Lawrence.com

This newest installment in the Star Wars collection introduces the player to the Delta Squad clone commandos. The action of the game picks up where Episode II ends and stops where Episode III begins. You must lead your three other commandos through three enormous planet campaigns using them as your primary weapon. You have the ability to order them to perform different tasks and they are able to act independently if needed.

The single player campaign is actually a well crafted experience in terms of pacing and story development. Rarely are you allowed to get bored with any particular area because there is always a sense of urgency that propels you forward. Each of the three campaigns is broken down into smaller levels that move from one to the next. Unfortunately there is a loading screen every ten to fifteen minutes though. Each of the three worlds offers a much different environment to work in and thus keeps things interesting.

The one aspect of the game that makes the linearity acceptable is the control scheme. It is truly a breeze to learn and master. In fact, maybe it is too easy. It literally takes only one button push to assign your commandos to snipe, grenade, plant a bomb, or slice a computer console. This is nice, but the trade off is you can't customize how your team functions. Everything that you can assign your team to do, is already predefined and marked in the game. Granted the interface is simple, it just removes some tactical depth from the game. Otherwise the game is built with a controller setup much like Halo's. I always felt in control and was never surprised by the results of my input.

However, this is where the game's flaws come out, the weapons are troublesome. It seems that the weapons only injure an enemy when the reticle has been placed on the enemy for about a second. This means if your enemy is a quickly moving droid, then you have to track him extremely well or wait for a pause so the reticle can lock on. This feature removes some spray-and-pray, but when most of the weapons are automatics it only proves frustrating. The game does not support a rumble feature for taking damage, but your controller will shake when you fire. Go figure.

Visually the game is a mixed bag. It has some of the most interesting level design I have seen, even though the levels are extremely linear. Everything is exquisitely modeled and there are few jaggies. But, the textures are almost all blurry. My eyes would even hurt at times because the textures were so fuzzy. However, there are some great textures. These textures, the shiny ones, are on par with those in Halo 2, but are too few.

LucasArts did a fare job with the AI in the game, but it isn't going to win any awards. Some enemies will duck behind an object and not come back out, some will stand in the open, but mostly the enemies will take some defensive actions. Your squad mates do better, but will sometimes watch an enemy run right past them, step into your line of fire, or not follow your orders. These issues don't kill the game, but do detract from its immersion.

The sound in this game is fairly well done. The score is enjoyable because it complements the tense and rapid action of the game but is never boring. The voice acting is also great. All the actors buy into their roles well and give their characters much needed life. Heck, one of the voices should even sound familiar to anyone that has played Knights of the Old Republic. Yet, the sound effects are lacking. Everything is an authentic Star Wars sound, but it all seems to be missing the bass. This just prevents many of the weapons from having an auditory presence.

The game also has some lasting appeal. There are three difficulty settings to play on, and though you will receive all the unlockables after the first time through, the hardest difficulty is worth the challenge of another go. There is also split screen, system link, and online multiplayer available. The game comes with four built in game types: death match, team death match, capture the flag, and assault (similar to Halo's assault); and each game type can be slightly customized. There are quite a few maps available, though none of them are great maps. Every game I played on Xbox Live was hampered by lag and frame rate issues. This is probably not my connection either because MechAssault 2 and Halo 2 don't lag. Overall, it seems that the multiplayer was a second thought that got tagged on. The best part of the online capability will, hopefully, be the downloadable content when it is released.

All in all, Star Wars: Republic Commando is a commendable product. It has a fun and exciting single player campaign with some tactical team management. The game has main characters that any player can grow to like and a multiplayer element that some may grow to enjoy. However, it is held back by blurry textures, unintelligent AI, bizarre weapon behaviors, and jumpy frame rates.

Graphics: B-

Sound: B-

First Play: A-

Last Play: B

Gameplay: B

Overall: 84% B