Great squad shooter set in the Star Wars universe!
User Rating: 9 | Star Wars: Republic Commando PC
Anyone who enjoyes Star Wars has to check this out. Set just before Episode III, Republic Commando sets you in the shoes of "Boss", a clone trooper commando who leads a group of clone commandos into the harshest battles deep into enemy territory. With each of your squad members possesing a specialty, you hack, detonate, snipe, and shoot anything that comes between you and your objective. 1162, also known as Scorch, is your demolition expert with a sense of humor. 1138, also known as Fixer, is your by the books tech expert able to slice any computer terminal he lays his hands on. 1107, also known as Sev, is your hard boiled sniper, who will go to any length to increase his kill count. You use these clone commandos using context sensitive commands such as snipe, slice, place demolition etc etc... Just point and order and your squad goes to work in an instant. This works very well and almost never becomes too complicated. All the killing is done with you default DC-17m modular assault blaster. Using additions such as a sniper mount and anti armor will let you kill just about anything that gets in your way. Your many enemies also drop their weapons, such as the heavy repeater and powerful Geonosian Elite Beam. The ammo is plenteful, which is a good thing, because it takes allot to take some of the bigger enemies down. You will be facing Trade Federation droids, which include the likes of battle droids, Super droids and the menacing Droidekas. You will even come across the uber powerful Spider Droid, who will take all your cunning to even make a dent into. The aliens you will face include the mobile and flying Geonosian bugs and the scaly and ruthless Trandoshans. These all prove worthy adversaries for your squad, but a little more variety couldn't have hurt. Now onto presentation. The graphics are very well done and capture the Star Wars universe very well. Everything runs smooth and looks great. Bump mapping and blume effects are used very well, although some textures do look a little flat and are used often. The guns sound authentic and really make you seem in the game. The voice work is exceptional, with each squad member adding his own flair to the game. Some of the quotes are used a little to much, but it isn't anything that detracts from the score. The music is probably a high point for the game, with dynamic scores by John Williams chiming in at just the right time to add that extra lair of drama. Everything sounds terrific and fits with the atmosphere perfectly. With 3 campains spanning 14 sub missions, this game will keep you occupied for about 8-12 hours. Some might even find it taking longer if tried on the very challenging Hard difficulty. The game never gets too hard but never becomes a cake walk either. Some of the levels do become repetative, but only in some rare instances. The one flaw that really stands out for Republic Commando is its Multyplayer component. Almost seemingly tacked on just before release, its lackluster appearance is a letdown. With only 4 modes and a handful of maps, there is not much to write home about. The modes include Capture the flag, deathmatch, team deathmatch, and assault. All being normal except assault, which has you wither attacking or defending a point on the map which the attackers have the chore of planting their team flag into. It all gets stale fast but is a nice detraction from the single player portion of the game. Anyone who has played Halo 2 or Splinter Cell won't find much they havent seen before. All in all, Star Wars: Republic Commando is an exceptional game doing almost everything right and lasting almost the perfect time, if not coming up just a tad short. Anyone who likes Star Wars or just tactical shooters in general has an obligation to check this one out. 
