Star Wars: Republic Commando Review (PC)
Gameplay was outstanding! Not only was it a Squad-Based Star Wars game, but you got to play as the voice of Temuera Morrison who is Jango Fett in Episode II Attack of the Clones. The Game Design Team really made you feel like you were commanding a military squad. Yes, the game only spans 4 Planets, and a star destroyer: Kamino (Prologue Movie), Genosis, The Ras Prosecutor, and Kashyyyk, but it has to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Star Wars games ever, period. You start out in a pod in the cloning facilities on Kamino and there's a short intro. But before you know it, your destroying Droid Factories beneath Genosis. Each planet(the three you play on) has an average of 5 levels, and from there divided into tons of sub-chapters. The game is like most Episode II - Episode III era Star Wars games, stop the Sepratists.
Controls:
At first the controls were hard, but after the first few sub-levels, controlling and commanding is a sin-tch! Very basic if you break it down: W A D S-Move, F-Action, Z-Zoom, 1 though 4-Weapons, 5-Secondary Weapon, Q-Grenade Switch, R-Reload, E-Melee, R Click-Grenade Throw, L Click-Fire, Mouse Wheel-Weapon Switch. As you can see, the controls are quite similar to most PC Shooters. And if you don't like those controls, customize them in your User Options.
Levels:
I got into some detail in the Gameplay Section on the Levels, but let's re-cap. Four Planets, one with a move, the other three with an average of 5 levels divided into subchapters. On Genosis you indirectly help win the battle for the clones. Then over a year passes, 367 days actually since the battle of Genosis. On the Ras Prosecutor, you search a Clone Assault Ship that had been missing and had reappeared systems away from where it was patrolling. You meet some nice new friends, the Trandoshans! There's a HUGE twist you have to make your way out of at the end of this level, but I'm not going to mention it. Well, maybe I'll give you a hint: Somehow, Sev sees into hyperspace and sees something at the edge of the system coming towards them, and no it's not another Assault Ship. Soon after you make your way out of that sticky situation you find yourself on Kashyyyk, Planet of the Wookies, the species of Chewbacca the Star Wars films. Since all the levels on Kashyyyk lead to the end, I think I've given enough information on the levels.
Team AI:
My gosh, can any other game top the Team AI? I think not. If this isn't, the game has some of the "Cream-of-the-Crop" Squad AI. Not only do they obey your commands and shoot at what you want them to, they say funny things! Yes, some of the dialogue is "timed" to go off at certain parts of the game, but the funniest things are when your walking around and they'll say something humorous. The AI beats any other game I have ever seen.
Enemies:
In general, enemies are easy(depending on which difficulty setting your on and your skill). Some are harder. If I'm correct, there are about 15 different enemies in the game. Some, small enough to step on, some large enough and have enough armor to take two full clips+ of the Wookie H. Rocket Launcher to kill. The enemies are The Sepratists, as in Attack of the Clones. In this Star Wars Chapter, the Separatists include The Trade Federation, Genosisians(if that's how it's spelled), and the Trandoshans, bothersome lizards. Each of the group has a form of a regular soldier and an elite. The regulars are normally armed with laser guns or swords, and the elites with beam weapons and chain guns. Nice eh? Sometimes, if your really unlucky, there'll be about four or five trandoshans with LS-50 Concussion Rifles, which explode a few seconds after hitting a target. This brings us into the next topic, Weapons.
Weapons:
In general, you have two weapons. One handgun, and a rifle that can be customized in seconds to a Machine Gun, Sniper Rife, or an Anti-Armor Mortar. Along with your base weapons, you can also carry one of several Secondary Weapons. Secondary Weapons include: Trandoshan SMG, ACP Array Gun(Shotgun), Wookie Bowcaster, LS-50 Concussion Rife, Wookie Homing Rocket Launcher, Trandoshan Chain Gun, and a Genosis Elite Beam Gun. All of them are pretty cool and are useful in tons of different situations. You also carry five types of grenades and five of each type. Thermal Detonators, Genosis Sonic Grenades, Stun Flash-Bang Grenades, EC Grenades(EMP), and are the grenades your available to use.
Multiplayer:
Now I haven't experimented much with the Multiplay, but at first it's super tricky! You design a character and you can pick the voices, armor color, sniping packs, comm pack, everything you know? Really cool! It's like first playing Halo 1 for PC. Your a n00b! After a few games, you get the flow. In my opinion, the best game-type is Team Deathmatch. You choose a side, Commando or Trandoshan, and shoot away. You can carry 2 guns like in Halo. You are also able to taunt other players with some of the Squad's signature bantering, else, Trando banter.
Graphics:
Now, I didn't have the best graphic card to run the game. In fact, I was surprised I got it to run (Thank you Downloadable NVIDIA Software!). Point is, my Video Card didn't have a Vertex Shader or Pixel Shader, and knowing what that does, it would have been twice as awesome as it was. The VS/PS adds special lighting effects to the game. In one of the Visors, Tactical Visor, your teammates would be black and have outlines of their color. It also makes the lighting much better. Anyway, graphics are SUBURB, as long as you have a good video card to run the game.
Sound:
Sound was pretty cool. SFX in general was good. Explosion SFX always own! Even when Trando's draw their daggers, very realistic metallic sounds. In the Foley, even down to the walking of enemies and the sound the Genosian Elite Beam, SO REALISTIC! The Foley Artists did a good job in this game. The Background Sound was what most SW Fans like to hear, Original Soundtrack Music! Yes, it goes right back to 1977 to the modern era of 2002 with John William's compositions of Star Wars music. People claim he is the greatest composer of all time, I support this. The game's theme is awesome. It's like taking "Duel of the Fates"(Episode I theme) and dropping it down a few keys with a ton more vocals. Sound: Superb.