Star Wars: Republic Commando Review, by Kiwi

Game Name: Star Wars Republic Commando
Platform: Multiple

Reviewed by Kiwi

Star Wars: Republic Commando is an FPS on Xbox and PC. It was developed by the creator of all games Star Wars, Lucas Arts. It has one of the most enjoyable single player experiences Kiwi has seen in a game, let alone an FPS. The AI is intelligent, the guns are powerful, and everything looks and sounds great.

The most important aspect of the game is your squad. Without your squad this game fells more like a standard shooter with large doses of Star Wars as shown through the 2 times you must fight alone, the worst sections of the game, in Kiwi's opinion. The squad consist of you, the leader, a sniper, a demolitions expert, and a hacker. Though the roles, other then yours, don't really affect game play and mostly plays to help add personality to your squad mates. Your squad is very easy to command. Pretty much all commands are given through a single button (A on the standard Xbox control layout). You can order your squad to take up heavy weapons positions, man turrets, set traps, and even order them to focus their fire on single targets just by pushing A. You can also order your squad to take certain stances, hold a position, aggressive advancement, follow you, and to cancel all current actions, such as turrets, by pressing A and a direction on the D-pad. The presence of heavy weapon positions: anti-armor, sniper, and grenades; and opportunities for setting traps encourage you to maintain awareness of what's around you. It works so well that Kiwi can honestly say this is one of the few shooters where co-op would be unthinkable because the squad system is so well done.

Every shooter is made or broken by it's weapons, and Republic Commando does very well on this front. The first one you will have and will become very familiar with is the DC something rifle. Good rate of fire, accurate, and does decent damage per shot. The weapon is modular in that you can take off and put on parts to make it an anti-armor weapon or a sniper rifle. You also start out with a pistol with infinite ammo. It however, can only fire a few shots before requiring to recharge, and it is really only good against weaker enemies. You also have 4 types of grenades, thermal detonators, good against organic enemies, ECDs, good against mechanical threats, sonic grenades which can be thrown on walls or the grounds and go off if an enemy comes near, decent against both, and flash bang grenades. The first two are extremely useful, sonic are ok if you are out of what you need, and the flash bang's uses are very limited, they do nothing against droids. That makes up your standard equipment. It is further complimented by a variety of weapons that you can pick up off your enemies, or just find lying around. There is your basic SMG, shotgun, heavy machine gun (complete with a bayonet) and a homing rocket launcher. Then there's two weapons that are more unique, the concussion rifle which fire a projectile that, when it hits a target, makes a loud noise, then the projectile explodes. The concussion rifle also has a melee attack that stuns enemies, making it worth picking up, if only for the melee attack. The Geonosian Elite Beam weapon, which fires a laser beam after a very brief charge up time, not very damaging, but it has its uses. Then there is the Wookie Crossbow, it bounces off walls and can pin enemies to walls as well, in addition to a scope. And with any weapon you can melee, the speed varies depending on what you have out, but melee is a very effective, if risky way to deal with enemies. Many can be taken out with a single blow. Some of the more powerful enemies, such as Super Battledroids can be dealt with by running up and punching them over and over again. Though that tactic is less effective when there is more then one of said enemies.

The AI of this game is exceptional. Your squad is intelligent, knows where to take cover, and can do well for themselves in a fight against most enemies. The only enemy that seem to be generally incompetent are the basic Battledroids, but that seems more like staying true to how they are generally portrayed then anything else. Others, such as Trandosian mercenaries are quite intelligent. Both your squad and certain enemies will throw grenades back if one lands at their feet. Also, while meleeing enemies is effective, if you're not careful you can find yourself on the receiving end of a punch to the face. However, there are times where the AI does show it's weakness. Sometimes your squad mates will run right in front of turrets; this doesn't happen often but it is quite annoying when it does. Another is that while the members of your squad are touted as being specialist in a certain areas, they all do the same task with the same efficiency. Kiwi understands why it is, but it would be nice that if, for example, you order someone to place explosives, that the demolitions expert would be the first to do it. As it is, the closest one does it.

Graphics wise, the game is fine. Some of the areas struck Kiwi as bland, however this is balanced by the excellent enemy and weapon design. There are many cool animations. Just watch an enemy charge one of your squad mates, and you'll see what Kiwi means. The voice acting in this game is excellent, your commandos are full of awesome lines. The enemies are also enjoyable as well, even though some too talk too much. The weapons sound like they are as much fun as they are to use. The music is a downside. Kiwi only remembers hearing one song through out the whole game.

The single player is a fun ride, with the exception of the segments where you are alone, and the two timed segments. The ending seemed kinda sudden to Kiwi though. Kiwi wishes the same could be said for the multiplayer. The maps are pretty small, and Kiwi just didn't enjoy it that much. The fact that you can customize the look of your character is pretty cool, and choose between a Commando and a Trandosian Mercenary. Granted, it might be different since Kiwi didn't play it that much.

An excellent single player shooter, with a bland multiplayer. If you want something to play with friends, look elsewhere, but if you're looking for something to take your mind off the fact that you have no friends, then this is for you.