Retrospective: Star Wars: Republic Commando

By Will Porter Published 11 July, 2009

The Empire Strikes Back Catalogue.

How soon we forget. All LucasArts has to do is waltz through door with a smile on its face, a Monkey Island revamp and a decent Star Wars MMO under its arm, and the keys to a digital distribution service jangling in its pocket, and all of a sudden the past five years are forgotten. For years, absolutely nothing - and then suddenly she's back on the doorstep with a cheeky wink and a quip about selling me some fine leather jackets. Out of nowhere, we're rolling around in hay together and daring to dream of a new Day of the Tentacle, and more. As if the life that I wasted lying horizontal on the sofa and staring at the wallpaper hadn't been frittered away.

Well actually I haven't forgotten, you bitch. You left me. You grew tired of the things we cherished: pointing at verbs and combining objects, flying TIE fighters through asteroid fields and singing 'Lucas Arrrrrts!' in daft voices whenever we saw your logo. You walked out of that door and started chasing anything with a wallet or a nascent interest in pod-racing. And now, after so long searching for the fleeting affections of people who could never love you like I do, you've come crawling back to me. Good, old, dependable me.

I knew you'd come back though. I could, for want of a better phrase, feel the good in you. I thought for a while it was through basking in the reflected BioWare glory of Knights of the Old Republic - but no. I knew that your increasingly cold heart was still beating because of Republic Commando; the game that somehow and some way took comedy battle droids and gravel-voiced Kiwi clone troopers and rendered them vibrant, gritty and cool. Sure, it wasn't perfect, with its repeated action bursts and environments, its fixation with corridors and hangars and a paucity of enemy types - but it was effused with a spirit that couldn't be denied. And its music was brill too.

'Retrospective: Star Wars: Republic Commando' Screenshot 1

The in-game intro tracks your growth as a clone. It's all rather nifty.

For those who bravely resisted anything associated with the front of lunchboxes between the years 1999 and 2005, Republic Commando takes place between the close of Attack of the Clones and the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. It's a squad-based first-person shooter in which you and three fellow clone commandos plough through the Clone Wars' first act on Geonosis, watch the back of General Grevious running through various Wookiee doors on Kashyyk, and in-between times deal with a group of adolescent Trandoshans who've found a Star Destroyer with the keys in the ignition and taken it for a joyride across half the known galaxy. Each of your commando chums meanwhile - Sev, Fixer and Scorch - has a personality that belies their shared genetic heritage and different traits, although, truth be told, said traits generally revolve around killing stuff.

The squad dynamics of Republic Commando remain exemplary - they're clear, obvious, fluid and easy to use. Most importantly though, in Republic Commando your squad is a necessity rather than a gang of liabilities trailing around after you reminding you to reload. The AI (perhaps aided by the game's limited corridor confines) rarely falters, while the ploy of providing many and varied sniping positions and grenade spots to bind your charges to while working your way round vast sci-fi hangars provides a tangible tactical edge.

Played through again now, the game is eerily reminiscent of Left 4 Dead - so neat are some of its squad mechanics, and so desperate for a co-op mode are affairs in general. Take the similar ways in which members of your squad become incapacitated, for example, and squad members having to get them back on their feet while the battle still rages. Or the ambient battle chatter, the mix of hugely imposing enemies with blaster-fodder or the scenes in which waves of Star Wars villainy must be held off... The whole game is simply a brilliant action package that subscribes to the Halo mantra of delivering that same exhilarating burst of action again and again - all to orchestral music that blends the chants of excitable holy men with the familiar strains of John Williams.

Even today it remains a more than competent action game, but there are other reasons that Republic Commando feels like it has what approaches the soul of a true LucasArts game, when so many others from the prequel period do not. It primarily comes from your squad, whether through the remarkable variations in animated bug/droid/lizard takedowns on show or simply in banter that, as mentioned before, rivals the best Left 4 Dead has to offer. Some of the lines are just priceless: "A well-built sniper rifle is a beautiful thing. Ours has two zoom modes, 'Up close and personal' and 'Hello, you're dead.'", "Are you trying to baffle the enemy into submission, sir?", "I think we may have to blast our way through that... And I'm not just saying that because I love to blow stuff up." Any game, any game at all, in which squad members chastise you for being a sadist when revoking an order to charge up on health has got to be a winner.

