Star Wars Republic Commando shows you a side of the Star Wars universe that you really don't see very often: the military side. There are no force powers or lightsabers here. It's just pure action delivered by four commandos with a heavy load of weaponry and teamwork. In fact, Republic Commando may just be one of the best Star Wars titles to come out of LucasArts' internal development house in years.
In a Rainbow Six meets Star Wars fashion, you are tasked with commanding an elite squad of Republic clone commandos. Having gone through more advanced training, the commandos are much more skilled than that of the clone warriors. The warriors are the usual clone soldiers, and they do make appearances here and there throughout the game. Being the commander of such an elite force, it's up to you and your squad to go on covert missions for the Republic. And as you'll soon see, it's no easy task.
The beginning of the game does a great job of putting you into the shoes of an up-and-coming clone commando. Through an in-game cutscene seen through the eyes of the main character, you start off in one of the pods that the clones are bred in as a baby. Shortly afterwards, you are sitting in a large room learning combat tactics with your fellow warriors. Soon enough you are ready to get your equipment and join up with the rest of your squad.
Your squad is made up of three other commandos who all have their own little special attributes, whether it be sniper, demolitions or computer hacking. You and your squad are not given real names, as you're only given numbers to identify each other by. Your number is three-eight, and your squad members are 07, 40, and 62.
Despite being clones, your commandos each have their own distinct personalities that you can identify by their radio chatter throughout the course of the game. This is usually accomplished by the addition of humour into the form of one-liners that a squad member may shout out after killing an enemy or during some type of action. The humour does add a nice touch to the game, and will make you care for the lives of your teammates that much more. That's obviously a good thing as you go up against swarms of droids and aliens. The single-player portion of Republic Commando spans across three different campaigns. The first campaign will see you engaging in the Clone Wars on Geonosis. Throughout this campaign you'll mostly find yourself running through trenches on the battlefield while all hell breaks loose around you. After the battle is over, you'll then head out into space to investigate an abandoned Republic ship. Last of all you'll head down to Kashykk to liberate the Wookiees from enslavement. The level design is great, and each of these environments are displayed quite well.
Of course, you won't be able to complete any of these missions without some powerful hardware. That's why Republic Commando offers plenty of it. Your main weapon is a DC-17m Blaster Rifle that can be modified to include other types of weapons. Later on in the game you pick up various modifications, which includes a sniper attachment and a anti-armor attachment. While both the sniper and anti-armor weapons are powerful, the blaster rifle itself feels a little underpowered, not just when going up against larger enemies, but even on the regular droids and bugs that you'll encounter. Some other weapons that you can pick up from fallen enemies include a Wookiee bowcaster, a rocket launcher and your usual side arm blaster. Different grenades will also become available later on including thermal detonators, electro-static discharge detonators and sonic detonators, all of which have their own specific purposes for each given situation.
Republic Commando really offers only three different types of enemies throughout the game. These enemies are the Geonosians, who are the bug-like aliens that infest Geonosis; the Trandoshans, who are more of a lizard people that enjoy enslaving Wookiees; and of course the Trade Federation with there many different types of droids that they dispatch against you. The most notable of these droids is the MagnaGuards. They're more like acrobatic human-sized droids that will jump all over the place with their electric staff in hand and ready to pounce on you.
To spice things up a little, Republic Commando allows you to issue simple orders to your squad. These orders can consist of such things as regrouping, guarding an area or moving ahead and shooting all enemies. Commands can also be issued to certain objects by pointing your aiming reticule at them. So you can order your teammates to blow open a door, set a demolition charge on a wall to clear a path, hack a computer, retrieve some health from a health station on a nearby wall or even disable mines. Of course you can do all of these things by yourself, but it's usually better to have your squad complete them while you cover their backs. Fortunately the AI is well up to the task of handling these orders perfectly. Even when not given orders your squad mates will perform to the best of their ability depending on the situation. However, the same can't be said about the enemies as they just seem to mindlessly come at you. Although that does fit the profile here as this is an action-packed title that sees you blowing up and shooting everything from start to finish.
One of the best overall features of Republic Commando lies in its interface. Everything has been made so that you don't just see a random health bar or ammo supply number on your screen. Your whole HUD has been fused together perfectly to create the feeling that you're actually in a clone commando's suit. You're always seeing everything through the eyes of the suit with your health, armor, squad member's health, objectives, and other important information all incorporated into the viewing are of the helmet which greatly adds to the realism. Even your ammo supply can only be determined by looking at the numbers or bars on your guns.
The graphics and sound effects are superb as always in a Star Wars game. The graphics, while having some rather plain textures, do look great as such features as bumpmapping are visible in certain parts of the game. The dynamic shadows and character skins also look great. Republic Commando also excels in the sound department with its great musical score and attention to detailed sounds within the environment.
Conclusion
When it's all said and done, Star Wars Republic Commando comes out as a enjoyable action experience. It should certainly appeal to all action and Star Wars fans. With that said, it does come with a few disappointments. The squad control just feels a little to simplistic and not as deep as it should be. The game also doesn't offer much in terms of multiplayer with its use of classic modes like capture the flag and deathmatch. Plus its single-player campaign is a little on the short side at just around 10 hours or less. So, while Star Wars Republic Commando doesn't necessarily offer up a truly unique experience, it's still very enjoyable to play.
