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May 8, 2006
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Super Troopers
by JediJef
 I?ll forgive you if you missed 2005?s Republic Commando, a sublime Star Wars shooter that got lost amid the marketing blitz surrounding Episode III. Though the game sold well, particularly the XBox incarnation, many franchise fans remain unaware of this gem, and the hours of fun waiting on those who suit up with Delta Squad.
The game will be familiar to fans of the squad-based ?Rainbow Six? series of PC games, as well as anyone who has ever spent more than a few minutes inside a first person shooter. The player assumes the role of Delta 38, the leader of an elite squad of clone commandos, scarily efficient soldiers even higher up the killing machine food chain than standard clone troops.
Delta Squad is tasked with leading the charge during the early days of the Clone Wars, and the player will see combat during the battle of Geonosis and several other theaters, culminating with a covert insertion on Kashyyyk just prior to the battle depicted in ?Revenge of the Sith.?
It is here that Republic Commando truly shines. Few Star Wars games in recent memory have immersed the player so fully into the world of the films. From the constant commentary of your squad mates (often interlaced with tension-breaking jokes and wink/nudge references to franchise lore), to the orchestral fury of Jesse Harlin?s original soundtrack, the game allows you to enter the Star Wars universe with a degree of authenticity sadly absent from many of the other franchise game offerings. Battlefront 2, for example, features more maps, more weapons, and more playable characters than Republic Commando, but also comes across as soulless and generic when compared to the latter?s narrative, voice acting, and general Star Wars ambience.
In terms of gameplay and design, Republic Commando doesn?t stray too far from the established norms of the FPS genre, with the exception of the squad A.I. It is, in a word, superb, and is truly the most effective weapon in your arsenal. Your mates will not only act autonomously by laying down covering fire, advancing on enemies, and tracking foes across the map, but they will also give you bacta shots if you fall, and carry out your last order before tending to your wounds and reviving you.
Graphically, Republic Commando is at the head of it?s class. The animations are many and fluid, from your squad mates cautiously prodding deceased enemies with their boots, to the helmet visor windshield wiper that clears your vision of raindrops and the occasional bodily fluid that results from dispatching an enemy at close range. Cutscenes are brief and make use of the in-game engine, but more than make up for the lack of screen time with some seriously impressive visuals (a zero-g insertion into a derelict space cruiser is a sight to behold) and a squeal-inducing cameo to compliment the breathless cliffhanger ending of the story mode campaign.
The game also impresses with regard to music and sound design, making use of a professional foley artist and Lucasarts? extensive library of sound effects as well as a new score composed exclusively for the game. The brooding sounds of Harlin?s male choir (singing in Mandalorian, no less) does wonders for the game?s already impressive atmospherics.
Music is only one third of the equation, however, and RC delivers the goods when it comes to authentic Star Wars battle sounds. There?s nothing quite like signalling your squad mates to breach a pressure door, then squinting through the clearing smoke as the orchestra and blast effects blare from a 5.1-enabled sound system. If your PC sports a decent audio card, as well as a surround system, you won?t be disappointed. If it doesn?t, consider upgrading to take advantage of the feature film quality soundtrack.
The voice-acting is also excellent throughout, with each of your squad mates taking on distinct personalities, though you may notice that Scorch sounds remarkably similar to Atton from Knights of the Old Republic II.
RC also features a multiplayer component, and, while it lacks the robustness of those found in the Battlefront and Jedi Knight series, it is more than capable of setting the stage for a fragfest with a few like-minded Clone Wars fanatics. The standard maps are well designed, if fairly small, and while the original game shipped with a limited number of maps compared to other online shooters, support was added for modding, and there are third party packs available for download on the internet. Finding a random game is problematic, as there are nowhere near the number of dedicated servers for Republic Commando that there are for FPS titans such as Call of Duty or Half-Life, and much of the mod community seems to have moved on to newer games.
That said, the single player game is worth the purchase price on it?s own, and while you?re playing that, RC offers unlockable extras content, accessible as you progress through the story mode. Concept storyboards, interviews with developers and lead voice actor Temeura Morrison, and a host of other DVD-style featurettes add a level of polish to the game that serve as an incentive for finishing the grueling missions. While the game is it?s own reward, the inclusion of these features is indicative of the care and professionalism that went into the making of RC, and bodes well for the future of Star Wars shooters.
As good as the game is, it?s not without flaws, though most of them are warts that only the most hard-core Star Wars nitpicker will notice (if they?re clones, shouldn?t they all have Morrison?s voice?). For all it?s immersiveness, the actual gameplay is very linear; you won?t find much in the way of expansive environments or opportunities to thoroughly explore your surroundings. Several of the bosses are also extremely difficult; you may find yourself wishing for a Jedi or two to help dispatch Grevious? annoying MagnaGuards, who seemed to fall a bit more easily in the movie than they do in the game. In addition, though RC isn?t noticeably shorter than other FPS games, the fact that I was enjoying it so much caused a bit of consternation when it ended, as I greedily wanted more, more, and more.
In a nutshell, if you?re a fan of tactical shooters, RC is worth a look, due to the quality of the A.I. and its Star Wars pedigree. If you?re a Star Wars fan and you?ve yet to play it, shame on you (especially since it can now be had for less than $30USD). While games that let you get in touch with your inner soldier are a dime a dozen, none has ever done it with quite as much style as Star Wars: Republic Commando. Now if you?ll excuse me, my squad mates are calling, and it?s time to go ?rearrange some architecture!?
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