Star Wars Republic Commando

"One of the best Star Wars games"

Star Wars games are extreme varied, no doubt about that. On one hand, you get over hyped disappointments, like Empire At War, and on the other hand, you get brilliant games that are rather unrecognized, like Rebellion, or the game I'm reviewing, Republic Commando. This game had brilliant potential, and used the most of it, making it one of my top 10 games to play. But onto the review, shall we?
Graphics: 9.5

To me, Graphics is a rather big factor of gameplay. Now, I certainly don't decide games on its graphics. But, to get a excellent, game, you have to get a combination of great graphics and great gameplay (Exceptions do exist, though, like Strife and Doom.) Now, I know gameplay is important, but Graphics are there. You can't have epic battles without touches of eye candy here and there at the least.

Republic Commando manages to get the combination I was just talking about perfectly. The graphics are, to the least, amazing, with brilliant little touches (Graphics are only good, if it adds little touchs, like perhaps interactive computers (Like Doom 3.) and things like that, to give that WOW factor a great boost.) in every corner. One example is that in the first person view, you actually see that you are in the helmet, with the edges showing and everything.

Another good example is the Trando mercenaries, which have backpacks that explode, making the trandos go up in the sky like fireworks. Shoot the backpack, and watch a trando learn to fly.

Another great touch is when you attack someone close to you, like with a melee attack. If you kill a droid, up close for example, engine oil will splatter over your visor, only to be wiped off by your automated cleaning systems.

Also, for people worrying if you suffer from having a slower graphics card, don't panic. Putting graphics on full doesn't make too much of a difference. Oh yeah, and the commandos look extremely cool. No doubt about that.

Story / Characters: 8/10

The story and characters are another important piece of a game. If you have bland characters, and a tired storyline, the whole immersion dies off.

The story in this game is quite original. The story starts off, as when you are a embryo in a tube of some sort, and the creatures in the cloning facility in EP. II (The ones with the giraffe necks, remember?) will talk to you, about how you are a elite breed, and destined to be of gigantic use to the Republic. You flash to different stages of your training, before meeting to your squad.

You are Delta 38, the leader of Delta squad.

Your squad mates are:

Delta 40, or “Fixer.” He is “a pure and uncomplicated soldier.” He has a knack for hacking into things, and generally has a stable personality, unlike the two “extreme” characters.

Delta 07 or “Sev” is “the best hunter of them all.” His favorite weapon is the sniper rifle. He has a extremely military personality. Summing up his personality is this:

Ah, Scorch. Nothing like hiding in a bush on a manhunt, putting a plasma bolt through a hostile's cranium. *sighs* makes me feel alive!

Creep central, I'm sure you'll agree.

AH, Delta 62, or “Scorch.” He's my all-time favorite VG character. Why? Because he's so darn funny! Scorch is the explosives expert, and basically everything he says will make you laugh, with quotes like this:

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"Why can't we just fly out of here?" *comp voice* ”engines offline" "figures..."

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"I found the main cooling vent... Oh wait, it's just an exhaust vent."

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"A spider droid in here?! That doesn't make sense!" -Fixer

"I see a lot of things that don't make sense." - Scorch.

"Copy that." - Sev.

Audio/music: 9/10

The audio in this game, is well, brilliant. All of the guns sound brilliant, thanks to the “Foley” device. (If you don't what that is, then no need to worry. A interview about “Foley” is on the extras section, along with other stuff, including a Ash video, called Clones (Which is awesome.) Funky, ain't it?) The music is standard Star Wars music, but the music is well placed and orchestrated, immersing you even more. Your squad mates have lots of lines to say, and act like, well, real people.

Gameplay: 9.9

How, here's the piece a la resistance. The core. The single part of this game that makes it an excellent game. This, of course, is the gameplay. Now, where to start?
I'll start at the controls. The controls in this game are simple, and quick to the point, and it'll take a few minutes for the controls to settle in. The game eases you into the controls, so that you get used to it swiftly. Your squad has brilliant AI, so that means they will take cover, when they breach a door, they chuck in grenades before rushing in, and act like someone would in a real life situation.

All of the levels have a lot of bits where you put bombs, hack into, sniper from, chuck grenades from, arm turrets, breach into, and the list go on. You could complete these tasks by yourself, or cover your team mates as they do the task.
The game is a bit gory, but although you don't see blood, the deaths are rather nasty. One example is that on the first level when you landing in a gunship on Geonosis, a normal clone trooper will be near, and when you are about to step out, a geonosian grabs him and takes him up to a ledge and executes them. This game is a bit longer than usual, games, but you'll play the game again and again.

The game is extremely realistic, with cover being top concern, and giving out orders. Playing on hard mode makes the game even better, because you'll have to go behind cover, and charging in somewhere would be suicidal. The weapons are really varied and good, and you'll need to conserve ammo for later missions. My favorite weapon is the Trando Chain gun, because although you are slow, it will slaughter loads of people. Thing is, the ammo runs out quickly, so use it sparingly.

Making orders is really simple. F1 is to take offensive formation, which means your squadmates will progress on without following you. F2 is to form up, which means your men will follow. F3 is secure a area, which means you tell your men to defend a certain place. F4 is to make all of your men cancel everything, like if they are in sniping postions, or hacking to things etc.

Multiplayer: 5/10

This game online is disppointing, escpecially when it's another "run-around-and-whoever-has-the-best-weapon-winzor!!!!1111LOLLOLROFL" type of multiplayer. There is no orders or hacking etc. in multiplayer, only simple shooting, which is a shame, because they could have a mode with 4 players, and each player has a squad, and the map had hacking bits and turrets etc. In my opinion, this would make multiplayer mcuh better. It's a pity.

So, is this game worth it. I say, HELL YES!

-Crimson Elite

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/06