SEV: "I see it. A Trade Federation battleship." SCORCH: "Yeah, not even you can see into hyperspace, Sev." SEV: "No, it's on the edge of the system. Take a look." SCORCH: "Oh, blast..." Ever since its inception, "Star Wars" has made boatloads of money off of merchandise. So, with the prequels in theatres, it made sense for "Star Wars" games, toys and other merchandise to fill the shelves. You couldn't walk into a Blockbuster or Best Buy without seeing about three dozen new "Star Wars" games. Some were pretty derivative, but man, did they sell. Most were about Jedi, adventure and the general spirit of the movies. But then "Battlefront: Good Version", an infantry game, became the top seller. Games that were very detached from the movies were selling, so how far could they take it? When first playing it, "Republic Commando" feels like another "Star Wars" action game, but then things get a little different. SEV: "What the...? You've got to be kidding!" SCORCH: "Alright, this is getting serious." ANAKIN: "I killed them..." ANAKIN: "I killed them all..." CLONE: "We sure could use your help, sir! Die, you cold-blooded WA-AGH...!" ANAKIN: "They're dead!" ANAKIN: "...and the children, too!" ANAKIN: "I hate them!" 38: "IEDs - Improvised Explosive Devices." 38: "Fire in the hole!" It feels a little bit different. But before we get too into the game, I need to talk about the port, because it's not very good. This is one those games, that was developed for the Xbox then back-ported onto PC. So while it doesn't have some neat visual features, like some other PC shooters from 2005, my biggest problem is the resolution. You're not going to get widescreen out of the box. So it looks pretty downscaled. So while that's the biggest visual issue, the gameplay one is the mouse acceleration. Your mouse will take the jump to lightspeed in any of the menus. Turning down mouse sensitivity all the way doesn't help either. It's something hard-coded into the game. No matter what you do in the menus, your mouse is always set to Kenyan murder machine speed. You could just look up the control scheme for the Xbox controller and use that, but there's a better way. Download the "Republic Commando fix" mod from Mod DB. This fixes everything. Now it plays in widescreen on modern machines. Nothing breaks, so now I can talk about the graphics. It looks great on a technical level for 2005. Not boundary-pushing, but it's up there, especially for an Xbox game. Levels are lit nicely and filled with cool effects. I loaded some areas up without the mod too, just to be sure it wasn't altering anything too much. Considering it was a first-party LucasArts game, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. But on top of this, it's also being carried by some stellar art direction. Even though it's taking place in this gritty "Apocalypse Now" version of "Star Wars", it still looks like "Star Wars". That's a pretty hard line to balance on, but they found a way to do it. Art direction was a big part of it, but it might have been the sound that actually carried this for me. [authentic blaster fire] CLONE: "Go, go, go!" Yeah, that sounds right. [authentic droid scream] [a lot is going on at once, and it all sounds very true to the source] The game has things you recognize in the movies, John Williams' score and the sound effects. But they made sure to put original stuff on top of that. 38: "Looks like a Geonosian beam weapon. By the Force, this thing is ugly." The beam weapon will drop from flying elite enemies, so you look at them and then you look at the weapon. That clicking is from these needle things on the side. They dig way faster when you're shooting it too, so this thing extracts and then somehow shoots out the blood of those flying enemies. I love little details like that. The game goes out of its way to legitimize all of its weapons. 38: "Shotguns? I didn't think anyone used projectile weapons anymore." 38: "Hmm, an energy weapon that looks like a slug thrower. I didn't think lizards were that nostalgic." It's not really a shotgun. Yeah, okay... Along with the Williams' score, the game has a kick-ass original soundtrack. I'm not really sure what the genre is... Maybe Viking choir? ("And glory, eternal glory," mand.)
♪ Bal kote, darasuum kote, ♪ ("We shall bear its weight together." mand.)
♪ Jorso’ran kando a tome. ♪ ("Forged like the saber in the fires of death, Brothers all." mand.)
♪ Sa kyr’am nau tracyn kad, Vode an. ♪ Everything about the presentation oozes quality. This is "Rainbow Six: Star Wars edition". SCORCH: "Charge set. Clear!" FIXER: "Fire in the hole!" SEV: "Squish..."