'Retrospective: Star Wars: Republic Commando' Screenshot 2

The gang's all here. And underneath they're all Temuera Morrison.

Whereas other recent Star Wars action games have little other than surface gloss, Republic Commando somehow goes deeper. Where a less confident game like Force Unleashed has to open with a big sell, like you playing as Vader, Republic Commando simply contents itself with a long build-up to a final cameo from Yoda saying a 'jolly well done' in his mangled sentence structure. Because of this it feels like a separate and tighter package from the same canon, not necessarily part of the established prequel money machine. What other part of the nu-Star Wars splurge went as far as making jokes about its own limitations? One priceless moment in the final third of the game has a squad member complain, just when you're getting a little tired of going through the motions in facsimile environs, "What? Another hangar?" and another cattily reply, "Well, I guess the Wookiees just like Hangars..." They sure do.

For LucasArts itself Republic Commando came at a difficult time. It was known during its development that two thirds of its developers would be laid off after it wrapped, and it's hardly surprising that after its less-than-stellar sales the mooted sequel Imperial Commando would never see the light of day. Yet even with this in mind, in what were really rather desperate times for the folk in the Lucas games division, a game with real heart and soul was produced. It gave me hope that one day being a LucasArts fanboy would mean something again.

Are we teetering on the edge of something truly meaningful? I can't say. I'm damaged goods, with some stratospheric trust issues. But it feels right. I'm glad I didn't burn all her clothes after all, or stab her eyes out of all the photos that showed us together in happier times. Not out of all of them at least. Welcome back LucasArts. All is forgiven.

Picture of Will.

About Will Porter

Will ‘Velvet Owl’ Porter is a roaming freelance writer who occasionally appears at EG’s back door asking for scraps. You can find out how cold/hungry he is by following @Batsphinx on Twitter.

Read more articles from Will by visiting the Will Porter archive page.

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Comments (67) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Hunam #1 3 years ago

    Could never playing this game because of the constant helmet overlay on the screen. Felt like playing through and oddly shaped veiwscreen.

  • b00n #2 3 years ago

    Imperial Commando? There was a sequel planned? They should make it and sell it, i would pre-order it right now.

    One of the games I loved playing, despite it being sometimes a bit repetitive, it just had a soul, it was fun, the squad mechanics worked, animations and voices were great, and the length was exactly right. Some of the best time I had with the original Xbox was with this one. Only disappointment was the lack of co-op. Something for the sequel LucasArts?
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/09 @ 00:48

  • BillyBrush #3 3 years ago

    Woa, new articles popping up in the middle of the night

    This game was a pretty poor Halo ripoff and in no way will it bring to mind Left4Dead....at all.

    I dunno, very odd choice, the games not really worthy of such weekend automated postery, have a holiday

  • mandella #4 3 years ago

    Well then, Halo fanboy, go and rot in hell if you're too dumb to call it a Halo ripoff, rofl.

    Anyway, great game. Along with SW: Jedi Academy my favourite two SW games in recent years. Actually, I think I'm gonna buy it and play again.

  • DFawkes #5 3 years ago

    Bloody good game. It was unfortuate it was overshadowed by other games, as it's a really solid shooter, with what I still count as the best sqaud AI I've seen.

    I can see the L4D reference as well, with the calm moments allowing you to the the personality of your teammates shine through just a little. Certainly worth a reminder, especially since you can pick up the Star Wars Best of PC Collection that has this, the fantastic Knight of the Old Republic, Battlefront, Empire at War and Jedi Knight II all for less than £20.

  • Musicom #6 3 years ago

    Fantastic to see this game getting recognition, such an unacknowledged gem from the last generation. Article really nails the stuff about the abundance of character the squad had (loving the quotes). Though there were real problems with respawning enemies (super battle droids, AARGH!), amongst other things - as an experience Republic Commando really stands as one of the most enjoyable shooters I've played. Still worth checking out if you missed it, I'd say.

  • Razorus #7 3 years ago

    I loved this bloody game. The Xbox had some sexy Wars games tbh. RepCom, Battlefront and KOTOR were the ones!

