tar Wars based video games have always been hit and miss.  For some reason even though the movies have lent themselves to games so incredibly well, there unfortunately have been quite a few duds amongst some really brilliant games.  First person shooters aren’t anything new to the universe, but with Republic Commando LucasArts is adding squad based gameplay to the mix.  While currently in this early state Republic Commando still has a few kinks to iron out before release, Republic Commando is shaping up to be another fantastic Star Wars game for the Xbox.

Chris already ironed out most of the details in his hands-on preview, so I’m going to stick to a few things that he hadn’t touched on, as well as let you know how the game is progressing.

Based in the time period between Episode II and Episode III, you are a seed of Jango Fett.  The game starts on Kamino, where you have already gone through your education and combat training, and it’s your job to command a squad of three of your brothers.  While I’m being a nitpicky Star Wars fan, your brothers have distinctly different voices, personalities, which confused me quite a bit.  Apparently I mean, for the love of all that is Yoda, aren’t we all brothers? I can understand that LucasArts most likely did it to distinguish each of your squadmates, but this little story quandary irked me from the beginning.

The war is just starting, and as an elite clone trooper, your tasks will range from performing covert operations like infiltrating and assaulting, to retrieving crucial information, and even assassination and reconnaissance.   Who better to delve out your teams orders than Jango himself?  The first level of the game puts you on the planet Geonosis in the thick of battle, and acts as your training level, showing you how to interact with environments, use your weapons, and how to direct your squad.  For the majority of the game you’ll be in your squad, but some levels will call for you to go solo.

Controlling your squad efficiently is extremely important and fortunately not as daunting as other squad based titles.  LucasArts has implemented a “one touch squad control” and by simply targeting specific highlighted areas and pressing A, one of your squadmates will act accordingly.  Your squadmates will breach doors, snipe from a specific areas, mount turrets, heal themselves, and fire on designated targets.  The system is quite intuitive and works surprisingly well.  You can also have your team work in formations, by holding down A and selecting search and destroy, form up, or secure area.

One very intriguing thing LucasArts did with this game was how they handled death.  You can revive fallen teammates, and if you die, and you have some living squadmates, you can tell them to break away from what they’re doing and revive you.  Your screen will get all hazy, and you’ll see them hovering over you until you’re healed.  It’s a really cool effect, and one which I died a few times to see it again.  However, it isn’t full proof, and while you’re getting revived, your squad members can get shot.  If you run out of brothers, you have to start from your last auto-saved point.

At least in this build, while I am extremely impressed with the squad mechanics, it’s not to say that sometimes your brothers won’t do stupid things once in a while.  They’re not as mentally challenged as the Rainbow Six crew, but sometimes you may find yourself repeating orders, especially if you want your team to heal at a Bacta station, or attack a certain enemy.  You’ll find that they won’t always listen, not attack where you want them to, or even ignore an enemy that is right next to them while they shoot at something not as close.  Even with those complains however, it’s really cool to see how they interact with the situation at hands, as well each other when they’re on their game.  Your squadmates will rush in and clear a room by tossing grenades, heal themselves and each other, and generally take cover when necessary.  It may not be perfect, but for squad based games, it’s truly a huge leap in AI.

Republic Commando’s are more-or-less the Navy Seals of the Clone Troopers, and with your Squad, your missions will range from infiltrating and assaulting, retrieving crucial information, assassination, and reconnaissance.  The battlegrounds I’ve encountered so far have taken place on Geonosis, a Core Ship, as well as the Republic Assault Ship Prosecutor.  The level designs are well created, and generally vary quite a bit.  Unfortunately, the adversarial inhabitants that you’ll encounter won’t change as much, and you’ll find yourself battling the same droids, super battle droids, and Geonosian drones and warriors along your way.  It would have been nice to see a little more variety in enemy types but at least so far, I have yet to see more than five or six.

While the main Xbox Halo 2 FPS control scheme is being used, looking around and targeting still needs to be tightened up.  For some reason, LucasArts decided to alter targeting and looking around, and the further you press the analog stick, the faster you will turn.  While more realistic, this change makes it much more difficult to pinpoint your shots, while not being in the “zoomed in” viewpoint with your weapon.  To become more accurate I even had to switch the look sensitivity to its lowest form to be able to get a better bead on what I wanted to shoot at, which is the complete opposite that I use in any other FPSs, whether it’s on the PC or console.  This becomes quite troublesome when you have quicker dodging Geonosian Warriors or Drones coming at you from all sides, and you’re bleeding ammunition without registering a lot of damage.

While I do have those simple complaints at this point, I have to say that the gameplay is still quite a bit of fun.  At its heart the game is a squad based shooter, but LucasArts has injected a Medal of Honor-ish cinematic and engrossing feel to it, which really makes you feel like your squad is a bad ass force to be reckoned with.   The graphics are fantastic, and even though the game is still in its early state, the locales look gorgeous, and squadmates animate nicely.  Unfortunately, enemies haven’t gotten the same treatment, and their animations thus far aren’t as fluid as would be desired.  Borrowing slightly from the Metroid visor look, you’ll be looking through a slightly concaved glass surface.  You’ll see slaughtered enemy bits splatter and rain drops roll down it, and by a sweet looking futuristic wiper blade your visor will become clear.  My favorite visual so far is looking through wavy heat vapor filled places.  Also in dark areas you’ll be able to flip on the low light mode on your visor, which allows you to see what goes bump in the night easier, showing off a very impressive black and white faded Xerox look.

Aurally, LucasArts should be commended.  They based the music on John Williams' score and 30% is actually Williams', while 70% is new. Its intensity really adds to the overall atmosphere of the gameplay experience.  Add the chatter you’ll get from your squadmates and enemies, and you’ll really feel like you’re in the heart of an actual Star Wars battle.  Even though it’s sort of ridiculous that the cloned brothers have different voice variants, at least if Lucas is going to go that route, it would have been nice to have even more variety to their phrases.  If you’re going to give them different personalities, do it up right.

Republic Commando will feature downloadable content and Xbox live play, but surprisingly LucasArts pulled out the squadbased multiplayer and just added plain vanilla standard FPS multiplayer.  While I haven’t played it yet, I’ve perused some of the levels, and their design seems to be interesting, and basically arenas based on the single player game experience.  But with the hampered look controls, the gameplay could be frustrating since it’s difficult to pinpoint your shots.  With a squadbased game it’s a shame that there’s no online cooperative, and that they’re just having basic multiplayer.  The squad based mechanic would have made the Xbox Live multiplayer extremely unique.

Overall, LucasArts has succeeded in what they set out to do, to make you feel like you’re a super soldier in a real Star Wars war.  While I was a bit surprised that I’ve yet to encounter any Jedi or Sith in the game, Republic Commando still sucked me in, and made me feel like I was playing an important role in the battles.  While Republic Commando has a few shortcomings, it’s an impressive achievement for squad based gameplay, and in my opinion, one of the best Star Wars games based in the new trilogy.