Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005)

Good game. I expected a bit more from the story, but the squad was still fun. Ordering them around is really satisfying once you learn the patterns of the level design.

My biggest issue with this game is the constant screen shake. And I don't just mean the heavy explosions (you can reduce those screen shakes to 0 with mods,) I mean the unevenness whenever you're literally just walking.

This game really tries to simulate the "in helmet" experience, and it succeeds in most areas, but man the constant judder of your character stomping around makes the game feels like it's playing at 55 fps instead of 60 if that makes sense. It's really annoying, but I still got used to it after a while.

If it weren't for this issue, 4 stars. Still a fun romp regardless, and I'm guessing most people won't be that picky.

A fun, squad based tactical FPS set in the Star Wars universe, during one of my favorite eras, the Clone Wars. You are a leader of Delta Commando and with your 3 brothers in arms, you finish strategically important missions deep into enemy territories. The game offers 3 levels with a bunch of sequential objectives. Simple as that. No collectibles, no side missions, just an objective, followed by the next one.

Giving orders to your squadmates is essential to deal with the various onslaught of enemy battle droids, Geonosian soldiers and Trendoshian mercenaries. Even with perfect coordination you can die a lot, as difficulty varies from missions to mission and some enemies can be real bullet spongy (looking at you B2 Battle Droid). Still, managing your Commando can be quite fun, as each of them is a specialist of his own area with a different personality.

The game aged badly unfortunately, the graphics and the UI are outdated, the mechanics are a bit clanky, and some glitches can really affect the gameplay, like 2 of your squadmates getting stuck, leaving you with only Sev to fight through a horde of enemies and similar things.

Despite the negatives, I still recommend the game, as the shooting and squad mechanics are fun and I hope a modern Imperial Commando titled sequel will come in the future.

I had fun with Republic Commando but, to be honest, I wouldn't give two shits about this game if it didn't carry the Star Wars name.

And I dare say that you also wouldn't.

I like the fact that this game manages to capture what we've seen/read about the clone wars, putting you in the boots of Delta Squad's leader. Giving orders to your team, managing them in the field, aiding them when they need, blasting droids and even ocasionally seeing familiar faces was pretty fun. I also loved the portrayal of famous Star Wars areas, ESPECIALLY Kashyyk's Shadow Lands, which's always a great place to visit in a SW game. I somehow got lightly attached to my teammates. Maybe it was the convincing voice actors. Or maybe it was because they're clones and I LOVE that era of the saga. Probably the latter.

The shooting's quite competent. Not quite as tactical as I expected, but if you go in gun's blazing, you'll quickly die. This isn't Doom and it's better for it. Soundtrack's also pretty good, but that should go without saying, since most SW games nails the music and atmosphere. And while the challenge feels unfair, the sense of accomplishment you get after surviving a maneuver with your squad is great.

The problem with Republic Commando is that, besides being a SW fps, it's just very... Generic? The shooting might be good, but it lacks any surprises. Enemy variety is a joke and some objectives are utterly unbalanced. In the first mission you are a badass, but on the next, your character is made of GLASS! Anything kills you! Especially since you're alone for the majority of that level.

The environments are cool, but they're only cool because you know them from the SW's universe. Outside of that, they're bland, uninspiring and painfully repetitive. Checkpoints are atrocious, the AI doesn't always function as well as it should, the weapons feel weird to use and everything gets old fast. This game only has 3 missions, around 8 hours, but it manages to OUTSTAY ITS WELCOME! The controls are very clunky too. Even changing weapons or picking up ammo feels, somehow, unresponsive. I get that the game is old, but goddamnit, HALO Combat Evolved is from 2001 and did it masterfully. As for the story? It's nice. Typical Star Wars. I liked it. Until the final scene, which just murdered the climax. Credits just rolled. A big letdown, to be frank.

Whether I recommend Republic Commando or not can be boiled down to a question: Do you love Star Wars?

If you do, pick it up. It's filled with flaws, but you'll get some entertainment out of it. If you don't, just stay far away from it.

I really don't want to be too mean to this game.

To give the game the most credit firstly, the atmosphere is solid. Gorgeous aesthetic with really strong environment design, models, sfx, music, all really capture the Star Wars feel and the stormtrooper squad. At some points it's even badass with giving commands to your squad.

Unfortunately that appeal lasts a solid 30 minutes in my opinion before it just goes to really middling shootouts, boring corridors, and run-ins with several several spongey enemies. You strafe, shoot, revive someone if you need to, repeat ad nauseum. There's just too much combat to justify this shit, and it extends to 9 entire hours apparently.

Not my cup of tea, but who knows the aesthetic could sell someone on the entire thing but I reckon you need some high tolerance for it. It's ok for what it is, grouvee only lets me do 1-5 stars but this is just average, nothing more. (5/10)

Republic Commando is so boring i constantly struggled to stay awake. You walk through corridors, shoot enemies and press F a lot.

To give you an indication of how incompetent the developers were: When you start the game the default profile option is "New Profile". I don't think i've ever played a game that didn't have the already created profile automatically selected.

The game crashed twice when trying to enable bumpmaps. Your standard weapon produces a blue glow when firing, obscuring your aim. The second mission has constant camera shakes. There are healing machines everywhere because they couldn't be bothered to balance the game. I've only played this game for an hour, i'm sure it has more flaws further into the game.

But mostly it is soporific. I'm honestly not even exaggerating, this game actually makes me sleepy.