Star Wars Republic Commando Review

The Stars are at War

The galaxy far far away is in trouble again. Constant unrest has made its violent presence felt once again. You command an elite bunch of helmet clad Republic Commandos, directing them through levels of neon enriched valleys of tech and mecha that fly and shoot long gusts of fire. Story wise, the game is standard fare, which is one of the reasons why developer and publisher LucasArts must have decided to keep it short. Regardless of the length, the game doesn’t feel stretched, although at occasions the mass of enemy presence to increase difficulty may be bothering.

Fett’s are Phat

Each commando under your purview has a special ability, out of the three with you, one is good at all out brawn and guns, while the other breathes steady with a sniper snuggled near his eye. The game doesn’t offer you the flexibility to exploit each one of these benefits, as in combat, each one of them averages out and performs even specific tasks with equal dexterity. The AI of the game makes good company for lonely nights, each of the commandoes operates efficiently and generally avoids banging into walls. Throughout the game your objectives basically consist of bombing things open while what’s on the other side changes in name, shape and colour. So while sometimes you have to blow a hatch open to reach a computer terminal, other times will see you becoming timothy trying to catch a black blooded rogue trying to escape. Your team isn’t indomitable though, in many a battle you will find your comrades falling down to to the forces of laser and lead, reviving them requires a time penalty in terms of immobility. In other instances when your health bar hits bottom, you can use the function keys to command the rest of your team, depending on the situation, to revive you, or annihilate the enemy first. Republic commando isn’t a tactical shooter as such. Commanding your team to victory which may seem like the primary objective of the game, is easily done by just barging through levels without looking at the function keys for help.

Shiny strips of light

The de forte of the game is its well carved gameplay which leaves your finger permanently stitched to the trigger button. While battling different shapes of enemies might seem boring, Republic Commando does a good job of keeping the action and excitement alive throughout the game. Your hud is colorful and reacts well to the environment with shudders and sizzles when shot and electrocuted respectively. Also, you can experience first hand the various colours and ways the blood of various species splatters on reinforced glass .Throughout the game you will find translucent icons spread, going near them activates an onscreen message telling you what has to be done. Certain areas, such as space behind a crate, can be used to deploy one of your comrades into a sniping position. Healing requires you to press and hold the use key to charge up and so does planting a bombing device or entering the code. Your team does a good job of covering your back while you perform these operations or command them to be done.

The graphics engine is potent with eye candy and the loads are free flowing and seconds apart. The detailing that has gone into the game is extremely intricate with great explosion effects and individual sound for objects. Like any recent game, this Star Wars offering too is replete with the good physics including rag doll effects, an evolved particle system and great lighting effects along with a general shine that glows throughout the game’s graphics and presentation. The overall build of the game beams of high production quality, even with the voice acting and character animations during cut scenes being lucid and exemplifying the overall high degree of tightening gone into the game.

Deep insight of galactic proportions

Republic Commandos offers brownie points in the form of unlockable content. The game itself features vehicles, locations and enemies from the recently released Episode III, along with video footage of the game’s development. The weapons in the game are standard Star Wars fare with the good guys spewing blue laser like rainbows in spring. The gun of eminence is the DC 17m Modifiable blaster rifle, capable of being sowed with a sniper attachment and an anti armor attachment, with the alternate fire button reserved for tiny drops of devastation called detonators, available in four types. In addition to the rifle is the primary DC15 side arm blaster (pistol), the Accelerated charged particle repeater gun, the wookiee bowcaster and trandoshan concussion rifles. Additionally, when warring against a massive dose of evil, you can use the services of well placed turrets for dosage and enjoy the neat bug splatter effects.

The multiplayer has deathmatch, ctf, reverse ctf (called assault in the game) and teamdeathmatch. All of these are mediocre and offer nothing besides the usual. Star Wars Republic Commando scores in its extension of the franchise by creating an immersive world, which besides the absence of the beloved jedi’s still holds ground and delivers a push that adds to the force.