ThaMaskedGamer
03-06-2005, 08:07 AM
Well this game came out alongside Brothers In Arms. Overall, Brothers In Arms is just a better game. This game is a knotch below, or maybe a half knotch. Republic Commando has a unique visual flair, at times similar to Chronicles of Riddick. It uses a variety of visual affects and a lot is happening on screen. Part of this of the fact you are wearing a helmet, and you view the game world throught helmet visor. You see your visor and it has a HUD display that updates the battle field situation, needless to say this is pretty cool. At the same time, it makes the game challenging cause bug juice and stuff will splatter on your visor, temporarily blinding you. Also, the view is minimized cause of the helmet, so you feel a sense of claustophobia, and your peripheral vision is smaller than most FPS.
You also get 3 teammates. Each one a specialist, but this was poorly done, because each commando, including yourself, can fullfill any role. And when your order a task to be done, a commando is randomly chosen. This doesn't hurt the game, but it just makes you wonder why there are specialist? Fighting with your squad is very cool, you have to learn a few simple commands, otherwise your guys will fight in an undisciplined fashion. But the commands are easy to use. There is a lot of chatter amongst your team, which is good, and also your advisor, some guy on a ship giving you orders. To increase the tension, the radio comm with your advisor will frequently get cut-off in the middle of orders. And, there is a lot of tension in this game.
You are usually sent into some ship or area, alone with your squad, with enemies all around, and the closed in feel(thanks to the visor), you feel a bit on edge. Then, if the lights go out, it feels like your watching Aliens. The commando's armor has a low-light setting, but this setting is in black&white, and turns off all of your visors HUD indicators. It is a really nice touch. The pacing of the game is hit and miss. On some missions, I just felt I was along for the ride. But now the missions are very specific, you have a clear understanding of what is to be done. Basically, the first few missions are in the time period of the clone war. Then, the game cut-scenes to a year later, when the Republic's resources are thinning, and you are sent on these infiltration and recon missions. The game really starts to heat up.
The combat is hard. The good part is if you fall, you are just incapacitated, from your back you can see and hear the battle continuing. And on your visor, you have three command prompts, "maintain orders" - which tells your squad to finish the immediate battle, "recall and revive" - tells your guys to immediately revive you, and "reload" - which reloads from the last save. Almost always you can have your guys revive you, or if you think they can finish the fight, let them. After they mop up, they will revive you. Reviving is pretty cool, its a little animation where you or your soldiers stand over the fallen commando, pull out a mini-recharger and administer and electric shock or charge to the fallen commando, booting up his systems. It is not, immediate, for either person. So, you stand there disoriented for a good three seconds when you are back up. Needless to say, it is dangerous to do in the midst of a battle. But, thanks to this, you find yourself reloading and replaying missions a lot less, than in normal games. This is what contributes, I think, to the game being short, rated at 10 hours.
The fighting is semi-tactical. It is unlike any other star wars game. You have a shield, which can absorb only a few shots, then when the shield is down you take damage. You can heal yourself, or order a commando to heal himself, at one of the many many bacta stations in the maps. The enemies though are the real show stealers. You really get a sense for the power of the droids, better than any other star wars game. Cause you face them in close quarters, mano y mano. The little weak droids fall after a few shots, and can't shoot for crap. But the Super Droids are like walking tanks. It takes a whole squad, several clips per man to drop one. And, they have a regular laser, but also a canon that will drop you immediately. The good thing is they move very slow, but they are fear evoking machines. Then, there is the droidekas, they are suprisingly easier to kill than the Super droids, but they have shields and are very mobile, obviously.
The organic enemies in the game, aren't as fun as the droids. They fly and run really fast, so far, and are hard to target. You end up doing a better job against the droids, while your squad, does a better job against the organic enemies. Targeting is hard, from the hip you do get an aiming reticule, but, this is very imprecise. When you aim, you look down the barrel of your blaster and use the sights. Much more accurate, but slows down your movement and limits your view. Your blaster is the main weapon you use. It can be modified, when you get the mods, it is very cool. The sniper mode is first available, and is deadly and effective. Then, you get the heavy weapons mod, that attaches and allows you to blow the hell outta anything. It takes a few seconds to clip on/off mods, so be careful in battle.
You also get sonic grenades, thermal detonators, and ECD grenades. There is a lot of environmental damage. Meaning, you can scorch yourself, teamates as well as the enemy. Especially with ECD grenades, which send out an electric shock that shuts down or disrupts Droids. Problem is it has a large field of effect, and it will shut down all of your electronics on your visor, as well as your teammates temporarily. You also have a weak pistol, and can pick up one additional weapon, usually dropped by an organic enemy. You will find yourself, always running out of ammo, and having to switch to back-up.
Overall, this is a great game. The only flaws, thus far is the disappointing online, basically just a deathmatch. And the short duration, which i've to find the end. So, in other words, until I get to the end, the game is a freakin' blast. The story is great, the graphics are very nice, colorful, the audio is kicking. The AI isn't the greatest. For example, your guys rarely throw grenades. You have to tell them when to snipe, by ordering them to a snipe position. And you end up doing most of the killing, seemingly. And, this is likely where the game, takes hits. But, honestly, the AI is no better or worse than Rainbow6 or GhostRecon2 in that respect. There simply is not a lot to dislike in this game, and it is a good exclusive. It is faster pace, but still tactical, so if Brothers In Arms is too slow and hard for you, this game might be right up your ally. And aside from graphics, I would be surprised if Doom3 were better than this, from all i've read about Doom3.