  • NegativeZero #8 3 years ago

    This was a fantastic game. Only reason I never picked it up personally was just that it was too short and linear to justify the expense at the time - I rented it and finished the bulk of it in an evening, alternating playing levels with a friend. If it had had co-op it would have been an absolute must-have.

  • matrim83 #9 3 years ago

    Lovely article.

    I loved this game to bits, shame it never got a sequel. And it was somehow made worse by the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger. Cmon LA doa sequel already, Space marines are cool now, it will sell. I promise.

  • DaemonSpawn #10 3 years ago

    Strange. No eurogamer review for this one,
    I remember not picking it up back when Republic Commando was released because I thought it's another movie based shit.
    Might as well pick it up on steam now - price is just 10 bucks.

  • Obiwanshinobi #11 3 years ago

    I really wanted to like it, but just couldn't for similiar reasons I dislike Halo. RC has slicker production values and loveable Star Wars theme, but - not quite unlike Halo - feels like made of foamed polystyrene after all. Does not appeal to the sociopathic side of my nature at all. Good taste, supposedly epic storyline, even decent AI - all those qualities are not sufficient substitute for that spark of dementia an FPS really needs to satisfy my crass needs, apparently.
    Oh, and I found corridorrific level design fairly underwhelming (compared to R63 and SWAT 4). Even Halo seemed more ambitious to me in that depratment (judging from early levels).

  • IronCladChicken #12 3 years ago

    So... buy a few Lucasarts games now - or hold out and wait for the £35 game pack/bundle?

  • AphoticCosmos #13 3 years ago

    RC is one of the best games I've ever played. LucasArts is insane to not release Imperial Commando or any kind of sequel - it was simply brilliant!

    It was short, but amazingly good fun. Pretty much from the moment that you leave Kamino to the ending, it's awesome. The incredibly witty and heart-warming chatter between squadmates, stabbing Trandos in the face, shooting Trandos in their backpacks so that they explode, blowing up that Separatist cruiser with the Star Destroyer's guns, the CIS Core Ship level, big-ass Wookiees, seeing Grievous and fighting his guards, blowing up spider droids, the epic ending scene, the Mandalorian battle chants in the main menu and at epic parts of the story . . . God, what more could you ask for in a Star Wars shooter?

    MAKE A SEQUEL YOU PILLOCKS!
    Edited by 2 at 12/07/09 @ 14:58

  • Hermiod #14 3 years ago

    Halo rip off ? I bought this and Halo 2 on the same day. To this day I have still not bothered to finish Halo 2, while I've played this through twice.

  • StueyBoy16 #15 3 years ago

    I absolutely loved this game along with both of the Battlefronts.

    Personally, I really liked the helmet overlay on the screen as I found it to be more immersive and I would like to see it used more in games. There was however, an option to turn it off for whoever complained about it here.
    This was always the first game I went back to on my original Xbox when my 360 broke (3 times), but now I spend a few days playing through the campaign solidly every month or so, it just never gets boring.

    As for LucasArts, until they can arrange a sequel for this and sort out the whole Battlefront 3 debacle, they are by no means forgiven for the way they have treated their fans over recent years.

  • InternetRed #16 3 years ago

    This was brilliant in it's day. I'd play it now but I lent it out and never got it back...

    The ending upset me though. I would have liked the chance to say "screw you sir" and go back.

  • stephen #17 3 years ago

    Dearest Lucasarts: Moar adventures, less Star Wars tat. Thanks. Except for X-Wing/TIE Fighter. Feel free to remake those games as they were awesome. Bye now.

  • dacicus #18 3 years ago

    Don't mind a Star Wars game as long as it's well done.But the old adventures...Man, oh man.
    I'm glad that they are redoing Monkey Island and add another title to the serie (sure is an episodical title, but it's still Monkey Island).
    And yes, games like Jedi Knight and the X-Wing - Tie Fighter series will always be welcomed. Republic Command was the swansong of the people that gave us the Jedi Knight series. And certainly we would love to see more games based on story and less on ubergraphics.
    And you know what? I'd love to see a new Outlaws game or another AfterLife.

  • krudster #19 3 years ago

    EG review of it here....

    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/articles/r_swre...

