Game Review--Star Wars: Republic Commando (Switch)

"Welcome, little one.  This is your first day.  Your designation will be RC 01/138.  We expect great things from you."

--Taun We, Star Wars: Republic Commando

For what it is, Republic Commando's opportunity to control Delta Squad and execute strategic maneuvers is an excellent single-player offering.  Focusing on a handful of core mechanics in the context of a quiet story subtly building towards Revenge of the Sith, the game explores the Clone Wars with a more serious approach than many others.  Scorch, Sev, and Fixer are under the player's command, a bold inclusion upon the first release in early 2005.  Republic Commando is a slower game than something like Battlefront or The Force Unleashed, and this works to its advantage when super battle droids are laser sponges, the squad members can be deployed for different tasks at once, and the protagonists are special forces of the Republic's clone army.

Production Values

Originally, the game was an Xbox and PC title. There is not as much of a gap between the initial release and its Switch/PS4 debut as that between Metroid Prime and its remaster, but the game is far from young!  The handheld version has passable graphics in the sense that they are not horrid for a game so old or anywhere near the platform's best.  Textures can be very blurry up close.  Kashyyyk has a two-dimensional background visible within the huts.  The bodies of droids and other Delta Squad members and Geonosians, who look somewhat like Darkseid's parademons from DC, are still distinctly well-structured as character models.  Moments like a Geonosian stealing a clone from a landing gunship and flying off are nice touches, as with how super battle droids lose limbs or torso plating with the right shots.  Glitches were minimal in my experience: I did have to restart an entire level because my game autosaved when a commando hovered in place.  Lastly, the voice acting, which Temuera Morrison joins--he played Jango Fett, the genetic template of the clones, from the second prequel film--is strong.

Gameplay

The game is divided into three general sections or acts with smaller levels in each.  Occasionally, you will have to traverse the environment alone, and these can be some of the most difficult parts for players used to relying on a four-person squad.  For the most part, all three fellow elite clones are at your disposal, disarming mines, planting explosives, hacking computer terminals, or sniping from behind cover at your will.  At first, you have to acquire each squadmate one by one, and soon you have built up your party.  The playable character (Boss) also finds weapon attachments for the basic DC-17m to convert it from a rapid firing blaster into, for instance, a sniper rifle.  The directional buttons of the Switch make Boss add or remove attachments as long as there is enough ammunition for the transition.  Between these firearm functions, the array of grenades, and assistance from other commandos, there is enough to carry one through even some genuinely difficult combat sequences.

Story

Some spoilers are below, but there is not a heavy plot to reveal.

What starts as the assignment of killing the Geonosian Sun Fac before he can flee the first battle of the war has Delta Squad traversing around the galaxy, visiting a seemingly abandoned Republic capital ship and the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk.  The squad finds evidence of Trandoshan slavers in an agreement with the Separatists, and the Republic gets involved to the point of planning a full offensive on the planet.

Intellectual Content

The vast lore of the "Legends" side of Star Wars is barely hinted at here, with the events, since they are carried out by special forces, naturally taking place away from many of the Clone Wars combat zones.  Other than at Geonosis, the first battle of the war, Delta Squad is often out on their own private missions.  The more strategic and slow pace of the combat and general objectives reflect this in the gameplay.  Republic Commando is one of the games that does not need to explore morality, political power, the Force, and other such things to still have its own kind of depth.  The more measured pace makes sure of that.

Conclusion

Here is a classic more than two decades old that exemplifies how simplicity and straightforwardness can ground quality mechanics.  Layering commands for specific Delta Squad members with the directness of the story and objectives allows for a combination of elements where one could have easily overshadowed the other.  Republic Commando is great because of its successes as a single-player, squad-based game, though, and not because of nostalgic remembrance some might have.  Gaming has evolved a great deal since 2005.  The strengths of this title's gameplay remain objectively wonderful for their execution of the premises.

Content:

 1.  Violence:  Blood is visible when killing organic enemies like Geonosians, and it is seen on the interior walls of a Republic vessel.  In that same starship, clone corpses with limbs or heads separated from the rest of the bodies are sometimes seen.

 2.  Profanity:  Infrequent profanity includes "damn."