"perfect timing"
Republic Commando is the first Star Wars game in a long time that has sounded appealing and exciting for anybody other than a true Star Wars fan and school children. The game is essentially a team oriented first person shooter set in the Star Wars universe based around the Episode I – Episode II movies and the elite world of the Star Wars Military.
Game Play
Republic Commando is spread over 14 levels and 3 huge campaigns offering everything from action packed battles to hostage rescue, infiltration/data retrieval, assassination, assault, sabotage and reconnaissance. Throughout each level you lead a four man squad of Republic Commandos. Your squad can be controlled via a unique one touch command system which easily allows you to issue import and decisive strategic commands. The game is build upon the superb Unreal 3D graphics engine and offers some truly unique gameplay features."14 levels and 3 huge campaigns"
While the strategy elements in Republic Commando are a nice addition, essentially this game is a first person shooter. No FPS would be complete without an arsenal of weapons at you disposal. Republic Commando is no exception and you get access to over a dozen weapons ranging from blasters and grenades to high powered energy weapons. If your familiar with the weapons in Unreal Tournament, then you will feel right as home as a large number of the weapons are very similar to those found in Unreal. Not surprising considering the game is built upon the Unreal Engine. The weapons are different in each campaign and gradually introduced as the game progresses. Generally no matter what difficulty you play under the weapons never seem over powered, except for maybe the rocket launcher. While the weapons and placement in the levels is good, the amount of ammo available isn’t. To make the game challenging the amount of ammo available is low. There are quite a few times when you’ll be reaching for your default pants energy weapon to save you.
"built upon the Unreal Engine"
Each level generally consists of commanding your team through various doors and areas with the intension of wiping out all that moves. The strategic elements consist of blasting through doors, hacking computer terminals and informing your squad to perform defensive or attacking manoeuvre. Not particular strategic but very well implemented in a way which doesn’t detract from the excitement and action of the game.
However an interesting feature is the reliance of your squad members for reviving you when your health level drops so low that you become incapacitated. Once you are affectively dead as long as one of your squad is still active they can come over and revive you allowing you to continue the battle. Likewise you can revive your squad members should they need it. This is a nice feature and seems to work well. While incapacitated you can give a couple of orders to your squad; come revive me, and Continue with your current orders. Generally the “continue with your current order” should mean the squad continue to wipe out the enemy until it’s safe to revive you. Quite often though you will find your squad members will decide to revive you even though they are nearly dead and still being attacked. It does however mean you can get back into the action quickly. Once revived you can find the nearest health station and heal yourself with bacta.
"reliance of your squad members"
To top the game off it offers the obligatory Multi-player capabilities including deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag. The game has been mainly developed as a single player game and it shows in the available multiplayer options. While its nice for the feature to be in the game, the majority of people buying this game will be interested in the single player action.
Graphics
Republic Commando uses the latest Unreal graphics engine which means the level of detail is awesome. This game is probably THE best Star Wars game ever. The quality of textures and amazing lighting effects makes this game stand out from the crowd in an ever increasing marking of team based first person shooters. Republic Commando is already a great game which is enhanced by the fantastic use of the 3D engine.Its impressive that while the game is based on the Star Wars universe the game still feels new and not like its all been seen before. The level design is exactly how the games of this nature should be. The game swaps frequently from large outside spaces to small outside places to large indoor places and small indoor places. The Varity of landscapes and locations used for the levels greatly enhances this games life and stops you from getting bored even though the game play through remains the same.
"THE best Star Wars game ever"
For the first time in a long time it’s possible to say thanks to Lucas Arts for listing and creating such an engaging and entertaining game. The norm of late has been to produce games aimed more at the younger age ranges but Republic Commando is amazing for all ages.
They will have access to more than a dozen authentic weapons including the primary Republic Commando firearm, the DC-17m Interchangeable Combat Weapon System and the DC-15s Sidearm Blaster Pistol, as well as enemy weapons such as the Trandoshan Slaver APC Array Blaster and Geonosian Elite Beam Weapon.
Sound
As you would expect from any Star Wars game you have a cracking sound track taken from the films. Even though the music and effects are good they aren’t over the top and enable you to concentrate on playing the game. The game play coupled with the excellent graphics often mean the sound just blends in to the action, just as it should."cracking sound track"
Overall
Star Wars Republic Commando is superbly executed and entertaining at every level. While the game doesn't always feel like it’s a Star Wars game, it does offer fast and details 3D graphics and high adrenalin induced action. The only downside to the game is that every level seems very similar and repetitive. The timed levels are a pain too. This is definitely the best Star Wars game to date and will keep you entertained for hours. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Lucas Arts.