Chewbacca & Zaalbar are ewoks compared to this guy

I’m working on finishing as many games as I can before Chaos Theory hits next week, and the latest to eat the bomb is Star Wars: Republic Commando. Much like the recent Clone Wars cartoons, this game is supposed to provide the bridge of what happened between Episodes II and III. However, you will find no lightsabers here. No use of the force. No special effect that only serves to unintentionally highlight the underlying flaws in the script. Wait…what? Ummm…anyways, Republic Commando puts you in command of an elite squad of clones who are    called           in              to
        ……..              ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Ok, so the story’s not that important. Things are going on, you move from stage to stage for one reason or another that has little to no bearing on anything. This is not KOTOR. The important thing is that, although you won’t really care what your motivation is supposed to be, this game is a lot of fun to play.

The mechanics of the game are simple enough…you’ve got your Halo-style health/shield setup, your Metroid Prime-style visor view, and you command your squad via context-sensitive action points. This is not in any way a Tom Clancy game. You send your to men specific action points around the rooms and levels in order to maximize their effectiveness, you can’t just have them set up anywhere. While this may feel like a dumbed-down form of play at first, it fits in perfectly with the style and the number of enemies. No Tom Clancy game has ever thrown tangos at you like this does, so you do need to strategize which points you take advantage of. Do you set up multiple sniping points or try to send Delta-40 to capture the turret? Who’s going to blow that droid dispenser? There is a great balance between commanding your squad to complete tasks/kill enemies and taking part in the action yourself. You also set standing orders to govern squad movement and aggression.

Everybody into the Pinzgauer!

The AI more than holds its own in terms of firepower, tactics, and personality. These guys had me laughing my ass off on more than one occasion with their banter. More importantly, I never felt like I had to tell them what to do. They are just as capable as your character in every way, even going so far as to warn you if you’re the one doing something particularly stupid like standing out in the open getting shot at. Unfortunately, this is also a flaw because these guys are supposed to be experts in their fields that together make up an elite unit. If that’s the case, why can my demolitions expert hack into a terminal just as quickly and efficiently as my technician, who is an excellent sniper in his own right? The specialization seems to have been set up, but not really implemented.

The few problems are not substantial enough to impact on the fun factor. The general gameplay is strategic but fast-paced, and you can tailor it to your play style a bit. If you prefer the “do-it-yourself” approach, you can go in guns blazing and your team will cover you pretty well. Alternatively, if you’re the commander who likes to hang back, issue orders, and provide support when necessary, you too will have a blast. I’d say that the single-player only lasts about 10-12 hours, and there’s nothing branching or extra beyond a harder difficulty level to go back for, but I think I’ll go back anyways.

After Chaos Theory, that is.