Star Wars – Republic Commando

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed and published by LucasArts. It was released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows in March 2005. An enhanced port of the game by Aspyr was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on April 6, 2021. Set in the Star Wars Legends expanded universe, the game revolves around Delta Squad, a special ops unit within the Galactic Republic’s Clone Army consisting of four genetically-enhanced clone troopers, referred to as “Clone Commandos.” Throughout the single-player campaign, players assume the role of the squad’s leader, RC-1138 (“Boss”), and complete various missions during the Clone Wars.

Players can also indirectly control the actions of their squadmates RC-1262 (“Scorch”), RC-1140 (“Fixer”), and RC-1207 (“Sev”) by issuing different commands, which allow for certain situations to be approached in multiple ways. The game begins with a montage detailing Delta Squad’s creation, early life, and training at the cloning facilities on Kamino. At the onset of the Clone Wars, the four members of the squad—Delta-38, 62, 40, and 07 (“Boss”, “Scorch”, “Fixer” and “Sev”, respectively)—are deployed during the Battle of Geonosis and tasked with assassinating Sun Fac, the chief lieutenant of Geonosian Archduke and Separatist Council member Poggle the Lesser.

Upon successfully terminating their target, Delta Squad is retasked to several other objectives that were originally assigned to other Clone Commando teams that had been lost to enemy ambushes. The squad proceeds to sabotage a battle droid factory located underneath Sun Fac’s headquarters, disable a major anti-aircraft bunker that is wreaking havoc on the Republic Army’s air forces, and finally sneak onto a disabled Separatist Trade Federation Lucrehulk-class Core Ship both to sabotage the ship and to steal important launch codes that will be used to prevent a significant portion of the Separatist fleet from retreating. The squad narrowly escapes the Core Ship moments before it is destroyed.

A year into the war, the now-veteran Delta Squad is sent to investigate the derelict Acclamator-class Republic Assault Ship (RAS) Prosecutor. Delta Squad splits up to investigate, quickly losing contact with command as they board the ship due to unexplained communication jamming. Making their way inside, they find the Prosecutor seemingly abandoned and in disrepair. The squad lose contact with Scorch after he reports electrical interference with his visor and Boss is soon ambushed by scavenger droids. Boss makes his way to one of the ship’s logs from its data cores for investigation. As Boss is about to reunite with Sev, the latter is suddenly attacked and captured by a Trandoshan who is part of a large force of slavers and mercenaries who have taken over the ship.

Having evaded capture, Boss and Fixer meet up but are soon attacked by battle droids deployed by the Trandoshans. After rescuing their captive squad members who were held in the Assault Ship’s brig, Delta Squad takes back the ship’s bridge and destroy a jamming device which reestablishes communication with command. It becomes clear that the Trandoshans intend to sell the vessel to the Separatists, in exchange for a sizable force of battle droids. The game features some gameplay elements that resemble features in other first-person shooters. The heads-up display (HUD) shows the player character’s helmet, with a tactical visor. The player acts as squad leader of a squad of four elite troops.

The squadmate order system allows the player general tactical control over the three non-player characters (NPCs) squadmates that round out the four-man commando team. Many objects in the game environment will highlight when the crosshair is placed over them. The player can then press the “use” key to issue an order automatically associated with the object; for example, a sealed door may highlight with a synchronized team breach-and-clear command, or a computer console might have a “slice” (computer hacking) command, while a pile of cargo boxes suitable for a cover position with good vantage may provide a “take up Sniper/Anti-Armor position” command.

Where possible, the squadmates will usually take their preferred roles (sniper, demolitions and technical). The player can order the squad to move to secure any position (wherever the crosshair is pointed), or perform search-and-destroy. There are orders to command the squadmates to group up or spread out according to the player’s discretion for the situation. In single-player mode, the player and squadmates do not die when they run out of health, but rather are incapacitated. If the player character is downed, the player can order the squad members to attempt to revive the player or to continue with their current orders.

Therefore, the game is only truly over when the player and all members of the squad are incapacitated at once or if the player is downed in a position their squadmates cannot reach (such as chasms). Certain missions may require squad members to split up to accomplish various isolated objectives, and in such scenarios, where the player is operating alone, losing all the player’s health also results in a game over. While reviving a downed commando restores a small amount of health, bacta charging stations are necessary to fully regain it.