Star Wars Republic Commando - Australian Review (Reviews)

David Kvasnicka, GamePro Australia

09/06/2005 12:13:46

Ever felt a strange desire to take combat commands from wacky croc hunter Steve Irwin in a game? Neither have we, but that's what we found ourselves doing when we loaded up the first mission of Star Wars: Republic Commando and was introduced to our advisor who - wait for it - sported the most hilariously ocker Aussie accent this side of Bundanoon.

But before we all start doing an "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" chant, in wild approval of getting Australian voices in a huge Star Wars title, we should take a moment to ponder whether this actually suits the Star Wars universe. At the risk of sounding "unAustralian", the accent seems as out of place as genitalia on Jabba the Hutt. Aside from this, the other voiceovers sound like Australians trying to do American accents, and Americans trying to do Aussie accents. What a (although admittedly, very amusing) mess!

That brief but necessary rant aside, Republic Commando is a squad-based first-person shooter based around the events in Star Wars episode II and III. You play as '38', a clone in the vast Republic clone army, but you're a cut above the rest, and placed in charge of an elite commando squad tasked with the more difficult operations. Please don't ask any obvious questions that might obliterate the logic of RC's plot, like why the hell they simply didn't make billions of clones out of your supposedly elite commando squad. There is no answer, OK?

Much of RC's story runs parallel to the films, and embarrassingly for George Lucas, is actually more interesting than them too. Your squad partakes in the first day of the Clone Wars (the huge battle at the end of episode II), and ends up in other soon-to-be famous Star Wars locales, like the Wookie home world, Kashyyk, said to be introduced in Star Wars Episode III.

Special Ops Training for LucasArts
To get the most realistic special forces 'feel' as possible for Republic Commando, Lucasarts hired special-ops instructor Joe Bacciocco to give the development team hands-on training in elite cohesive teamwork. Lucasarts' employees were taught the procedures for things like door breaching and room clearance, along with other principles like where each squad member should be pointing a weapon, and how each member should position themselves in relation to the squad for maximum effectiveness. The result? The training was well worth the effort, and has been translated brilliantly into the AI. Your team looks and behaves authentically enough, and most notably, they don't make any silly moves that get them killed (...mostly). Possibly for the first time in this kind of game, the player is able to put trust in the fact that your AI team-mates will do the right thing in every scenario. Kudos to Lucasarts for their creativity and massive budgets. But please gimp-slap George Lucas, who apparently came up with the idea of colour-coding the squad and making them look like Power Rangers.

RC advertises itself as a tactical squad shooter, but due to the limitations and simplicity of squad commands, it's better to think of it as a more action-oriented FPS. You play alongside your fellow soldiers who more or less already know what they're doing and how best to do it, with only the most minimal of input needed from the player.

For instance, the tactical decisions you have to make only go as deep as sending your men to pre-defined firing positions, or sending them off to get healed. Still, without this simple but effective gameplay element, RC would've been hideously boring. Sure, it may look like the equivalent of Ghost Recon for ages 4 - 6, but the bonus of this design is that the action is constantly thick, fast and immersive, negating the need for fiddly organising which would render the game virtually unplayable on console.

That said, RC feels like it's been built from the ground up exclusively for the console market, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a waste of time for PC players - far from it, in fact, but RC definitely is better suited as a console title. A few of the features of the next-gen PC games like Half-Life 2 and Far Cry have seeped into RC to spice things up. Things like dynamic lighting, ragdoll physics, and reflective surfaces make an appearance, albeit in a somewhat limited form, but those features are good enough for what RC was trying to achieve.

Lucasarts have definitely left their trademark impression on Republic Commando. Like other Star Wars titles, certain music will kick in at certain times to match the intensity or mood during the mission (much of the music is sublime, by the way). In this way, the cinematic effect is there in full force, and couple this with the use of the Unreal engine for eye-candy, and what you get is an experience that feels very much like a playable version of the latest Star Wars films, being as they are so reliant on CG.

As for complaints, we're happy to report there aren't too many. One of the more major annoyances is the fatal attraction that your squad mates have with your line of fire, and particularly, the walking into of said line of fire. There are some minor graphical bugs, occasional AI blunders (both friendly and enemy), and the game is just slightly on the short side, but on the whole it's a solid, polished package. RC doesn't feel particularly innovative or experimental, but the plus side of this is that it's dead simple to pick up and play - without any confusing elements that could've potentially weakened an otherwise intensely enjoyable game for the casual gamer.

Even if you loathe the new Star Wars movies and the kiddy-oriented direction George Lucas is taking them, no fan should pass up on this title for a little sidestep from the main Star Wars narrative.

Verdict
Republic Commando supplies total Star Wars splendour from the perspective of the grunts, without a hint of Jedi pretension.
Pros: Ultra-simple squad interface. Sweet action sequences and cinematic feel.
Cons: Occasionally blundering AI. A tad short.

Score = 9.0/10



[ Printer Friendly Version ]
[ Other stories about Sidestep, LucasArts, Gameplay, PLUS ]



Graphics: 4.5 Sound: 4.5 Control: 4.5 Fun Factor: Fun Factor
Scoring scale: 1-5
Publisher: LucasArts / Developer: LucasArts / Genre: Action, Adventure / OFLC Rating: Not Yet Classified