Take Command in Star Wars: Republic Commando...
User Rating: 8.9 | Star Wars: Republic Commando PC
This installment occurs during the beginning and the most intense parts of the Clone Wars. You are part of an elite squad of Republic commandos, the best that the Republic has to offer. You are the leader of the group who has a variety of individuals with very unique but likeable personalities. You will work together in a series of campaigns that stretch your ability to battle your enemies and use your squad to the best of your ability. This installment is a first person squad based shooter. Unlike most other common shooters you can carry only three weapons two of which are mandatory at all time. Your main weapon is your basic pistol with a twist, unlimited ammo. It may not be powerful but always knowing you got something to fight with is an awesome feel. Your other mandatory weapon is your rifle which can have three different attachments: one for a basic rifle, a sniper rifle, and an anti-armor attachment. The other weapon that you can ranges from a shotgun to a massive rocket launcher. Needless to say you won’t have much of a variety but you won’t need a variety because of your grenades. Grenades in this game are probably one of the most essential weapons that you will use. They range from the traditional Thermal Detonator to very useful EC detonator that short circuits electronics. Grenades will be become your new best friend in this shooter. One particularly interesting aspect of this game is the ability to revive squad mates at will and have your self revived also. This means never having to worry too hard about making sure your squad mates stay alive, because they are always capable of being revived. The game will start off with the standard tutorial but makes you work for your experience. You will slowly be introduced into with your squad mates and the different attachments to your main weapon. You will also be introduced to the ability to issue commands to your squad to take certain pre-rendered positions and maneuvers. You will also be introduced to all of the different enemies that you will face and learn the easy and hard ways to take down each. Each campaign is comprised of smaller sub-mission that keep getting extended because of situations beyond your control, and subsequently you are called upon to do your duty once again. The game play is the highlight of this game. Since it is a FPS it really should be the highlight of the game. You will be put into some very intense situations that you probably have to do a couple of times to figure out the best way to get past the level. Some of the points seem kind of boring because you will have felt like you have been there before, most likely you have. Some situations will cause you to have to work quickly and choose the best places for your squad mates to help. After a while you will get an eye for which positions to take and times to take them. The campaign lasts about 6-8 hours depending on your ability to play the game and how quickly you want to move your squad. The online portion of the game is nothing to write about really. Nothing is real spectacular about it so it can really be left alone. Fortunately, the controls for the game are well done. None of the keys will seem very hard to reach during the intense battle and some of the keys will also seem naturally placed. The graphics in the game are very good. They are not spectacular but they are good enough to make it seem like they spent some time on it. A couple of places you may get caught up because of some graphical parts look really good, but for the most part you really don’t see much that will stand out. A downside with this game is that there are no FMV’s. Most games are coming out with some sequences that standout from all others and will make you want to play again. I would have expected at least one sequence like that especially from the Star Wars franchise, but I was sadly disappointed. The sound in this game is pretty good. Every so often you will hear some quippy remarks from your squad mates that will make you want to laugh. The basic sound during battles is pretty good you can usually tell who is firing and from what direction but it seems to get a little bland by the end. You will also have some orchestral music during some of the cut sequences that explain what is going on that is from Star Wars and during once you complete some things you will hear some more Star Wars music. The music is not really something that you will notice during your battles because you are too worried about not dying. The value of the game is something that is a little mixed. The game is worth playing but not necessarily buying. The game is still at full retail price so it may be a little head strong to buy it for only about 10 hours of play but you should definitely play the game. The suggestion would be to rent the game with a friend if at all possible and split the cost. With the cost of renting games going up it seems also kind of silly to spend 6+ bucks on very little game play, so try and rent it with a friend.
