It's an outstanding game that any shooter fan is likely to enjoy whether or not they know a Trandoshan from a Geonosian.
The game casts you as 38, the head of Delta Squad, a four-man elite commando team tasked with missions of the utmost importance. 38 is terrifically voiced by Temeura Morrison, who played Jango Fett in the films. Despite the fact that all of you, and all of the Republic's clone troopers, are cloned from Fett's DNA, your teammates have distinctive voices and personalities, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense but certainly adds to the enjoyment of the game, as you'll probably grow to like your teammates over the course of the game's campaign. The game is actually divided up into three separate mini-campaigns, two of which tie in nicely with important events in the Star Wars films.
One of the most distinctive features of Republic Commando is your visor, which makes ordering your squad around a breeze. In pretty much every environment there are positions you can direct your squad to for a tactical advantage while sniping, tossing grenades or laying down some anti-armor fire, and whenever you look at one of these positions, an outline of a squad member appears and it's simply a matter of pressing the A button to direct one of them to take the position. This system also comes into play for directing your squadmates to set demolition charges on droid dispensers, breach or slice doors open, and numerous other activities. You can also easily order your squad to form up on your position, secure the area, search and destroy, or focus all their fire on a single target. It's a really terrific system that's simple enough to learn quickly while also giving you a good amount of control. It's nice, though, that you generally don't need to worry about constantly issuing orders. Your squad behaves relatively intelligently on their own.
There's a good assortment of effective weapons available to you throughout the game. You have a blaster which you can modify with attachments on the fly to make it a sniper rifle or an anti-armor grenade launcher, which is very satisfying to use on more heavily armored enemies. You'll also be able to pick up a variety of weapons dropped by your enemies, and if you get in close to the bad guys, there's a nasty little retractable blade built into your armor for melee attacks. In addition, you have a number of grenade types; there's your standard thermal detonator, your electrostatic grenades which are especially good for shocking and incapacitating droids, your proximity-released sonic detonators, and your flashbangs. It's a solid array of weapons which lends the action a tactical feel, as you'll always want to choose the best weapon for the job.
Of course, this variety of weapons wouldn't be much good without a variety of enemies on which to use them, and the game certainly doesn't slack there. You'll come into battle with flimsy but abundant federation battle droids, the more powerful and menacing super battle droids, rolling droidekas, extremely deadly spider droids, and numerous types of Geonosians and Trandoshans. Again, this variety of enemies contributes to the game's tactical aspect, as you'll find that certain strategies are more useful than others against certain foes. And should enemies start to get the upper hand on you, you can take cover for a moment and your shield will recharge. If you should collapse, you're not done for. So long as you have a team member who's still on his feet, you can order him to come and revive you, although they're very vulnerable while they're doing this. By the same token, your teammates aren't killed in battle either, so the only way to lose is for all four members of the team to become incapacitated simultaneously.
Star Wars: Republic Commando is a very good-looking Xbox game, with environments that really capture the feel of Star Wars and plenty of immersive visual effects, like a slider that cleans off any goo that may splatter on your visor in the heat of combat, and the way things go all blurry when you're incapacitated. If you get up close to your enemies you may find them lacking a bit in detail, and the frame rate can drop significantly at times when there's a great deal happening, but it's not severe enough or frequent enough to be a serious issue. The game's sound is even better. The voice acting is excellent, the sound effects are pure Star Wars, and the music is a terrific mix of recognizable themes and rousing vocal pieces composed exclusively for the game.
The single-player campaign will probably take players about ten hours to finish, which may sound short, but the pacing never flags, and ten action-packed hours of gameplay are better than twenty half-decent hours. Players looking for a more tactically focused experience will probably want to set the difficulty on hard, which requires considerably more thoughtful management of your squad to succeed. The game also includes a multiplayer component, but it was considered pretty lackluster upon the game's release two-and-a-half years ago, and isn't even worth mentioning today. The single-player campaign has always been where it's at in this game, and especially considering that you can probably this game used for pretty cheap these days, you'll more than get your money's worth.
Star Wars: Republic Commando is an outstanding game in every respect, from its fast-paced tactical combat to its Star Wars look and feel, from its graphics and sound to its tightly structured campaigns. This game isn't just for Star Wars fans. This is one of the best shooters in the Xbox library, and that's really saying something.