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Perhaps Ultima Online set a precedent for terrible problems going part-and-parcel with online role-playing games. Ultima Online was very unstable during its launch, and certain egregious gameplay issues hurt the game long after the launch problems were resolved. Since Ultima Online, several other online-only games--including several released this year alone--have experienced similarly shaky starts.

If nothing else, Dark Age of Camelot demonstrates that online games don't have to be unplayable upon release. It may be a sad commentary on gaming that some players have come to expect such games to be impossible to play at first, but Dark Age of Camelot should be ample proof to these players that they've merely set their expectations too low.

Being stable is one thing, but Dark Age of Camelot is a great game beyond that. You could easily spend hundreds of hours just exploring the game's three huge realms or trying out its dozens of different character classes. At the core of the game lies an entertaining realm-vs.-realm combat system that invites players to take up arms against players from rival realms. This player-vs.-player system focuses on providing a rewarding, intensely competitive experience by removing most of the frustrating aspects associated with player-killing in other online RPGs--for instance, you can't even speak to players from other realms. That's just one of Dark Age's many innovative refinements to an already established genre.
 
 

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Commandos 2 is the sequel to 1998's influential Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, and like its predecessor, the game puts you in control of a ragtag group of special operatives during World War II. A tactical combat game at heart, Commandos 2 is clearly inspired by such classic war movies as Bridge on the River Kwai and Saving Private Ryan in determining its settings. As in these and other epic World War II films, in Commandos 2, you have to do such things as rescue Allied soldiers, sabotage powerful sea vessels, assassinate key enemy officials, get your hands on important documents, and much more. Each of the game's missions is absolutely huge and typically requires many hours before you can accomplish the laundry list of objectives in each one. Beyond that, the game simply looks gorgeous. The 3D characters are animated beautifully, and the expansive prerendered levels are incredibly detailed and complemented by fully polygonal interior areas.

Commandos 2 is very difficult, but even that aspect becomes manageable--and even enticing--once you've crested the game's learning curve. In the end, the game successfully evokes the sort of intensity found in the films that inspired it. Commandos 2 builds on its predecessor by having a much more focused design, more involved missions, and expanded options, making it very enjoyable for strategy and action fans of all types.