A darker, grittier "Star Wars" game

Star Wars: Republic Commando

Release Date: 2005
System: XBox (also available for PC)
ESRB Rating: T (Teen) for Violence, Blood and Gore
Publisher: Lucasarts Entertainment Company

Ancient Mandalorian lyrics:*
Kote!
Kandosii sa ka'rta, vode an.
Coruscanta a'den mhi, vode an.
Bal kote, darasuum kote,
Jorso'ran kando a tome.
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, vode an.

English lyrics:*
Glory!
One indomitable heart, brothers all.
We, the wrath of Coruscant, brothers all.
And glory, eternal glory,
We shall bear its weight together
Forged like the saber in the fires of death, brothers all

It doesn't matter if you don't understand the lyrics (sung in Ancient Mandalorian) - when you hear that song coming out of your speakers at the title screen for "Star Wars: Republic Commando," sounding like some kind of Russian war song, you know that this is not going to be your average "Star Wars" experience. No, this is going to be grittier, darker and more intense than that.

The game manages never to disappoint from that point onwards. "Star Wars: Republic Commando" is a story from the front lines of the Clone Wars, and manages to immerse you in all the craziness, intensity and action that you can imagine happening from such a vantage point. And while the game has a few flaws that keep it from greatness, it is still a fun game that should not be missed by any "Star Wars" fan.

In "Star Wars: Republic Commando," you take the roll of RC-1138 - a Clone Commando, a special clone trooper bred to be part of a small team that undertakes the most dangerous of missions for the Old Republic. As RC-1138 (nicknamed "Boss"), you take command of Delta Squad - a four-man team of the best of the best in clone troopers.

Joining you on your mission are three other Clone Commandos that will stick with you throughout the entire game - RC-1262 ("Scorch," a somewhat immature team member that loves blowing stuff up), RC-1207 ("Sev," a psychotic but dependable nutjob with a love for sniping) and RC-1140 ("Fixer," an expert computer hacker and a stickler for protocol). Together, you're sent on the most dangerous of missions in The Clone Wars in the name of the Republic.

"Republic Commando" takes place from a first-person shooter perspective. True to most FPS games, you get a lot of guns to play with, though most of your guns are actually three guns in one - the DC-17m Interchangeable Weapons System. This handy little weapon is what all Clone Commandos are issued, and you can use three different configurations of it - a standard blaster rifle mode which fires rapid-fire shots, a sniper rifle mode that has a nice zoom feature and a powerful bullet, and an anti-armor mode that fires shells that can blow apart some of your toughest enemies. You're also armed with a melee attack, which takes the form of a handy retractable vibro-knife in your gauntlet, and a blaster pistol that constantly recharges itself and serves as the ranged weapon of last resort.

Throughout the game, you'll also be able to pick up some weapons from your fallen enemies, everything from a shotgun to a Wookie bowcaster to a big-ass machine gun. However, you can only carry one of these weapons at a time, so choose wisely.

You're also armed with four different types of grenades that will prove to be quite useful: flashbangs (emit bright flashes of light that blind enemies), sonic detonators (explode when they get close to an enemy and can stick to walls), EC Detonators (release a field of electricity that overloads droids) and thermal detonators (standard high-explosive grenades).

The best things that you'll have on the battlefield, however, are the three clone commandos that you lead. You'll come to rely on these three troopers a lot during your missions, as they can do quite a lot of things under your orders - setting demolition charges, hacking consoles, firing from special sniping positions and many other things. Of course, if worse comes to worse, you can do these things yourself. Ordering your squadmates around is very easy, requiring only the press of a button while facing an icon where the action takes place (these holographic icons are projected into your heads-up display). You can also give them several orders with only a button press and the directional pad, such as forming up (bringing all your squadmates to your spot) and securing an area.

From start to finish, "Republic Commando" is a fun game. There's never a shortage of action, and there are several times during the game where the action can get frantic, even overwhelming at times, as hordes of enemies close in on your squad. The fact that commanding your squad is a breeze and never difficult means that the action is smooth as well as fun, and the constant banter between your squadmates, each with their own personalities and quirks, brings a nice human element to the game.

While the game's fun factor makes it a good game, there are a few flaws that keep it from being an exceptional one. For starters, there's not much variety in enemies. You run into a few types of battle droids and a few other enemies, but all told you face roughly 12 different kinds of enemies, by my count. Of these, only about four types are encountered with any regularity (appearing in two or more levels), and three others appear throughout one level and make small cameo appearances in another; the others are either "heavy hitter" types (like boss-strength foes) and hence are rarely used, or are just plain not seen very often. A little more variety in enemies could have done a bit of good, because sometimes the action feels a tad repetitive when you're facing hordes of the same enemy type over and over again. A concurrent greater variety of weapons could have done some good as well.

Another lack of variety comes in a degree of sameness among your commando brothers. In addition to each clone commando having different personalities, they're each supposed to specialize in doing something (Scorch is good with demolitions and anti-armor weaponry, Fixer's good at computer hacking, and Sev is an expert sniper). However, none of these specializations ever come through - every clone commando does everything equally well. While this keeps you from getting stuck in case one commando is incapacitated and you're not in a good position to revive him, it would have been nice to see some of those specialties come through (say, for example, by having Fixer hack into consoles quicker than Sev or Scorch, or Scorch being able to place demolition charges faster than the other two).

My major complaint about "Republic Commando," however, is that it's far too short. While each of the game's three areas (The Battle of Geonosis, originally depicted in "Episode II: Attack of the Clones," a Republic Assault Ship and the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk) provide several different missions to complete, the fact that there's only three types of surroundings makes the game seem entirely too short. It would have been nice to get a more extensive tour of the "Star Wars" universe through the visors of Delta Squad.

While "Star Wars: Republic Commando" is a flawed game, it is still a fun experience while it lasts. Give this game a try.

Score: 7.5 out of 10 (lots of fun, but some more variety in enemies, weapons and levels would have been nice)

*Lyrics and translation taken from the Star Wars Wiki at starwars.wikia.com