SCORCH: "Breach successful, let's go!" SEV: "This might get sticky..." CLONE: "Use this console to access the factory's main computer." This makes sense, because it wasn't just LucasArts working on this. The animation and gameplay teams were really being advised by a special forces instructor. It's really weird to remember that this is a first party project, but I've been on this too long, so let's move on to the story and gameplay. CLONE: "Someone important noted your excellence on Geonosis." SCORCH: "You hear that, Sev? Someone thinks I'm excellent!" SEV: "Well, at least that makes two of you..." CLONE: "Delta Squad, prepare for low gravity infiltration. Seal your suits. Good luck!" SCORCH: "Woo-hoo-o-o-o!" That sums up the story. The story starts when Littlefoot wakes up as a baby. Kamino has a prophecy, that says you're destined to kick ass in space. The entire intro is your life's training montage, and they keep telling you how much better you'll be from regular clone troopers. "You will be superior to your more common bretheren." It sets a nice tone for the game. Yeah, you are a part of the clone stock, but you're the Kobe beef of clone troopers... something like that. You get acquainted with your squad and then you're off to war. If you couldn't tell, the developers were inspired by "Metroid Prime" for the visor. It doesn't have nearly all the effects that game had, but it does have a wiper. You're going to be needing it. The story opening is strong, but I have some issues with the gameplay. You start with two weapons and, in my opinion, they are the worst in the game. The blaster rifle is a useful weapon, but it lacks impact. I don't know if it's because of the sounds, or the recoil, but there's something about it that just makes it feel like a pea shooter. This isn't from playing on Hard, because that only increases the damage the player takes. It's generic and it lacks a punch. Now throughout the game you'll unlock attachments for it. So in a second or two it can transform from a sniper rifle into an anti-armor tool. These are good weapons, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Your other weapon is a rechargeable pistol with unlimited ammo. It's a fallback for if you run out of ammunition, but after the first few missions, I never used it again. It's kind of a useless weapon, considering how much more effective the wrist blades are. You get introduced to your squadmates one a time to ease into managing them. There's Scorch the demolitions expert. 38: "Let's rearrange some architecture, Deltas." SCORCH: "Scorch - priming charge." SCORCH: "Was it red-red-green, or red-green-red?" SEV: "And he's supposed to be the demolition expert?" SCORCH: "Explosive's set, 38." 38: "Take cover, Deltas!" You have Fixer, the "by-the-book" technology expert. FIXER: "Whenever you're ready, leader." Then there's Sev. Sev is your... Sev. SCORCH: "Man, this place gives me the creeps..." SEV: "Ah, Scorch, nothing better than a jungle hunt." SEV: "Hiding in the bush, putting a plasma bolt through a hostile's cranium." SEV: "Pff! Makes me feel alive." SCORCH: "Okay, now 07 is giving me the creeps..." The story is really carried by its characters. Seeing as how your first mission is just assassinating some lieutenant, the game establishes early on that the big story doesn't really matter here. You're being sent around to do operator shit. Only Jedi, the grunts and your dad will have a place in history books and on the cereal boxes. So your motivation is carrying out your assignments and making sure everyone makes it out okay. When the game threw the "Are you invested?" test at me, I'd say that I passed. This is a likeable team. Them having different trainers and life experiences made them into different individuals, which is something the movies really don't cover. In fact, their armor was originally all going to look the same, until someone got the idea to make them stand out more. Yeah, that's not a joke. So your interest in this story will largely depend on your investment in the characters. We're not going to talk about the story anymore. Hopefully, never again... Nothing could have changed what happened... Once you have the full squad, the game truly becomes great. This is a rare case where I think console limitations help the game out overall, but I still have some gripes. You can give your squad formation commands to decide how they'll move through the level. This is useful for keeping everyone together. It also helps so you can mark specific positions on the map. If you put it at the front of a hallway, for example, the squad knows to take cover at the sides and not stand in the middle. They'll take cover on their own without needing babysitting and this is fantastic. Having bad squad AI in a game like this would completely break it. I'm not sure how technically advanced it is, but I can say that it works how it's supposed to, and that's high praise. It went above and beyond to earn its tag line. 38: "Let's form up."
