Let's talk about Crash Commandos, one of my new favorite games - and quite possibly the best downloadable game for the PS3 this year. First off, let me just say HOLY SHIT!

I mean, I had no idea how awesome this game was gonna be when I first got it. I thought maybe it was gonna be some fun sidescrolling action game that I'd play for a couple of weeks and then delete. But NO! This is more like a 2D version of Team Fortress. And I know your thinking, how the hell could they do that? They did. And it is awesome - I'll explain how it works - and believe me, it really works! And judging from the fact that there are always pages of open games when I go on to the servers to find one, I'd guess other people are feeling the same way I do.

So what is the game all about? Ok. It has a 1 player campaign which is rather lengthy considering the game is really meant for multiplayer. I started with that, just to learn the controls, but I never even finished it because I decided to try the multiplayer and, well, a few days went by and I still haven't gone back. The multiplayer consists of three types of games, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Map Objectives. The first two are self explanatory. In the third you play in teams, either attacking or defending, sometimes you'll be trying to keep the other team from bombing your communication posts. Other times you'll be attempting to hack the apposing team's database and bring the intel back to your own base. Quite a wide variety for a game that was 10 bucks. My favorite is the objective matches - they can get pretty damn exciting!



So what does the game actually play like? Well, the top left trigger is your jet pack. It's basically like an extended jump. The longer you hold it, the higher you go, but you only get so much and then you drop while it refills.The bottom right trigger is you secondary weapon (c4, grenades or landmines) and top right trigger is your main weapon (sniper rifle, machinegun, lazer, bazooka, grenade launcher, shotgun, you get the idea). You can also switch to a pistol with the square button, but I've never used it so whatever. You aim with the right stick and walk with the left. There is a line that exctends from your character to show where they are aiming, it differs between weapons - the sniper rifle has a long red line, the shotgun a shorter line, the grenade launcher's aiming line curves - stuff like that. Basically it's like super stardust hd or geometry wars, you move the stick where you want to aim - only, instead of viewing the action from above, you see it from the side.

Sounds pretty simple, right? It is! And this simplicity leads to some nail biting action! And lets not forget vehicles. The tanks and jeeps you can drive really add something, and they are ballanced pretty well so that they do offer protection but they aren't too hard to take down. Then there are the guided missiles and the turrets. The guided missiles are really interesting. Basically you put your character into this missile room, which locks you in and then you fire the weapon and your control switches to the weapon itself. Then you find the jackoff who just shotgunned you three times in a row and KABLAMO! It's funny too, because the missile moves kinda slow, but it has a huge blast radias, so you get to watch the badguys run like hell as this slow missile gets closer and closer.



To understand how the turrets work, you have to first understand one of the coolest things about the game. The level has two layers, a foreground and a background. Whatever layer you are on in the foreground and you can see the other part of the stage in the background - including the people fighting. If you go through a door, you appear on THAT layer (which now becomes the foreground), and the area you were just at is in the background now. It sounds weird to describe it, but if you see it in action, it makes perfect sense. The best part is that when you get in a turret, you go into first person mode and you can mow down those folks you see in the background layer. So until you learn the safe spots, no matter where you are, you feel like you could be the next target of someone on the opposite layer!

Wow. That was a lot to explain. I didn't really plan on going into that much detail, but since the game is relying on pretty much word of mouth, I figured I would explain it to some of you PS3 owners out there who are on the fence. This is definitely a purchase - one look at the server lobby will confirm that! See you on the battlefield!