  • Bagpuss #20 3 years ago

    I didnt like this game one bit....and i didnt even pay for it 1st time round....felt like a waste of a perfectly good CDR.

    All those Unreal 2 engine powered games, just looked and felt alike, Pariah was another one.

  • Haloboy #21 3 years ago

    Nonsense. Did you ever play Pariah online? It was some of the best fun you could have with mental ragdolls and excellent team play. As for RC I'd also kill for a sequel. I guess it will always just remain another Undying. :(

  • Hunam #22 3 years ago

    :(

    I can't believe I got buried for sharing an opinion that's wasn't trolling or being provocative.

  • dacicus #23 3 years ago

    Hunam, the only guy attacked was BillyBrush. Don't be so defensive.

  • anephric #24 3 years ago

    This was an average game at the time and is even less remarkable now. It was a trudge to play through compared to contemporaneous squad shooters - it must be twice as trudgeworthy now.

    As for Pariah, I never even finished the campaign before I traded it in. It was glitchy as fuck on Xbox and equally as boring.

  • trooperdx3117 #25 3 years ago

    How could you write a retrospective for Republic commando without even mentioning the awesome vibro-blade that springs out of your glove and splashes blood/oil all over your visor, I bloody loved that. However even to this day im gutted over the lack of sequel, however I remain optimistic considering Lucasarts just released Republic commando on steam.

  • Jaaay2k #26 3 years ago

    SW: Repbublic Commando is the best game in the whole wild world! No game can beat this.

  • BrettDouville #27 3 years ago

    Thanks for the kind write-up, Will. Those last months on the project were certainly tough, and it was definitely a labor of love. Big shout-outs to Jesse Harlin for the music, Mike Stemmle (now penning and punning at Telltale) for the writing, John Hancock and Nathan Martz for the AI, a whole slew of designers for the great fun, and Tim Longo for the overall vision and design direction, not to mention a whole team full of passion under tough circumstances.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/09 @ 14:14

  • Slamhound #28 3 years ago

    I loved RC; slick as hell, and rather tellingly the character banter never got stale, at all. Now name one other game that can claim the same thing. Sure, there were a hell of a lot of repeated lines, but they were delivered with such character that you could just listen to them all day and never get bored.

    I didn't play multiplayer that often, but it was fun. It was a lot looser affair, not rigid like the SP game. I remember joining a Team DM game and Goomba-stomping a Trandoshan player by just rocket jumping off his head with an AA shell, getting away with only minor burns to my armour. Try that in the single player game, and your teammates will have to spend the next five minutes locating your legs.

    Sequel please, Lucas. We want to know what the bloody hell happened to Sev.

  • Super_Zee #29 3 years ago

    Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant game, one of my Xbox highlights. I didn't realize there was ever a possible sequel, I'd kill for Imperial Commando.

    I really want to play it again as it's BC but I can't find it anywhere.

  • Ph4lanx #30 3 years ago

    Loved this game. In fact, I still have the game just above my monitor on the shelf, lovingly dusted regularly and kept in good condition. I so want a sequel!

  • BillyBrush #31 3 years ago

    Mweh...

    Edge got this bang on the money when they bestowed it their hallowed 5/10

    ..trust me my misty eyed friends, you play this again now and you're in for one dull afternoon.

  • AphoticCosmos #32 3 years ago

    "Mweh...

    Edge got this bang on the money when they bestowed it their hallowed 5/10

    ..trust me my misty eyed friends, you play this again now and you're in for one dull afternoon."

    Absolute bollocks. I played it through two months ago and it was just as good as when I first played it, perhaps better since I'd forgotten entirely about all the wit that the squad displays.

    Besides, Edge delight in raping the scores of good games. RC wouldn't be the first and it won't be the last.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/09 @ 15:44

  • Razorus #33 3 years ago

    My favourite line was when you infiltrate the Trade Federation Coreship to sabotage some key systems and 38 goes: "alone against all these battledroids....they don't stand a chance."

  • Haloboy #34 3 years ago

    If you've not yet bought RC as part of the LucasArt's Best of PC package I strongly urge you to do so, right now. I mean RIGHT BLOODY NOW. Or you can grab it on Steam of course.

