Star Wars: Republic Commando

Mechanically, Republic Commando is well put-together; the shooting combat is very fun once you've got the hang of the different weapon types, and the team tactics work extremely well. And despite the prequel trilogy backdrop, the game benefits from being placed in the Star Wars universe, what with lasers and robots and so on (plus the sheer satisfaction of kicking ass with John Williams in the background). But there's so much chintzy crap wrong with the game that, like a delicious cake swarming with flies, the experience leaves me with an uncomfortable taste in my mouth.

The game's relatively short length is something I could live with. But having only three campaigns (e.g. three distinct environment types) left me wanting; I would much rather have had more, shorter campaigns, especially since all three of them felt rather dragging toward the end. The rare bugs are not so bad, forgiving one time that a teammate actually became hostile to me, and I had to kill him but could not revive (and thus had to restart from an earlier save file); but there are particular combat situations which seem disproportionately frustrating to be bugs, like small, nimble enemies that deal ridiculous damage, or an enemy spawner next to the only mannable laser turret in the area. The characterization of the clone troopers is interesting at first, but is ultimately meaningless, as each trooper can do each assignable task equally well, and they all use the same AI.

The game is rife with basic design oversights - radio is jammed in much of campaign 2, but that doesn't stop command from being able to make a snarky comment when you die; relatedly, in the rare instance where you have an objective other than surviving, failure results in a tirade from command, followed by an automatic death to force the "Retry?" screen. And everyone refers to everyone else as Delta: "Delta, go slice that console" or "Nice work, Delta" or "Take cover, Delta!" Also, the ending was trite even by shooter standards. (After all four Deltas split up to take down a Separatist battleship with turbolaser cannons, 07 is heard dying over the comlink; command orders the unit out, there is some strong-hearted protest, and then moments later everyone is stoked to keep fighting in the implied sequel.)

Like I've said: it's pretty good for a Star Wars game, and not terrible, but not exactly a must-play.

Progress: Complete