Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I had no interest in buying this...until I tried the demo, March 25, 2005
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Republic Commando is a fun, albeit short, game. When I heard it was being developed, I really wasn't interested -- the premise didn't enthuse me. But after trying the demo, I was very impressed. The squad-based play is simple, but effective, and the AI is very well done. Aside from a few instances where I thought the AI should be behaving differently, your computer-controlled squadmates are very capable and realistic for non-human players. In fact, during the few sequences in the game in which you are seperated from them, I felt...alone. The lack of their presence was really felt in the flow of the game. Very well done. The gameplay is fast paced and exciting (though a bit short), the voice acting is superb, and I was surprised by how long into the game I was before dialog from the squadmates repeated -- there's enough of it that you'll play awhile before hearing a line repeated. There's also a fair amount of humor in the game. And the characters of your squadmates are also well done -- they each have a distinct personallity, which makes the game more enjoyable. I finished the game tonight and am ready to start playing through it again. A lot of fun.
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58 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Unexpected Treat, March 6, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Given Lucasarts' hit-and-miss record with the Star Wars games and this game's positioning as a tie-in for Episode III, I was prepared to be disappointed with another rushed throwaway like Star Wars: Battlefront.
I was pleasantly surprised!
The graphics are not fall-down-and-die-oh-my-god, Half Life 2 "great" but the visuals and animation are excellent. There is a problem early in the game where they are trying to simulate the ground shaking and it ends up looking like a graphics glitch. But, the problem is only in the first part of the first mission and is mostly just annoying.
The sound is among the best I've heard in a game. It completely immerses you in the battle. Some of the effects (like footsteps) are subtle but lend great atmosphere. The voice acting is good and the dialogue is very witty. The game had me laughing out loud at some points. The music perfectly sets the tone of each area, ranging from known symphonic pieces from previous Star Wars titles to haunting choral-and-strings songs reminiscent of Duel of the Fates.
The weapons are well-rounded and the placement of ammo and health keeps the game moving without making the game too easy.
The system for giving orders to your squad is simple -- in a few cases it's too simple -- but it works pretty well. The squad AI is pretty good. They use cover intelligently and move with you (and each other) as if you were a group of trained commandos. They will follow your orders but will not do so to the exclusion of all other threats. For instance, if you order a squaddie to snipe from behind a wall and an enemy unit gets behind him, he won't just continue to snipe. He will turn, deal with the immediate threat and then resume his task. There are a few more commands I would like to have seen, especially one to specify cover fire for a squad member (while he plants a bomb or hacks a computer).
The game does have a few shortcomings. First, the single player game is very short. You get three multi-objective missions totaling about 10 hours of play time. I finished wanting more and I hope there will be an expansion pack at some point. The game is enough fun that you will want to replay it.
The multiplayer is nothing to cheer about. It has the basic game modes you usually expect (Deathmatch, CTF, etc.) but if you want to play these multiplayer games you'd have more fun playing them in Unreal Tournament 2004. A glaring omission from multiplayer is the squad play from the single player. It would have been great, instead of simple deathmatch or CTF, to give each player a squad of 4 to compete against other players squads.
Even with its few faults, Republic Commando is a wild and exciting ride through the Clone Wars. If you're a Star Wars fan, you shouldn't miss this game.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the movie, Excellent Single Player, July 5, 2005
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This game produced the most enjoyable experience since Half Life 2.
I generally play first-person-shooter once or twice, then never play again; not this game. I only bought it becase it seemed similar to "Brothers in Arms" with its squad-leader element. I was not expecting much as I normally enjoy WWII-style games (I also loathed the latest three Star Wars films) but was very suprised how good it really was.
From the beginning, I could sense the high production values. The story line, dialogue, and voice acting were excellent, especially for a video game. I felt I got to know my squadmates in Republic Commando much better than in Brothers in Arms. There were lots of little touches and polish that made it enjoyable to play through many times. Music, top-notch. I don't know if the music is from the films, but it shares the same epic quality. Graphics and effects were well done and ran very well with no stutters, crashes, or lag, even on the highest graphics settings.
Gameplay also excellent. The action is consistent and challenging, but there are few if any frustrating spots that require saving and reloading every couple of seconds that is so common with many FPS games. The maps were playtested well so storyline triggers work when they should and there are no places where you can get stuck clipping into a wall. The weapons are balenced well in that there is always at least two effective ways to deal with any target.
The squad commands were easy to learn and worked well with the environment. Your squaddies do not just walk into enemy fire. They move tacticly as a squad, taking cover and suppressing while other squaddies advance. Usually it is you that get killed before they do. With effective use of the squad commands, you can direct your squad to eliminate targets without you having to fire a shot. (although thats part of the fun)
The AI of your squaddies seem to be written well. They deal with immediate threats first, switch weapons when necessary, revive squadmates (including you), and heal themselves all on their own for the most part.
My only gripe is that the game is too short, which is a common complaint of most recent FPS games. There seems to be no modding community as of yet, so you are stuck with all the elements of a superb game and only a few levels to actually play. It is built on the Unreal engine, so modding should not be too difficult.
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