    Screw it, I'm gonna play this sucka again for the rest of today!

  • Retroid #35 3 years ago

    Still one of my favourite Star Wars games and, infact, shooters in general. The atmosphere this game created was quite remarkable and added much-needed meat to the SW prequels for me.

    I'm absolutely gutted there was a sequel planned but this didn't sell enough, I would've *loved* playing as an Imperial squad commander after their 'switches were flipped' at the end of the game!

    :'(

    /Has played this through twice on Xbox
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/09 @ 17:55

  • Gearskin #36 3 years ago

    Lucas Arts games arrived on STEAM this weekend, Republic Commando is one of the games. £12.99

  • Gearskin #37 3 years ago

    Forget that, it's actually £6.99

  • Artemis_Matsas #38 3 years ago

    Great game. Highly recommended, even today.

  • Dizzy #39 3 years ago

    How good does it run on a PC today? Anybody tried? High res?

  • AphoticCosmos #40 3 years ago

    @ Dizzy,

    I played it through on my brand new rig back in late May and it worked absolutely fine. It looks a bit dated in some places, but it's still too fun for me to give a damn how it looks.

    I would assume that if there are any kind of issues with newer hardware [seeing as I'm running an i7, GTX 295 and DDR3 RAM, I'm confident that it's unlikely] that the Steam version would fix it.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/09 @ 19:13

  • Gearskin #41 3 years ago

    @ Crofto

    Your mum. There's no tearing in the PC version.

  • Gearskin #42 3 years ago

    wow, if you have STEAM I'd buy this. I did, it works fine on Vista. And supports widescreen.

    It's badass. The multiplayer is still being played too.

  • DarthKebab #43 3 years ago

    For those that have it on PC, does it support the 360 controller/wireless receiver?

  • Slamhound #44 3 years ago

    Never tried using my 360 controller, because I flat-out refuse to play FPSes with a controller on a PC.

    But, from what I heard, there was a kludge to do it. I don't know, it might be supported. If not, you could probably try using Xpadder (Which must be paid for) or XBCD (Which is free as the summer breeze) to map controls to the pad.

  • siro #45 3 years ago

    This might be my favorite shooter overall. It's generally underrated by a wide margin...

    Btw: These weekly retrospectives become more and more my fav column on EG. Keep it coming!

  • hiddenranbir #46 3 years ago

    You forgive so easily!

  • Haloboy #47 3 years ago

    Been playing through the start of this today and it really does hold up well compared to what I thought it would. The only set back being you just can't enable anything other than low for bump mapping as the game still cuts back to desktop if you do. Widescreen ini fix, no problem. Bump mapping, forget it.

    It's still highly enjoyable all the same.

  • Super_Zee #48 3 years ago

    Heh, found it completely by accident in some random indie shop today! Played through the first level and it still rocks. So, so good.

  • joe90 #49 3 years ago

    Better on the pc or the 360??
    /ignore that .. it was on the xbox.. not the 360 !! how time flys
    Edited by 1 at 13/07/09 @ 09:46

  • TheTingler #50 3 years ago

    Wow, we've got a developer on here!

    Congratulations Brett, you helped make one of the best Star Wars games out there, and I was crushed when I first found out about the sequel. Anyone who told me LucasArts were a rubbish developer last year I'd point to RC and remind them that they'd only made really one game themselves in the last few years, and it was brilliant.

    If I had complaints (which I do) apart from the lack of a co-op mode, it's that there weren't enough planets to visit. Oh, and after setting up the Super Battle Droids as ruthless killers here George Lucas reduced them to imbeciles in Episode III... but that admittedly wasn't really RC's fault.

    Anyone read the books by Karen Traviss? They're excellent. I particularly like Order 66, and they're now being retitled Imperial Commando...

  • Praetorianer #51 3 years ago

    Hey Mr. Porter, stop reading my mind! :)

  • MikeN #52 3 years ago

    Good game, crying out for a co-op style sequel sorta like a sci-fi GRAW/R6. My only fear would be that if it were based on the Karen Traviss books it would revolve around the clones eating cake and talking about settling down on a quiet farm somewhere.

  • scowat #53 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 16:41:01 08-02-2012

  • Rubarack #54 3 years ago

    Hmm, fun, quick and easy. Exactly the sort of thing that works well picking up after the event as a budget title.