Let me add real-quick, often, the squad splits up into solo missions. This is very hard, cause you really take damage quickly. A lot of the time you will end up running away from Superdroids, since they are so slow. Otherwise, use the ECD grenades to stun them, then blast away. Sometimes, for cinematic effect, you will be in one area, looking down on a teammate who is in a sealed room. You'll see him hacking or slicing a terminal, then the enemy will rush in and take out your teammate. Simultaneously, you'll get the audio feed, and feedback from your other squad mates. Its a good cinematic touch, and situations like this are splattered thoughout the game.
You also get 3 teammates. Each one a specialist, but this was poorly done, because each commando, including yourself, can fullfill any role. And when your order a task to be done, a commando is randomly chosen. This doesn't hurt the game, but it just makes you wonder why there are specialist? Fighting with your squad is very cool, you have to learn a few simple commands, otherwise your guys will fight in an undisciplined fashion. But the commands are easy to use. There is a lot of chatter amongst your team, which is good, and also your advisor, some guy on a ship giving you orders. To increase the tension, the radio comm with your advisor will frequently get cut-off in the middle of orders. And, there is a lot of tension in this game.
You are usually sent into some ship or area, alone with your squad, with enemies all around, and the closed in feel(thanks to the visor), you feel a bit on edge. Then, if the lights go out, it feels like your watching Aliens. The commando's armor has a low-light setting, but this setting is in black&white, and turns off all of your visors HUD indicators. It is a really nice touch. The pacing of the game is hit and miss. On some missions, I just felt I was along for the ride. But now the missions are very specific, you have a clear understanding of what is to be done. Basically, the first few missions are in the time period of the clone war. Then, the game cut-scenes to a year later, when the Republic's resources are thinning, and you are sent on these infiltration and recon missions. The game really starts to heat up.
The combat is hard. The good part is if you fall, you are just incapacitated, from your back you can see and hear the battle continuing. And on your visor, you have three command prompts, "maintain orders" - which tells your squad to finish the immediate battle, "recall and revive" - tells your guys to immediately revive you, and "reload" - which reloads from the last save. Almost always you can have your guys revive you, or if you think they can finish the fight, let them. After they mop up, they will revive you. Reviving is pretty cool, its a little animation where you or your soldiers stand over the fallen commando, pull out a mini-recharger and administer and electric shock or charge to the fallen commando, booting up his systems. It is not, immediate, for either person. So, you stand there disoriented for a good three seconds when you are back up. Needless to say, it is dangerous to do in the midst of a battle. But, thanks to this, you find yourself reloading and replaying missions a lot less, than in normal games. This is what contributes, I think, to the game being short, rated at 10 hours.
The fighting is semi-tactical. It is unlike any other star wars game. You have a shield, which can absorb only a few shots, then when the shield is down you take damage. You can heal yourself, or order a commando to heal himself, at one of the many many bacta stations in the maps. The enemies though are the real show stealers. You really get a sense for the power of the droids, better than any other star wars game. Cause you face them in close quarters, mano y mano. The little weak droids fall after a few shots, and can't shoot for crap. But the Super Droids are like walking tanks. It takes a whole squad, several clips per man to drop one. And, they have a regular laser, but also a canon that will drop you immediately. The good thing is they move very slow, but they are fear evoking machines. Then, there is the droidekas, they are suprisingly easier to kill than the Super droids, but they have shields and are very mobile, obviously.
The organic enemies in the game, aren't as fun as the droids. They fly and run really fast, so far, and are hard to target. You end up doing a better job against the droids, while your squad, does a better job against the organic enemies. Targeting is hard, from the hip you do get an aiming reticule, but, this is very imprecise. When you aim, you look down the barrel of your blaster and use the sights. Much more accurate, but slows down your movement and limits your view. Your blaster is the main weapon you use. It can be modified, when you get the mods, it is very cool. The sniper mode is first available, and is deadly and effective. Then, you get the heavy weapons mod, that attaches and allows you to blow the hell outta anything. It takes a few seconds to clip on/off mods, so be careful in battle.
You also get sonic grenades, thermal detonators, and ECD grenades. There is a lot of environmental damage. Meaning, you can scorch yourself, teamates as well as the enemy. Especially with ECD grenades, which send out an electric shock that shuts down or disrupts Droids. Problem is it has a large field of effect, and it will shut down all of your electronics on your visor, as well as your teammates temporarily. You also have a weak pistol, and can pick up one additional weapon, usually dropped by an organic enemy. You will find yourself, always running out of ammo, and having to switch to back-up.
Overall, this is a great game. The only flaws, thus far is the disappointing online, basically just a deathmatch. And the short duration, which i've to find the end. So, in other words, until I get to the end, the game is a freakin' blast. The story is great, the graphics are very nice, colorful, the audio is kicking. The AI isn't the greatest. For example, your guys rarely throw grenades. You have to tell them when to snipe, by ordering them to a snipe position. And you end up doing most of the killing, seemingly. And, this is likely where the game, takes hits. But, honestly, the AI is no better or worse than Rainbow6 or GhostRecon2 in that respect. There simply is not a lot to dislike in this game, and it is a good exclusive. It is faster pace, but still tactical, so if Brothers In Arms is too slow and hard for you, this game might be right up your ally. And aside from graphics, I would be surprised if Doom3 were better than this, from all i've read about Doom3.
Let me add real-quick, often, the squad splits up into solo missions. This is very hard, cause you really take damage quickly. A lot of the time you will end up running away from Superdroids, since they are so slow. Otherwise, use the ECD grenades to stun them, then blast away. Sometimes, for cinematic effect, you will be in one area, looking down on a teammate who is in a sealed room. You'll see him hacking or slicing a terminal, then the enemy will rush in and take out your teammate. Simultaneously, you'll get the audio feed, and feedback from your other squad mates. Its a good cinematic touch, and situations like this are splattered thoughout the game.