Republic Commando was available on PC and Xbox in March of 2005, it is a first person shooter following a squad of Clone commandos. The game runs in Unreal Engine.
The game can run on modern PC systems with minimal tweaking, it is not a demanding or taxing game so it can run on modern Windows systems. The Xbox version is also backwards compatible on 360. The graphics themselves were impressive for the time and still hold up at present. The environments are well planned with a linear structure and objectives are easy to follow. This style will feel familiar to fans of the Halo series. The FPS view is through your own visor, and your HUD is available on there, with all the vital information needed. A light is also available for dark areas, which gives visibility in certain areas of the map.
One of the strongest points of this game lies in the solid squad-based combat and commands, as the commander of Delta squad, the player has good control over the other squad members and the ability to tell them where to focus fire, or assign each to a position according to their specialties; Sev can snipe, Fixer can hack and Scorch is the demolitions expert. Each commando can use their areas of talent at various parts throughout the game and each person feels useful and unique. As you are in control of these men, you can use keys to tell them where to locate themselves, or call them back if under fire. Certain situations present you with the task of quickly thinking about who would be useful and to assign them accordingly. Throughout the game there are health machines which you can tell your squad members to use if they’re low on health, though the AI tends to be quite intelligent in this and uses them as needed. The health tanks are quite plentiful and you never feel too under pressure. In the single player story the squad is responsive and they will act quickly upon command, all of the members can revive a fallen teammate, and you can also instruct them to do so. The AI really stands out in this game, your fellow squad mates can navigate areas, help themselves and of course kill, very astutely. This is appreciated as some games can see these additional character requiring “hand-holding” to get them to follow you, not get stuck behind objects, or recognize that they’re in danger.
The main campaign in single player is reasonably short, which can leave players wanting more – and the multiplayer wasn’t the most active at the time – and even less so now. The multiplayer offered included normal FPS online modes such as deathmatch and capture the flag. The story takes place during the Clone Wars and your team will see a multitude of well created areas that Star Wars fans will love. Being a very linear game it is a shame you can’t explore these areas as you would be able to in an open-world game. You will meet different characters along your journey, including Wookiees on their home planet. The environments are varied enough to stay engaging and interesting.
The story is well constructed and sees you (Boss) going from birth, through training, and then joining your fellow mates in Delta Squad. You are all sent off to Geonosis, a war-torn planet which captures the chaotic atmosphere instantly and drops you in amongst it all. You are initially separated from your teammates and your very helpful advisor communicates with you throughout the game, giving you information and facts on missions, directives and so on. The game’s dramatic start throws you into the excitement and action, and you immediately want to begin looking for your squad. As you continue through the early mission on Geonosis, your advisor also acts as a tutorial and informs you of useful control methods, items and so on, in a natural manner which folds into the gameplay. The story sees you doing a plethora of ambitious, dangerous and exciting missions, including deactivating weaponry and finding alternate routes into areas to infiltrate a ship. The second bout of missions take place in a different place which is a nice change of scenery, wherein you are to investigate suspicious ship activity, and retrieve a vital piece of information. You are split up from your squad at times and this can alter your play style, and how you tackle situations, whilst feeling tension for your fellow team members. There are tough battles against waves of enemies and it can take tactical thought to fend them off during a mission to secure an objective. Further into the story you see the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk, on dangerous missions to help the fan-favorite furry race during the tough war raging on. Tarfful, a Wookiee Chieftain (and friend of Chewbacca) has been taken captive.
The game requires quite a lot of tactical thinking as it progresses and strategic placement of the squad to successfully engage in battle. Ammo can be sparse at times during fights, but generally it can be found readily as you travel through the levels. It is best to conserve ammo and consider how you will go into a fight, using your team. Some missions see you holding off enemies while Fixer tries to gain access to something, in these instances you need to be quick on your feet and keep an eye on all openings. Highlighted areas will show where specific teammates can go for prime positions on sniping or demolitions. You gain access to different guns as you play through and you can change between a pistol and another weapon of choice. You begin with a standard assault rifle but you can pick up other weapons that are dropped from enemies or found in the world, these all fit nicely into the Star Wars universe, and include familiar guns such as blasters. The pistol has unlimited ammo but it is a laser weapon so it requires a recharge time, and begins to slow after repeated use. The guns are well modeled and feature sounds appropriate for the world the game is set in. Grenades are available and there are a variety of ones with different effects, they are a useful item to have on you and best kept for large swathes of enemies together. Melee is satisfying in this game as the attacks pack quite a punch and can be far more effective if an enemy gets up close and personal.
