14 DAY TRIAL // 
Commando Jack is one of the decent-to-better tower defense games on mobiles (albeit aging), but the PC is serious business, and games that opt to make the jump to the dusty old platform without any alteration usually end up flopping.
In the case of Colossal Games, the PC port was done quite hastily, and the Procrustrean adjustments to big screens and a different kind of business model are quite jarring, conferring an ominous aura to the game right from the beginning.
While not an entirely atrocious game on tablets, the PC variant is simply not optimized for the more demanding standards of PC gamers, big screens and powerful hardware. The game jumps right into the action with no cutscenes, mission screen or anything, and there are no video options, so you're pretty much stuck with a low resolution on a huge screen.
Gameplay
In Commando Jack, you step into the shoes of the titular character, tasked with protecting planet Earth and repelling an alien invasion.
As in every tower defense game, you strategically place turrets in order to combat waves of enemies, laying out your defensive contraptions and crossing your fingers, hoping that you'll be able to take them all down before they get to you.
In addition to this, the game also allows you to step behind a turret and shoot at the incoming enemies, a feature which will often prove to be the difference between victory and failure.
Towers come in a couple of flavors, some of which are better against squishy aliens, some at slowing them down, while others excel at taking down armored foes, and each type also has two elemental variations to further spice things up.
The game uses an in-game currency system for upgrades and tower unlocks, and you earn cash when you successfully complete levels, and you can also farm the same level over and over to get more funds.
While the game doesn't have in-app purchases like in the mobile version, the "Free Coins" banner and the general way the game flows are highly reminiscent of a pay-to-win design.
Towers cost building points, which are very limited in theory, but you can always throw a wad of cash and buy a boost, making your life easier. In addition to this, you also have to buy pretty much everything, including sinking obscene amounts in upgrading damage (with no actual numbers shown anywhere).
Fortunately, missions give you plenty of money, so you'll never run out of power-ups, and you'll most likely breeze through the levels without any kind of problems aside from figuring out how exactly aliens choose their path or how to handle fliers in the most effective manner.
The action seems to be a little chaotic, as you can't really build mazes for aliens to go through, and most often having a couple of well-placed turrets is all you need to complete missions.
The 45 campaign missions are expanded upon with Elemental mode, where you have to kill fire and ice enemies with special turrets and ammo, and mixed mode, where you get elemental enemies and normal ones.
The maps have different shapes, and don't allow you too much leeway when it comes to setting up defenses, your main job being to plug the main alternate arteries and channel aliens down the only remaining path to your base.
In addition to hopping into your stationary gun to help take down the waves faster, you'll also have to do it in order to kill snipers, pesky little buggers that climb around the scenery and have to be hunted down manually.
The bad thing is that missions are very repetitive, there is no cohesive direction, just slightly different layouts and four major themes, and pretty much the same enemies and recycled gameplay each time around.
The enemies are few, and their AI is pretty awkward, a lot of the time you'll be able to finish missions just because they are bunching up and patiently waiting to enter the small gap you allowed them for passage, and other times they'll tear through the roadblocks, in spite of the fact that there is at least one other way for them to get to their goal area.
The game seems like a rehash of generic tower defense concepts with the added gimmick of the stationary turret, which may be enough to make it float on a tablet, but unfortunately for Commando Jack, there are many better options on the PC platform.
Visuals and sound
The low-resolution visuals and low poly character models are not exactly helping Commando Jack score points in the graphics department.
Although the stage assets change for the four continents, with the UK having a rendition of the Big Ben in the background and Japan having some cherry trees and dragons, not only is there nothing impressive about the overly simplistic visual style, but it is actually quite bad on large screens.
While the graphics may be suitable for smaller screens, the overall low asset quality and stale and generic designs don't translate that well to PC.
The music is similarly generic, having some local flavor depending on the area you're in, but not bringing anything meaningful to the gameplay, just something to provide some aural background.
The sounds are similarly generic, although that's to be expected and not a bad point, simply doing their job to convey the various on-screen actions.
The Good
- You can step behind a gun and shoot stuff in the face
- Some variety
- Missions are easy and straightforward
The Bad
- Monotonous
- Low-fi visuals
- Shoddy overall design
- It feels lacking in many areas
- Port job paint is still wet
Conclusion
The microtransactions and cow-clicking remnants from the time players used to click once a day to get more coins in order to fuel their building points boost habit are a bit in your face, and the overall gameplay flow seems a bit chaotic.
The overall lack of direction, combined with the shallow and poor design of the actual encounters and gameplay flow, makes it seem like a lackluster title in the tower defense genre, and the cluttered and wonky interface, together with the overall low visual quality, makes Commando Jack an unsatisfying experience.
