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Retrospective: Star Wars: Republic Commando Article
Retro PC Xbox Article by Will Porter
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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.
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.
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Star Wars: Republic Commando
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+18
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 1 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 00:48
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+10
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. |
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+4
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.
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NegativeZero
12/07/09 @ 02:51
+1
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.
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DaemonSpawn
12/07/09 @ 07:15
+3
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. |
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Obiwanshinobi
12/07/09 @ 07:20
0
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). |
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IronCladChicken
12/07/09 @ 09:17
+3
So... buy a few Lucasarts games now - or hold out and wait for the £35 game pack/bundle?
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AphoticCosmos
12/07/09 @ 09:29
+6
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 2 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 14:58
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StueyBoy16
12/07/09 @ 09:56
+2
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. |
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InternetRed
12/07/09 @ 09:57
+1
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. |
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+1
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. |
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-7
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. |
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trooperdx3117
12/07/09 @ 12:39
+5
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.
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BrettDouville
12/07/09 @ 13:10
+13
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 1 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 14:14
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+1
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. |
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AphoticCosmos
12/07/09 @ 14:40
+5
"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 1 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 15:44
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+1
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 1 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 17:55
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AphoticCosmos
12/07/09 @ 18:11
+2
@ 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 1 times,
most recently on 12/07/09 @ 19:13
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DarthKebab
12/07/09 @ 19:56
+1
For those that have it on PC, does it support the 360 controller/wireless receiver?
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+1
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. |
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+1
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. |
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