- Nov 16, 2006
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So I've been doing a lot of backlog clearing recently and came across this old gem that I'd always started but never finished.
If you're not familiar with Republic Commando, its a star wars game that came out during the hype of the prequel trilogy and it follows a squad of four commandos during three battles during the clone wars (the three theaters are Geonosis, an abandoned republic battleship, and Kashyyk the wookie homeworld). The game was originally launched back in 2005 for the original Xbox console.
The game looks dated as hell at this point, and the level design is pretty tedious to work through with long corridors connecting big boxy rooms. The faintest thread of a plot keeps the action moving forward, the gunplay doesn't feel that great on the PC, you need a third party patch to get the game to support modern resolutions. All in all, the thing felt like a bit of a chore.
But the core gameplay hook, commanding a squad in battle, setting up sniping positions, grenade positions, heavy weapons and turrets, etc made the game worth playing. The game was easily at its strongest when it gave you the most freedom to use your squad. It really takes the squad play mechanic to heart too, as you don't really lose the game until your entire squad is wiped. Until then, even if your character goes down, another surviving squadmate could revive you.
Its a solid framework to have launched a series off of, and its a little disappointing Lucasarts went down and never followed up with any sequels. In my mind I imaging the series progressing from Republic Commando to Imperial Commando to Rebel Commando to Mercenary Commando. Modern gameplay and design elements + natural co-op support would have made the sequels to this game a huge hit if handled properly.
I hope to hope that after EA's SW license expires, Disney has the good sense to farm out the license to talented devs, one of whom might take on a direct or spiritual successor to this game.
If you're not familiar with Republic Commando, its a star wars game that came out during the hype of the prequel trilogy and it follows a squad of four commandos during three battles during the clone wars (the three theaters are Geonosis, an abandoned republic battleship, and Kashyyk the wookie homeworld). The game was originally launched back in 2005 for the original Xbox console.
The game looks dated as hell at this point, and the level design is pretty tedious to work through with long corridors connecting big boxy rooms. The faintest thread of a plot keeps the action moving forward, the gunplay doesn't feel that great on the PC, you need a third party patch to get the game to support modern resolutions. All in all, the thing felt like a bit of a chore.
But the core gameplay hook, commanding a squad in battle, setting up sniping positions, grenade positions, heavy weapons and turrets, etc made the game worth playing. The game was easily at its strongest when it gave you the most freedom to use your squad. It really takes the squad play mechanic to heart too, as you don't really lose the game until your entire squad is wiped. Until then, even if your character goes down, another surviving squadmate could revive you.
Its a solid framework to have launched a series off of, and its a little disappointing Lucasarts went down and never followed up with any sequels. In my mind I imaging the series progressing from Republic Commando to Imperial Commando to Rebel Commando to Mercenary Commando. Modern gameplay and design elements + natural co-op support would have made the sequels to this game a huge hit if handled properly.
I hope to hope that after EA's SW license expires, Disney has the good sense to farm out the license to talented devs, one of whom might take on a direct or spiritual successor to this game.
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