Republic Commando

Author's Product Rating


Pros
Flat-out fun, very cinematic, exciting action, good characters

Cons
very short, linear gameplay, mediocre multiplayer

The Bottom Line
Not for hardcore FPS or Squad players, but definitely a step in the right direction for Star Wars games. non-stop fun!


Full Review
Introduction
Star Wars: Republic Commando is a squad-based first person shooter set in the Star Wars universe between episodes II and the upcoming III. The battles are fast and furious and while this game far exceeds the bar set in some of the more recent Star Wars games, admittedly that bar was set pretty low. However, it is refreshing to see a game of this caliber using the Star Wars franchise.

History
For the most part, Star Wars games have been a huge disappointment in the past few years. While they haven't sucked as much as Star Trek games, they have been pretty bad. But developer LucasArts used to be one of the premiere developers. For every Rebel Assault and Jedi knight, fans were forced to endure Clone Wars and Obi Wan. But with Republic Commando, that haze has been lifted and LucasArts is once again on the right track with the franchise.


Story
The story of Republic Commando is simple. You play the leader of a 4 member squad of genetically altered clones fighting as members of the Republic in the Clone Wars. Each member of your squad has a different specialty and you all complement each other as a lean fighting force. Taking place after the events in Episode I, the story in not as much a linear narrative as much as a day-in-the-life story. The story is secondary and while I would have liked to have seen more than a bridge to Episode III, it was satisfying enough for me to want to keep playing.


Gameplay
As leader of an elite squad it is your job to bark orders to your squad members. Those who play more complex squad games such as Rainbow Six might be disappointed by the more simple controls and commands of Republic Commando. Hold down the A button and a context menu appears with 4 options which all boil down to hang back or go forth a kill. As you get to different places that require a specialty such as demolition or computer slicing, a symbol will appear on your HUD indicating what needs to be done. Hit the A button and one of your squadmates will take care of the task. While each character supposedly has their own specialty, it seemed that any of them could do any task.


In addition, you can command your squad mates to heal with strategically positioned Bacta stations. The most damaged squad mate will heal first. In addition, if one of your squadmates gets knocked out, other squadmates can revive him. Very nice touch. And anything your squadmates can do, you can do. If they are busy covering you, you can place the demolition charge yourself. And your squadmates will cover you if they can. If you fall in battle, you swoon and the screen goes fuzzy. From there you can call for help thanks to a context menu and if possible, a squad mate will come over and revive you. It's quite cool to see your guy run over, kneel over you and zap you back to health. Very nice touch.


The level design is good, but not great. It's very linear without to much Halo style backtracking. There aren't any puzzles per se and it's never difficult to know where you need to go. Lots of gun and run in the classic FPS sense. Frankly, it requires a fast trigger finger and not a whole lot of brain power to complete the game.


The variety of weapons is what I would expect from a Star wars game. We have blasters and pistols and even a shotgun type thing. And as necessary in every single shooter, there is a sniper rifle with the requisite zoom and a large anti-armor gun. We also have grenades and a melee attack for close combat. The weapon selection is rather ho-hum and weapons ammo is surprisingly sparse in the game.
Lameness Alert: As most FPS games now support dual wielding, Republic Commando is a little behind as it does not support this feature.


The AI is a mixed bag. While your squadmate