I personally found this game felt more immersive than many FPS’ due to the squad chatter, and camaraderie. The characters say small comments to each other as we go about our missions, sometimes funny remarks about their locations, sometimes serious elements of the story. The main story also unfolds via a voice over your communicator and between missions you get feedback on how the result of your previous excursion. The ability to revive falling squad members, as well as them being able to return the favor for you means that there is less death to pull you out of that moment and coats the situation with realism. The revive system creates the atmosphere of being part of something important and that each action matters. As mentioned previously, the command and tactical aspects are what makes this game stand out within the shooter realm, and still stand up as a strong addition in the gaming community to this day. In that context, during its birth in 2005, it was quite a refreshing take on the genre and brought something new to the PC and Xbox console. The commands are very simple to use, making it effective and fast. It is imperative to keep an eye on your teammates and ensure they are doing the correct things, so they aren’t left behind. The AI has a tendency to get in the way of your shots and walk in front of you, which happens frequently and proves to be annoying. The other members of your team also feel a bit vulnerable and if caught in the line of fire they can go down quickly, which is particularly frustrating as you are then required to revive fallen squad members.
The music in this game was also something that got a lot of praise at the time, it integrates Star Wars music smoothly, accompanied by a more gritty and dark score. This encapsulates the feeling of the spectacular exciting battles and urgency of your missions as commandos. Sound effects from rifles or lasers are meaty and create a chaotic lively atmosphere as expected from a Star Wars game.
The game is always exciting and well paced, generally you will never have any down time and being very linear, you move on to the next fight quickly and efficiently. There are difficulty spikes in places, I found on one level it was suddenly very difficult and despite using every strategy with my team I could think of, we just had to brute force our way forward through that level and heal up at the end. These higher difficulty areas can remain frustrating and pose quite a challenge.
This game was very highly regarded at its release as a solid and satisfying FPS that changed up the typical style of that genre to include these other more tactical and squad based aspects and drop the player into an immersive world. The game still holds up to this day and doesn’t feel out of place, the graphics aren’t as impressive as current generation games, but they are really quite fantastic, with detailed armor on the Clones and convincing environments with lighting and textures used to emphasize the kind of world we have come to love.
The multiplayer could be considered a letdown – it was not as exciting as the main story and contains only standard FPS style gameplay, with little reward or need to play it. Most players can finish the campaign under 10-11 hours and there isn’t much re-playability in it compared to many modern games due to the linear aspect of the story and lack of exploration, collectables, or more emphasis on multiplayer modes such as co-op. It is a shame that the game doesn’t include any co-operative play as the squad based combat is perfect for it.
Star Wars: Republic Commando is a well polished and action-packed FPS with an engaging storyline for Star Wars fans to get their teeth into and step into the boots of a Clone. It is fast paced, exciting and is easy to pick up, however it seems to have difficulty spikes throughout the game which can change the pacing of gameplay. Despite its age, the game is worth playing still now and can certainly stand as a strong game in its genre.
To get the game running on Windows 7, using a widescreen mod to simply tweak some settings from here works flawlessly. Unfortunately due to the game’s age, back in its day Republic Commando used some pretty advanced programming trickery to get (at the time) fancy effects such as bump-mapping working on lower spec systems. As graphics cards have continued to evolve over the years, these specific techniques no longer function as LucasArts initially created them. The result means that the majority of the game’s bump map effects look overly blocky and down right ugly. Personally, due to the fact these effects are used mostly on armor and metal, the effect did not bother me too much. However, simply disabling bump maps in the options will turn them off (but with a more basic graphical appearance).
There have been rumors and speculation of sequels over the past few years. Fans have drawn up evidence, searched high and low and discussed anything that could point to the fact that one could be in the works – but nothing has ever been confirmed.
In any case, Republic Commando is certainly worth playing for any Star Wars gamer.
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