In a Rainbow Six meets Star Wars fashion, you are tasked with commanding an elite squad of Republic clone commandos. Having gone through more advanced training, the commandos are much more skilled than that of the clone warriors. The warriors are the usual clone soldiers, and they do make appearances here and there throughout the game. Being the commander of such an elite force, it's up to you and your squad to go on covert missions for the Republic. And as you'll soon see, it's no easy task.
The beginning of the game does a great job of putting you into the shoes of an up-and-coming clone commando. Through an in-game cutscene seen through the eyes of the main character, you start off in one of the pods that the clones are bred in as a baby. Shortly afterwards, you are sitting in a large room learning combat tactics with your fellow warriors. Soon enough you are ready to get your equipment and join up with the rest of your squad.
Your squad is made up of three other commandos who all have their own little special attributes, whether it be sniper, demolitions or computer hacking. You and your squad are not given real names, as you're only given numbers to identify each other by. Your number is three-eight, and your squad members are 07, 40, and 62.
Despite being clones, your commandos each have their own distinct personalities that you can identify by their radio chatter throughout the course of the game. This is usually accomplished by the addition of humour into the form of one-liners that a squad member may shout out after killing an enemy or during some type of action. The humour does add a nice touch to the game, and will make you care for the lives of your teammates that much more. That's obviously a good thing as you go up against swarms of droids and aliens. The single-player portion of Republic Commando spans across three different campaigns. The first campaign will see you engaging in the Clone Wars on Geonosis. Throughout this campaign you'll mostly find yourself running through trenches on the battlefield while all hell breaks loose around you. After the battle is over, you'll then head out into space to investigate an abandoned Republic ship. Last of all you'll head down to Kashykk to liberate the Wookiees from enslavement. The level design is great, and each of these environments are displayed quite well.
Of course, you won't be able to complete any of these missions without some powerful hardware. That's why Republic Commando offers plenty of it. Your main weapon is a DC-17m Blaster Rifle that can be modified to include other types of weapons. Later on in the game you pick up various modifications, which includes a sniper attachment and a anti-armor attachment. While both the sniper and anti-armor weapons are powerful, the blaster rifle itself feels a little underpowered, not just when going up against larger enemies, but even on the regular droids and bugs that you'll encounter. Some other weapons that you can pick up from fallen enemies include a Wookiee bowcaster, a rocket launcher and your usual side arm blaster. Different grenades will also become available later on including thermal detonators, electro-static discharge detonators and sonic detonators, all of which have their own specific purposes for each given situation.
Republic Commando really offers only three different types of enemies throughout the game. These enemies are the Geonosians, who are the bug-like aliens that infest Geonosis; the Trandoshans, who are more of a lizard people that enjoy enslaving Wookiees; and of course the Trade Federation with there many different types of droids that they dispatch against you. The most notable of these droids is the MagnaGuards. They're more like acrobatic human-sized droids that will jump all over the place with their electric staff in hand and ready to pounce on you.
To spice things up a little, Republic Commando allows you to issue simple orders to your squad. These orders can consist of such things as regrouping, guarding an area or moving ahead and shooting all enemies. Commands can also be issued to certain objects by pointing your aiming reticule at them. So you can order your teammates to blow open a door, set a demolition charge on a wall to clear a path, hack a computer, retrieve some health from a health station on a nearby wall or even disable mines. Of course you can do all of these things by yourself, but it's usually better to have your squad complete them while you cover their backs. Fortunately the AI is well up to the task of handling these orders perfectly. Even when not given orders your squad mates will perform to the best of their ability depending on the situation. However, the same can't be said about the enemies as they just seem to mindlessly come at you. Although that does fit the profile here as this is an action-packed title that sees you blowing up and shooting everything from start to finish.
One of the best overall features of Republic Commando lies in its interface. Everything has been made so that you don't just see a random health bar or ammo supply number on your screen. Your whole HUD has been fused together perfectly to create the feeling that you're actually in a clone commando's suit. You're always seeing everything through the eyes of the suit with your health, armor, squad member's health, objectives, and other important information all incorporated into the viewing are of the helmet which greatly adds to the realism. Even your ammo supply can only be determined by looking at the numbers or bars on your guns.
The graphics and sound effects are superb as always in a Star Wars game. The graphics, while having some rather plain textures, do look great as such features as bumpmapping are visible in certain parts of the game. The dynamic shadows and character skins also look great. Republic Commando also excels in the sound department with its great musical score and attention to detailed sounds within the environment.
Conclusion
When it's all said and done, Star Wars Republic Commando comes out as a enjoyable action experience. It should certainly appeal to all action and Star Wars fans. With that said, it does come with a few disappointments. The squad control just feels a little to simplistic and not as deep as it should be. The game also doesn't offer much in terms of multiplayer with its use of classic modes like capture the flag and deathmatch. Plus its single-player campaign is a little on the short side at just around 10 hours or less. So, while Star Wars Republic Commando doesn't necessarily offer up a truly unique experience, it's still very enjoyable to play.
