C&C: Commando

Command & Conquer: Commando, the little-known predecessor to Renegade

Long before C&C: Renegade, Westwood Studios was already experimenting with the idea of dropping us straight onto the C&C battlefield.

In 1997, the studio developed Command & Conquer: Commando, a 3D technical demo intended for the first PlayStation. A build dated 14 July 1997, which was rediscovered and made public years later, now allows us to witness this astonishing chapter in the series’ history.

The prototype remains very rudimentary: in particular, you can see the Commando and Nod’s Flame Tank, test out various 3D environments and even discover a strange sequence called ‘Jogging Around Atlanta’.

But behind these few experiments lies a key concept: experiencing Command & Conquer at eye level, rather than commanding units from a bird’s-eye view.

The technical limitations encountered subsequently prompted Westwood to develop its own 3D technology, W3D, which would go on to become the engine behind Command & Conquer: Renegade a few years later.

Commando is therefore not really a cancelled C&C title, but rather one of the first prototypes that paved the way for Renegade. A little gem from 1997 that shows Westwood was already imagining what a Command & Conquer experience, lived right at the heart of the battle, might look like.

Welcome back, Commando.