots of magnetic rails make for some interesting acrobatics from the vehicles, Whilst mulyi level combat and lots of cover provide tense shootouts
The tunnel SHOWDOWN: A tight tube filled nightmare deathmatch
The fort SHOWDOWN: A jungle arena with bridges crossing high ariel dogfights
The ruins SHOWDOWN: also a jungle arena, but with a laarger indoor segment split up by small Ruined buildings
The factory SHOWDOWN: An abandoned factory turned slaughterhouse.
More maps and modes are expected as DLC in the future.
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