  • Quint2020 #55 3 years ago

    I bloody loved Republic commando, one of my favourite games on the original Xbox.

  • BrettDouville #56 3 years ago

    Thanks to TheTingler and to all the folks with fond memories. It's funny you mention that about the planets, Tingler, because originally the "high concept" of the game was going to be that you played through a complete day of the war, and that was it. All on Geonosis. I'm glad we junked that. Anyway. Thanks for all the kind words.

  • DarthKebab #57 3 years ago

    I hold more hope for Star Wars games now though, since they don't have a film deadline to "tie" in with, although the Force Unleashed was a great tech demo it just got repetitve, even in the demo, hopefully they can take what they have learned from this and produce something from the Dark Forces universe or hire the fella's that did Republic Commando again with a "fill your boots" approach.
    Or they could release Bombad Racing 2...

    EDIT - I still have this in my retro packed away box, along with KOTOR, will try it out tonight and see what it's like on modern telly's, might have to drop the 360 down to 480p.
    Edited by 1 at 13/07/09 @ 15:06

  • Yodzilla #58 3 years ago

    this game owned and i'd really like a sequel

  • NunianVonFuch #59 3 years ago

    Surprised no one has mentioned the game breaking bugs present in the game due to the time constraints forced on the team to ship the game. A couple of levels in the trigger for one of the team members to open a door didn't work. Due to the games checkpoint save system I was unable to go back far enough to play through whatever I'd done to cause the fault again so was stuck. This was on PC and fully patched up a year or so after release.
    Disc -> Garbage.
    Although before this happened it seemed quite good. :-(

  • Cronan #60 3 years ago

    I loved this game, pity it didn't sell well, even bigger pity they never made the sequel. In my view it's right up there with KOTOR and the X-Wing series in the (short) list of great Star Wars games.

  • Cronan #61 3 years ago

    Just thinking about it, I'd like to see a sequel based on the run-up to Order 66.

  • Haloboy #62 3 years ago

    The more you play RC the more you become to realise just how ahead of the game it actually was, if only they'd included co-op it would have quite easily been as big (if not bigger being SW based) than L4D. A bold statement I know but one I feel is a rather sad truth. This would have also ensured the sequel we all wished had come along. Obviously 5 years ago online gaming still wasn't what it is today but it shall forever remain one of those gaming "what if...?" moments.

    I already mentioned Undying on a similar note to this yesterday. Both games had troubled development cycles, both sold far less than expected, both became true gamer classics over the years simply by word of mouth and finally both deserve a sequel more than most other games out there.

    Love this game though, and as someone else mentioned along with KOTOR this IS the best Star Wars game in recent years.

  • anephric #63 3 years ago

    ^ The revisionism in this thread is going too far now. It wasn't even ahead of similar squad games like Argonaut's SWAT or the Conflict games, let alone console Rainbow Six. Strip away the SW livery and you're left with a competent, if inappropriately grungy, SW shooter with largely pointless squad mechanics.

  • Vermillion3000 #64 3 years ago

    Great game - would definitely buy a sequel to this.
    I played it on my Xbox360 and the BC isn't perfect. The bump mapping didn't quite work so all the expensive bits of geometry were super shiny, quite cool actually.

    But yeah, one of the best things to come out of what I will now call the Lunchbox era of Star Wars that didn't have the word "Lego" in the title. Certainly better than the films.

  • Lin #65 3 years ago

    this is a cool idea. someone should do one of these for neverwinter nights 2.

  • Grayvern #66 3 years ago

    Remember it as a birthday present, that was a good birthday.

  • djed #67 3 years ago

    Thanks for bringing this game to my attention EG!

    This is one of the first games I've played (played it this weekend) where the scripted events actually worked for me. Like when the Rolling Things come, your teammate takes one out melee-style then yells "ZOMG THEY R COMING BACKZ!" I was like "I KNOE!". Then we killed them TEXTBOOK. Awesome stuff.

    And the difficulty curve was excellent with the solo interlude forcing you to learn some advanced tactics (also f9:) before the scourge later on.

    So, off to buy it now. Better late than never, eh Brett? :p