Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
A Spanish real-time tactics game with global sales over 1.5 million.
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is a real-time tactics game from 1998, created by Spain's Pyro Studios and released by Eidos Interactive. Players take charge of six Allied commandos, carrying out missions across Europe and Africa that rely on small-unit tactics. Objectives shift between sabotage, assassination, and rescuing captured Allied personnel, and players get a full overhead view of each map to plan their moves before executing them. The game sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, and by 2001, GameSpot Spain had called it the biggest Spanish game hit ever. It launched a series that shared its core mechanics, starting with the standalone expansion Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty in 1999, followed by three sequels—Commandos 2: Men of Courage (2001), Commandos 3: Destination Berlin (2003), and Commandos: Strike Force (2006). A prequel, Commandos: Origins, arrived in April 2025.
In gameplay, the player acts as an Allied officer directing a team of six commandos across twenty missions. Each mission begins with a briefing split into two parts: first, the background and setting, then a map-based rundown of objectives, key intel, and escape routes. Only a specific subset of commandos is available per mission, and the mission fails if any commando dies. Each commando has unique skills and gear. The Green Beret can move barrels, climb rough surfaces, use a lure to distract foes, and kill with a knife. The Marine dives underwater, wields a harpoon gun, kills with a knife, and pilots ships and boats. The Driver handles vehicles, tanks, and mounted guns, and is one of two commandos who can treat injuries. The Sapper uses grenades and explosives, cuts wire fences, and sets traps. The Sniper takes out targets with a rifle and also carries a first aid kit. The Spy wears enemy uniforms, distracts soldiers when disguised as an officer, and kills with a lethal injection. All commandos carry a handgun for emergencies. The game stresses stealth and careful planning over firefights, since commandos die quickly under sustained fire.
Enemies come in ranks: soldiers with rifles or MP40s, sergeants with pistols (some manning machine-gun nests), and officers with pistols. Some missions also include tanks and armored cars. All enemies are alert, manning guard posts or patrolling alone or in groups of three or four.
Quick Facts
- Title
- Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
- Developer
- Pyro Studios
- Publisher
- Eidos Interactive (retail) / Kalypso Media (digital)
- Designer
- Gonzalo Suárez / Ignacio Pérez Dolset
- Artist
- Jorge Blanco
- Series
- Commandos
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows
- Released
- EU · 24 June 1998 · NA · 27 August 1998Beyond the Call of Duty / NA · 31 March 1999 · EU · 1 April 1999
- Genre
- Real-time tactics
- Modes
- Single-player, Multi-player
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The player assumes the role of an allied officer, who has been entrusted to command a group of commandos on twenty missions. A briefing given before a mission begins is divided into two parts: the first focuses on the background of the mission and where it takes place, and the second, using the mission's map, details the objectives, important information, and escape requirements. Commandos features six commandos that the player can control, though each mission gives a specific subset; a mission is failed if any commando is killed. Each commando has different abilities and equipment: the Green Beret can move barrels, climb rough surfaces, use a lure, and kill with a knife; the Marine can dive underwater, use a harpoon gun, kill with a knife, and pilot boats; the Driver can drive vehicles, operate tanks and mounted guns, and treat injuries; the Sapper uses grenades and explosives, cuts wire fences, and sets traps; the Sniper uses a sniper rifle and can treat injuries; the Spy can wear enemy uniforms, distract soldiers as an officer, and kill with a lethal injection. All commandos carry a handgun as a last resort. The game emphasizes stealth and carefully planned tactics rather than gun battles.
Reader's Guide
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines was a significant and unexpected commercial success. Designer Gonzalo Suarez attributed its sales to word of mouth, as the game received little promotion and they aimed to sell around 15,000 copies. In the German market, it spent 16 weeks at #1 on the computer game sales charts, taking the position from Anno 1602. Sales in German-speaking countries totaled 158,000 units by the end of September 1998, making it the region's second-best-selling computer game during the first nine months of 1998, and fourth-best-selling of the year. In the UK, it spent 15 weeks at #1. Global sales reached 600,000 units by November 1998, and 706,000 by year's end. At the 1999 Milia festival, it won a 'Gold' prize for revenues above €16 million in the EU during 1998. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland gave it a 'Gold' award in January 1999, rising to 'Platinum' by May 1999. Combined with its expansion pack, global sales totaled 1.3 million units by July 1999, and over 1.5 million by May 2000. The game was followed by the Commandos series, beginning with the standalone expansion Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty in 1999, and later three sequels and a prequel in 2025.
Did You Know?
- The game was developed over approximately 18 months, with the final 12 months in full-time development at the studio in Madrid.
- The source code amounted to approximately 250,000 lines of C++ and assembly language.
- The game was built on a custom graphics engine, as the team avoided the classic tile system to achieve their visual quality target.
- During development, a writer for MeriStation cited it as evidence that Spanish entertainment software was slowly re-emerging from its ashes.
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