SCORCH: "Forming up, boss!" In some areas, you can decide between hacking or breaching a doorway. Breaching is good if you know there are enemies on the other side. On the contrary, hacking is quiet, so you can sneak up on the bad men if they're not looking. It could also avoid triggering obstacles like turrets. So just the process of opening a door has some decision to it, but it doesn't stop there. Some objects in the game are tactical positions you can order your squadmates onto. These range from setting traps, mounting a turret and using a special kind of weapon. 38: "Begin snipe manoeuvre, Delta." FIXER: "Moving to your mark." SCORCH: "Taking position, boss." SEV: "38, you sure you don't want someone who can shoot straight?" The amount of these positions available is pretty limited in the early game, but by the end you'll have a lot more. So as the game goes on, there are times you need to rely on your squad to protect you, and sometimes the other way around. Do you have a teammate set a charge? Or maybe there are good positions around, and it'd be better if you did it. It's really refreshing to be able to rely on the teammates. You still make the decisions like who goes where and what should be focus fired on, but it feels like being a guidance counsellor, compared to micromanaging them. Your boys can even revive you, so keeping them alive helps YOU stay alive. The only way to get your health back is from bakta healing stations you can find. They got the idea from the nano meds in "Butcher Bay". Finding these keeps your team healthy. In turn, they keep you alive. Keep in mind that this was designed around a controller, so it's very easy to use. So it's not as complicated as something like "Brothers-in-Arms", but it's still a blast to play. There were some sacrifices for this though. Even though each member of your squad is a specialist, they don't do anything better than the other ones. I'm sure they tinkered with it in development and it probably wasn't worth it. Juggling to try and get the most efficient guy on a point could have been a pain in the ass. So if you put more emphasis on the "tactical" in "tactical shooter", you could find it pretty lacking. But like I said before, the squad feels intelligent and meaningful. SCORCH: "Ehh, you might want to save some ammo for the enemy, sir..." But there are some sections in the game where you need to go it alone, so now we need to talk about some finer things. The weapon system seems weak because you can only pick up one additional gun. The biggest tragedy is that all the side weapons are amazing. SEV: "Enemy droid down." [Marv scream] 38: "Loading dock is secure." CLONE: "Good job, squad." It's really a shame having to choose, because they're all so excellent. I don't mind the giant crosshairs at all compared to this. I get they were going for a realism thing, but it still feels like lost potential. I would take a slot for any of these if it meant getting rid of the pistol. As a condolence, you do get to carry four different types of grenades at a time, so it's nice to at least have that. 38: "That's right, run!" This is off topic, but the main character has a lot of good one-liners. 38: "You lizards need to learn that I'm a lot scarier than you are." 38: "An elegant weapon for a more civilized time, huh?" 38: "Well guess what?" 38: "Times have changed." Between those, and the prep for the enemy attacks sections, I'd say it does make you feel like a commando, even if they don't let you go crazy with the weapons. It's not fair... The last thing I need to talk about is the pacing. It's a little bit off. The game is broken up into multiple chapters, but there are three main arcs. Originally, the entire game would take place in one day on Geonosis. That went great! So then they added a Star Destroyer mission. I thought it was even better than Geonosis. "A-a-a-hh!" So everything was shaping up nicely, but then they got the big question. KI-ADI-MUNDI: "What about the droid attack on the Wookies?" You get sent to their homeworld. "Republic Commando" Wookies are interesting. I have a suspicion that Chewie and his pals have been hitting more than protein shakes and some chicken. There are cool weapons and set pieces, but a lot of the missions revolve around securing hangars. You also start getting these weirdly out of place enemies. A lot of sections were up to par, but I started noticing some padding. It was like someone had said "The last arc couldn't be shorter than the others". I think I know why though. "Republic Commando" came out in February 2005. "Episode III", the movie, came out in May. This was a box-selling point. This game was a sneak peek at "Episode III". This isn't a long game either. Each arc might take you between two and four hours. So it's not a huge deal, and they lampshade it a bit by talking about how much Wookies love their hangars, but it's still something I think drags a little. I also started running into bugs in this section. They weren't crashes or anything too game-breaking, but they were noticeable, so I think it might not have the same level of polish. But overall this is still a great game, and I highly recommend it. "We-e-e-e-e-e!" But wait! What about the multiplayer? There's a ton of options for your custom clone commando, or even a Trandoshan, if you're into that kind of thing. Unfortunately, the servers died with Gamespy, and "Battlefront" is getting all the love on Gameranger. But it was really fun playing split-screen on Xbox and online on PC. My best friend would always pick the gunship map. He did it to "return to Mount Crumpet and play his trumpet." This is Mount Crumpet. The trumpet is conveniently located right under it. It was some bullshit. I'm still mad. So that's "Republic Commando" - an excellent squad FPS game. Come back next time so I can talk about that "Lord of the Rings" RTS. No, not that one, the other one. Thanks for watching! FIXER: "Well done, sir."
