Star Wars: Republic Commando is LucasArts 2005 first person shooter that has something of a cult following. It takes place during the Clone Wars, the starting mission dropping you out of the sky in a Gunship during the battle for Geonosis where you meet up with your three squad mates.
The four commandos are Boss, the player character, Fixer, the wise guy and tech specialist, Scorch, the reserved one that makes things go boom, and Sev, the one that inserts bullets into heads from a distance. While you are told they all have their roles they can all do everything equally well.
The game operates as a squad based shooter with you taking control and directing the other commandos. It's a fairly simple system of pointing at the object that you want them to interact with and pressing the F key. This ranges from taking up a sniping position, to hacking a computer console, to blowing open a door. While the AI of the commandos is nothing special the control you have over them, regrouping, holding positions, or attacking, makes them much easier to manage. It can be kind of annoying however to have to constantly point the poor fools in the right direction all the time, especially when it comes to healing themselves at Bacta stations.
For a squad based shooter you seem to get separated from your squad mates quite a bit. Numerous missions separate you from your squad to accomplish certain objectives which could probably have been done together. This is probably to make the creepy sections all the more without three other people to hold your hand and to increase the difficulty because having three guys help makes for a much easier game.
The atmosphere itself is actually a big draw for this game. When you are with your squadmates you find yourself relying on them to help you rather then just those npcs that follow you around. This makes being separated from them in some missions all the more acute. It also ramps up the feeling that you are alone, and there is something out to get you.
The games health system is similar to the original Halo in that you have a shield and health points. Your shield recharges, but you will need to visit a Bacta station to regain health points. These Bacta stations are little consoles on the wall that would appear to spray you in the face with Quick Fixit Commando spray as the blue light will heal you up in a few seconds. In case you do wind up dieing fear not, your allies can revive you (or you your allies) with a little jolt gun that gets you back on your feet again, albeit with limited hit points.
The game also doesn't exactly innovate when it comes to weaponry. The only oddity being that most of the weapons you will use you already have, you just have finite and hard to come by ammo for some of them. Your rifle transforms in a sniper rifle, assault rifle, or anti-armor grenade launcher. Your assault rifle is your standard weapon with plentiful ammo throughout the levels, though you are given a pistol with infinite ammo but a recharge for the shots in case you find yourself wasting all your ammo on your allies because they have gotten stuck on each other. You can also find special weapons in some of the levels, these range from a beam gun that fires a constant ray at the enemies, to a shotgun, to a rocket launcher that fires three shots at once, because one is never enough.
The enemies are fairly staple as well, you have a generic grunt that shows up with a bunch of his buddies and is oh so satisfying to knife in the face with your wrist blade. These vary from level to level but will be Geonisians, Battle Droids, or Trandoshans. Then there is the stronger version of these that have more health and better weapons that show up occasionally, the Elite Guard, Super Battle Droid, or Mercenary respectively. There are also enemies that are basically face huggers, they come in two flavors: Geonosian babies that latch onto your helmet and will try to eat through unless you pull them off and stab them with your Wrist Blade. The other version is basically a robotic version of these on other levels that can also zap your shields or kamikaze into you, exploding on impact and dealing damage.
The sound and graphic effects are nothing special considering it's a five year old game. But the sounds themselves are well done and the shouts of your squadmates or even just their bantering really pulls you into the game.
The plot is nothing special either. You are in the Clone wars, and then you get three different stories depending on which act you are in. On Geonosis you are assassinating a target, disabling a anti-air gun and blowing up droids. On the ghost ship without giving too much away you are investigating what has happened there but you have been separated from your squad at the beginning and have to find them. On a side note while all the levels are very linear this one seems the most so and is very confining. Finally on Kashyk where you have to help the Wookies.
All in all I would highly recommend picking this game up off of Steam and giving it a try. It's only $10 bucks at this point and you owe it to yourself to play it.
This is my first review on this site and any constructive criticism would be welcomed, thank you.
