Star Wars: Republic Commando review

The tale of recent Star Wars games is one of missed chances. Where, for example is the console equivalent of Tie Fighter? Surely an Xbox Live enabled space combat game in the Star Wars universe would be hugely popular. And what of a new Dark Forces game, the old PC first-person shooters? Now there's a game that everyone loved.

And that brings me to Star Wars Republic Commando, a game, like Tie Fighter where you get to play from the non-traditional point of view. Okay, in this game the commandos are playing on the side of good, supporting the Republic's battle against the Separatists. But we know it can't last don't we? We know it's all going to wrong in Episode III and these fine brave and skilled soldiers will become the bumbling inaccurate simpletons of the evil Empire.

Mom was a vat

The adventure begins floating in a tank, in a series of cut scenes our hero grows up, is tutored and comes to learn of his role. No normal Republic Clone trooper, you are an elite Republic Commando, to be sent with a squad on the most important missions. Though I did think if the missions were that important they'd have sent a Jedi.

With no ponderous long introduction we are dropped into the middle of the battle for Geonosis, the battle that raged at the end of the second prequel movie. It's straight into the thick of action right away and the first level is used to teach you the controls.

The controls owe a lot more to recent WWII tactical shooters than other sci-fi games and this is no bad thing. The ability to hold the gun up to provide more accurate fire is welcome as is the feeling this isn't just some dumb, run and gun, fragfest. Console first-person shooters are often let down by their control methods but SWRC works just great, with an unusually large number of gunfights happening in three-dimensions it's just as well.

Meet Delta Squad

The first level also introduces you to Delta Squad, the other three clone troopers who will be your team mates for the rest of the game. Each of these three characters have unique skills and specialities that they bring to the squad such as demolitions or sniping and it's up to the player to make the best use of them.

For the most part Delta Squad is an intelligent outfit. There's nothing worse that a squad-based game where the AI characters are of no use and can't hit a Bantha at twenty paces. You needn't worry in this case, the Deltas work hard, aim well and will often despatch an enemy before you've drawn a bead on them.

They are also a witty bunch considering they were grown in a vat. There's plenty of typical solider banter and funny dialogue along the way - again something that makes it feel like a WWII shooter. At one point we blasted open a door to find a room full of very dangerous battle-droids, which resulted in one of Delta Squad saying, "Uh oh, these aren't the droids we were looking for."

Command and conquer

Being a team leader would be of no consequence if you couldn't issue orders. The game's HUD interface is similar in some ways to Metroid Prime, in that all information is supposedly overlaid on the helmet visor. But here it goes much further.

Move the cursor over certain scenery objects and squad options are displayed. Over locked doors this will be a position for a breaching charge, over a door control the opportunity to hack, behind a large bolder a sniper position, and so on. Using a simple context-sensitive system, one-button press will send a member of Delta Squad into action at this location.

So you can tell your troops to blast open doors, take up sniper positions, use gun turrets etc. It's a simple easy to use system and works well, though sometimes I would move on and realise I'd left someone behind. Other controls are accessed via the dpad and you may order Delta Squad to form up or search and destroy.

Not the full smarts

The system isn't quite as smart as you might think as it really doesn't matter which of these troops you use for each task. Sure if all three are free and you order a door breached, it will be your demolition specialist who will plant the charge. However if he's already busy in a sniping position one of the other commandos will do just as good a job.

For the most part it all works great but sometimes things don't seem to work as planned. Early on in the game I came up against particularly tough war-droids a few times. I ordered Delta Squad to concentrate fire on a particular droid and they took this to mean run right at them and stand within punching distance until my whole team was dead. Well thanks guys, real smart.

Shadows of the Empire

Presented in widescreen Republic Commando is certainly a very good looking game, the animations and textures are particularly good. Some of the later levels - which I've avoiding talking about too much to spoil the story, are great, and so are some of those level's hairy inhabitants. Even when there's a lot happening on screen events remain smooth.

The sound is more of a mixed bag. We have the excellent John Williams score, which is the best any game can hope for and we also have the traditional sound effects from the Star Wars universe. So nothing wrong there then. Unfortunately LucasArts has bent to modernity slightly and included some rock music too. Don't get me wrong, the music itself is fine, but it really has no place in the Star Wars universe - which usually features the more timeless Williams score.

Closing thoughts

What we have here is a good solid tactical first-person shooter that only just falls short of excellence. The Rainbow Six style gameplay is welcome in a game such as this, and it's just a shame it's been so simplified when there clearly was more that could have been done in the game. It's ironic though that this sci-fi shooter is much smarter and gives a great squad atmosphere than Activision's very poor console conversions of Call of Duty.

My only strong disappointment is the multiplayer aspects of the game. The CTF, Assault and Deathmatch games are fine enough, but the different trooper types were just crying out for some kind of class-based multiplayer action. But let's not end on a harsh note because for the most part, Star Wars Republic Commando is strong enough to pull the ears off a Gondar. It's a great action-packed romp through the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and a good taster for that movie to come in a couple of month's time.