Author: Eji
Date: 6/6/05
Rating: 8.0
Platform(s): Xbox/PC
Purchase on Amazon.com
Xbox
| PC
Game type: Republic Commando is great on so many levels its hard to know where to start, but the idea behind the game is simple. Squad-based FPS in the Star Wars universe. For those who don't know, squad-based games are first person shooters in which you command a small group of people (in this case 3 others) who help you fight through your problems and blow up what you can't fight through.
Story 7/8-10: The story is quite simple, and for those of you who haven't seen Episode 1 and 2, here's the short version. The Republic (good guys) is fighting the rebellious Seperationists (bad guys) and is using a very large clone army to battle their droid/alien army. Now while the entire army is made of clones, in this game you take the place of a commando. Commandos are clones who are given special training since birth to make them better than the rest and they are trained to work in groups of four. Basically, they're Navy Seals. The game starts with you and your squad going to Genosis (bad guys) to stop an enemy production facility. Although the base story is fairly standard as the game progresses it gets a bit deeper. Also each one of your teammates has their own personality which adds to the feeling that you're a team of individuals, not clones.
Game Play 10-10: This is where this game shines on sooo many levels. First of all, the basics are simple, kinda like Halo. You have shields and health and although you can carry more than 2 guns, you still have to be tactical with them. The ammo system they use is unique, so sometimes you'll find yourself with more ammo than you know what to do with and other times you'll find yourself squaring off against a tank with your squad members dead at its feet and only a dinky pistol at your disposal.
The real area though that's important is the squads. First is the simplicity with how to use the squads. When you walk into a room you'll see fallen masonry or rocks or in some cases dead wookies with icons above them. You point your cursor at the icon and hit A and it will assign one of your men to go do whatever task that icon designates. It could mean that they'll go there, pull out their sniper rifle, and start blasting anything that moves. It could mean that they'll go and set a demo charge up so you can blow away wall and move on. It could have one of your men hack a computer and drop a large heavy object on that four-legged tank that's blowing you away.
As mentioned before, you have 3 experts, but in actuality they are equal and so are you. They will all snipe just as well as the next if you tell them to snipe and they'll all take just as long to set up a explosive charge. Of course, if you want to set up the charge or hack the computer than you can too at the same speed. At first this might seem like a downside but it actually helps the game. Republic Commando is very fast paced and if you had to designate specifically which commando did what, it would slow things down and make them a bit more complicated. This way it feels like you're controlling a squad, but you don't have to kick yourself because you have your computer guy setting up a bomb which will make it twice as long. Also this can help when you find yourself in a tough spot say where you need someone to blow up a wall, but you've only got your comm guy. Since it doesn't actually matter which one is which, you never have to micro manage too much.
The other reason why its important is that so long as one squad member is alive you haven't lost. If you or any other squad member hits 0 health they fall down and are out of the fight, but if another member can get over to them they can revive them with a little jump starter that takes about 3 seconds to charge and use and will put them back at 50% health. With this, if you die its not game over. You can either tell your men to finish what they are doing, or have one of them drop everything and come over and try to revive you. Each has its uses. Obviously, when only one is left and you've fallen in the middle of the enemy lines and he's sitting in a turret, telling him to get out, walk over, and revive you might not be such a great idea.
The final great thing about the game play is the feel of the game. With most Star Wars games, you play the Jedi or hero who's extremely strong and able to blow through enemies. Here you are elite commandos, not running death with a shiny stick. For example, those who saw Episode II might have noticed the super battle droids. In the movie, to the jedi these were bigger and faster-firing battle droids that made the enemy forces look a little less dull. In Republic Commando, they start as a small obstacle and by late game, when you're facing say 5 at a time, they are absolute terrors. Wookies seem to make Chewie look like a runt and the Geonosis bug like people although fragile can become a major threat. It really feels like you're looking at everything from a completely different perspective.
Graphics-Good: The graphics aren't the best, but they are good enough. I don't really need to see my face reflected in the enemy's armor; I need to be able to tell the difference between them. Also, there's some nice effects when you use your melee attack and get guts on your screen. Apparently all helmets come in with a built in laser visor wiper.
Sound-Good: Music is nice and the explosions sound like they should.
Replay 5-10: This is the games one failing point. Unfortunately, while the single player is wonderful, playing it more than once except on different difficulty settings seems pointless. Also the multi-player that was added is quite fun, but it does lack in some key areas that cause it not to really be worth putting too much time into. Because of this, the game's really not worth buying since if you have time you can easily beat this in a day since its also on the short side.
Overall 8-10: The single player is absolutely gorgeous, unique, well thought out, and well put together. It is near perfect. The multiplayer, on the other hand, is your standard fast paced death match/CTF that, although fun, doesn't offer anything unique or special. A better multiplayer or possibly a co-op mode could have made this game a 10.