I am going to go through the past year or so's worth of games that I have been systematically tracking and working my way through, though I haven't been logging or reviewing them anywhere until now. This was the first on my list that I checked off, and I'll be going through chronologically until I catch up to where I am now. Hokay!
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Republic Commando is a treat. I never did beat it all those years ago on Xbox, since I was borrowing it from someone back then and had to give it back. A sailor on my last ship told me it was on the Xbox store for like $5 or something, so I snatched it up and finally put it to bed.
It's a great game! The graphics were more dated than I remembered, but they hold up fine. The character models look pretty good and animate well. I love the visor effects a la Metroid Prime, whether it's rain or blood after taking your wrist blade to a Geonosian.
Some things left me wanting a little more this time around. The squad mechanics/orders are kind of light. You get the option of telling them if you want them to breach a door loudly or quietly, but you have no real incentive to pick one or the other in a given situation, and if there ever is a reason to pick one or the other, the game doesn't really tell you.
Otherwise, you get into some pretty insane arena firefights as the game progresses, and you get some more flexibility about how you want to employ your troopers. I didn't get the sense that the battles would unfold one way or the other based on whether I had someone sniping from this position vice that position, or sitting on a turret vice hunkering down with their grenade launcher or whatever. You can also just order them to stand in and secure specific locations, but I guess at the end of the day, I wanted some Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon levels of control that you don't really get. (Though Rainbox Six Vegas has limited options as well, come to think of it.)
The guns are generally fun to shoot, but the main rifle feels weak and the laser bolts can be tricky to aim at moving targets because they fly somewhat slowly. Anyone that's played it or spends enough time on Star Wars meme pages knows the super battle droids are extremely hard to take down in this game, but they weren't as frustrating as I remembered them being. The main problem is I just feel like a pansy whenever I'd fight one. You hunker down behind cover, throw grenades, and dump endless mags into them until they fall. It's not very dynamic shooting, so it kind of slows the pace down somewhat.
It might sound like I'm ragging on the game a lot, but the voice acting, writing, and story are all super solid. The characters are ultra memorable and funny. The gameplay is generally tight if a bit lacking by 2020 Brent's standards, but for what the game offers, it's executed very well. It's still a shining example of a really good franchise game with a lot going for it. Republic Commando is better than it has any right to be, and it's a crime against humanity that they never mined this for more games.
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Republic Commando is a treat. I never did beat it all those years ago on Xbox, since I was borrowing it from someone back then and had to give it back. A sailor on my last ship told me it was on the Xbox store for like $5 or something, so I snatched it up and finally put it to bed.
It's a great game! The graphics were more dated than I remembered, but they hold up fine. The character models look pretty good and animate well. I love the visor effects a la Metroid Prime, whether it's rain or blood after taking your wrist blade to a Geonosian.
Some things left me wanting a little more this time around. The squad mechanics/orders are kind of light. You get the option of telling them if you want them to breach a door loudly or quietly, but you have no real incentive to pick one or the other in a given situation, and if there ever is a reason to pick one or the other, the game doesn't really tell you.
Otherwise, you get into some pretty insane arena firefights as the game progresses, and you get some more flexibility about how you want to employ your troopers. I didn't get the sense that the battles would unfold one way or the other based on whether I had someone sniping from this position vice that position, or sitting on a turret vice hunkering down with their grenade launcher or whatever. You can also just order them to stand in and secure specific locations, but I guess at the end of the day, I wanted some Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon levels of control that you don't really get. (Though Rainbox Six Vegas has limited options as well, come to think of it.)
The guns are generally fun to shoot, but the main rifle feels weak and the laser bolts can be tricky to aim at moving targets because they fly somewhat slowly. Anyone that's played it or spends enough time on Star Wars meme pages knows the super battle droids are extremely hard to take down in this game, but they weren't as frustrating as I remembered them being. The main problem is I just feel like a pansy whenever I'd fight one. You hunker down behind cover, throw grenades, and dump endless mags into them until they fall. It's not very dynamic shooting, so it kind of slows the pace down somewhat.
It might sound like I'm ragging on the game a lot, but the voice acting, writing, and story are all super solid. The characters are ultra memorable and funny. The gameplay is generally tight if a bit lacking by 2020 Brent's standards, but for what the game offers, it's executed very well. It's still a shining example of a really good franchise game with a lot going for it. Republic Commando is better than it has any right to be, and it's a crime against humanity that they never mined this for more games.