Edit: On the note of one of the comments there will likely not be a sequel but someone has made a mod for the first game. This is their version of the expansion, I haven't played it yet but that may be my next review. The mod is here: [link]http://sqon.net/mods/rc2.html[/link]
The four commandos are Boss, the player character, Fixer, the wise guy and tech specialist, Scorch, the reserved one that makes things go boom, and Sev, the one that inserts bullets into heads from a distance. While you are told they all have their roles they can all do everything equally well.
The game operates as a squad based shooter with you taking control and directing the other commandos. It's a fairly simple system of pointing at the object that you want them to interact with and pressing the F key. This ranges from taking up a sniping position, to hacking a computer console, to blowing open a door. While the AI of the commandos is nothing special the control you have over them, regrouping, holding positions, or attacking, makes them much easier to manage. It can be kind of annoying however to have to constantly point the poor fools in the right direction all the time, especially when it comes to healing themselves at Bacta stations.
For a squad based shooter you seem to get separated from your squad mates quite a bit. Numerous missions separate you from your squad to accomplish certain objectives which could probably have been done together. This is probably to make the creepy sections all the more without three other people to hold your hand and to increase the difficulty because having three guys help makes for a much easier game.
The atmosphere itself is actually a big draw for this game. When you are with your squadmates you find yourself relying on them to help you rather then just those npcs that follow you around. This makes being separated from them in some missions all the more acute. It also ramps up the feeling that you are alone, and there is something out to get you.
The games health system is similar to the original Halo in that you have a shield and health points. Your shield recharges, but you will need to visit a Bacta station to regain health points. These Bacta stations are little consoles on the wall that would appear to spray you in the face with Quick Fixit Commando spray as the blue light will heal you up in a few seconds. In case you do wind up dieing fear not, your allies can revive you (or you your allies) with a little jolt gun that gets you back on your feet again, albeit with limited hit points.
The game also doesn't exactly innovate when it comes to weaponry. The only oddity being that most of the weapons you will use you already have, you just have finite and hard to come by ammo for some of them. Your rifle transforms in a sniper rifle, assault rifle, or anti-armor grenade launcher. Your assault rifle is your standard weapon with plentiful ammo throughout the levels, though you are given a pistol with infinite ammo but a recharge for the shots in case you find yourself wasting all your ammo on your allies because they have gotten stuck on each other. You can also find special weapons in some of the levels, these range from a beam gun that fires a constant ray at the enemies, to a shotgun, to a rocket launcher that fires three shots at once, because one is never enough.
The enemies are fairly staple as well, you have a generic grunt that shows up with a bunch of his buddies and is oh so satisfying to knife in the face with your wrist blade. These vary from level to level but will be Geonisians, Battle Droids, or Trandoshans. Then there is the stronger version of these that have more health and better weapons that show up occasionally, the Elite Guard, Super Battle Droid, or Mercenary respectively. There are also enemies that are basically face huggers, they come in two flavors: Geonosian babies that latch onto your helmet and will try to eat through unless you pull them off and stab them with your Wrist Blade. The other version is basically a robotic version of these on other levels that can also zap your shields or kamikaze into you, exploding on impact and dealing damage.
The sound and graphic effects are nothing special considering it's a five year old game. But the sounds themselves are well done and the shouts of your squadmates or even just their bantering really pulls you into the game.
The plot is nothing special either. You are in the Clone wars, and then you get three different stories depending on which act you are in. On Geonosis you are assassinating a target, disabling a anti-air gun and blowing up droids. On the ghost ship without giving too much away you are investigating what has happened there but you have been separated from your squad at the beginning and have to find them. On a side note while all the levels are very linear this one seems the most so and is very confining. Finally on Kashyk where you have to help the Wookies.
All in all I would highly recommend picking this game up off of Steam and giving it a try. It's only $10 bucks at this point and you owe it to yourself to play it.
This is my first review on this site and any constructive criticism would be welcomed, thank you.
Edit: On the note of one of the comments there will likely not be a sequel but someone has made a mod for the first game. This is their version of the expansion, I haven't played it yet but that may be my next review. The mod is here: [link]http://sqon.net/mods/rc2.html[/link]
