Star Wars: Republic Commando

The Good
Crossing tactical strategy and FPS action is perhaps the unique way to put to some flavour in a game. Even better, playing as a clone and not just any clone, but a commando clone, really sets the stage for the game. The way you command your squad mates works a lot like Brothers in Arms, only these clones have a decent AI to act on their own, to save your from all the heavy lifting. And the commando clones can revive each other, so you have no fear of casualties. To break up the shooting you have a variety of tasks like defusing mines, breaching doors and setting traps. Some of the time you will have to go solo or with fewer squad members, and you're going full commando style. It's also nice that there's quicksave and autosave in the game for the challenges ahead.

The assortment of weapons are extremely interesting and go for something very different. In addition to the self-recharging pistol (which is more useful than it looks), you also have a standard battle rifle that has multiple attachments, a strong melee attack, different kinds of grenades, and a weapon some wouldn't expect in the Star Wars universe, the shotgun. The best weapon in the game is the walker, but sadly you only use it for a short time and don't drive around in it.

The game is set straight after the second episode film, showing a great deal of the clones' action to win the battle of Geonosis. This is followed by two epic storyline missions that put all four commando clones in the thick of battle. There's a nice mix of John Williams' and Jesse Harlin's composition to accompany all the action. Each individual clone displays unique a personality and skill orientation. It's a pity that we don't get to see their faces under the helmets. Among the great graphic detail, the game adds neat little notable details such as the helmet electronically wiping off the blood smears, engine oil and slime when you kill an enemy up close.

The extras are incredibly rewarding, which show some of the best behind the scenes in a Star Wars game, particularly the choreography of the animation, which was aided by a real life special ops veteran, showing just how much effort LucasArts went to deliver quality to this game.

The Bad
Where there is action packing, there is also confusion in the mix. For one, the team members can be fidgety or unreliable at times. The more experience you have at coordinating them, the less likely this happens. But this doesn't bode well for certain missions that have countdowns, since you can't afford to take your time and have to take a ton of damage and losses, while you plough through turret entrenched areas. Allies such as the Wookies also have a tendency to get themselves killed and you have no real control over them to better preserve them.

It's annoying how often you need to backtrack in order to heal yourself and your team members if you don't know where to find a bacta charging station. And then there are times when you want to place a bomb, use a turret or some other action but you end up sending one of your squad members to do it instead because you have to stand in a very specific spot to take control. And the awkward thing about the sniper attached is that you can't comfortably control the zoom mode.

Some of the enemies can really do a number on you even in the easiest difficulty level, especially the incessant, pesky scavenger droids. And talking of enemies, the one thing that this game lacks like most FPS games are the presence of bosses, which is is a standard, but doesn't affect this game in any way. All in all game, only a handful of issues but nothing that ruins the gameplay.

The Bottom Line
This one of the most symbolic titles among the Star Wars video games collection. This predated both the 2009 Clone Wars TV series and the Bad Batch. It would've been nice to see the Delta Squad make guest appearances in the any of the LucasFilm animated series. They would have done Rex (CT-7567) proud. And then this game got a remaster for the newer consoles. The game may not have aged well, but it earned its place with Star Wars fans and casual game players alike. A superb experience if you ever tried it.