JediDefender.com Forums
Multimedia => The Wookiee Arcade => Topic started by: Jesse James on May 13, 2003, 07:07 PM
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http://www.lucasarts.com/press/releases/74.html
Check it out folks!
Republic Commando, a new FPS set to use the Unreal Engine is going to come out sometime in the near future...
A "Dark and realistic" combat experience. Could the Tom Clancy clone game be a reality?
I sure as hell hope so! This is easily my most anticipated game at this point!
For X-Box and PC (Glad I got a GC because I always would rather play stuff on PC, and everything for X-Box is on PC, haha).
Things look bright for gaming this year! For me anyway... This game sounds cool, and unlike past FPS gaming in the Star Wars universe... Could be much MUCH more intense. I'm giddy!
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This is awesome! For anyone who hasnt yet downloaded the movie in the link provided, do so right now! If the movie is anything like the game.... WOW! I can't decide what to do... I was gonna get a GameCube for the Rogue Squadron games... but now this thing is slated only for X-Box and PC... I doubt my Presario2100 laptop will be able to play this game... and I have no reason to believe this game will be compatible for us poor Mac users. :-\ I'll be watching these developments very closely. Thanks for the scoop, Jesse!
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Excellent news indeed! Can't wait! The more PC games, the better, as I don't have any of the gaming consoles. Now if I can just hurry my butt up and get a new computer that can actually run these games, I'll be in good shape!
Bummer that I can't watch the video clip though, since it's in Quicktime format. The couple times I've downloaded Quicktime to my computer in the past, it pretty much ruined all of my multimedia programs... Ain't goin' that route again. I'll have to wait for the real thing I guess... 8)
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I just saw the trailer for this and I am drooling! This game looks so awesome! It instantly reminded me of the movie "Aliens," where the commandos are just entering the stranded building. Unfortunately I don't have an X-Box, but I do have a sweet PC to play this game. I would rather play this though on my PS2 (if it were available for it), because then I would be able to play this with my sweet surround sound entertainment system. Oh well. Can't get everything I want I guess.
Just wish this was being released sooner than Summer 2004.
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I'm an FPS fanatic, and IMO that (along with a few other game genres) are best played for PC, so obviously I'm ecstatic this is a PC title...
Ewok, I'm not sure about MAC availability, but if they made JO with a MAC port I wouldn't rule this out being made compatible as well.
I cannot download the trailer either Matt, don't feel bad... QT's given me many an issue in the past as well, and my current QT is outdated I'd say (I just downloaded a blank screen).
I must play this game though... I'm surprised they're running with a different gaming engine than Jedi Outcast and Academy are using, but that's fine by me as this game isn't going to have the sabre based combat, a nd the completely different engine means we're in for something possibly better than Outcast was... Maybe not, but hopefully so.
I'm excited for sure, and can't wait! Plus it was my first news post, whippee. :)
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ho-lee crap that looked amazing. put me down for 'yes please'. wow.
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Well, the first screens of the game are up and running over at: http://www.computerandvideogames.com and I'd say for now that they look pretty decent, though a bit gimmicky.
The game, as described in the site's brief review HERE (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php?id=100125) is, "dramatic military-style action experience featuring brutally realistic Star Wars combat", which sounds just dandy to me! I'd love a little brutally realistic combat in Star Wars since there's been very little of it aside from the X-Wing games and possibly the RTS's.
Shaping up to be a dandy idea at least, and using the Unreal engine it should prove to be decent in graphics and gameplay if tweaked right.
The story goes that you're a Republic Commando, but it makes no mention of clones... Though the armor looks possibly similar, is it possible that you'll be playing as a sentient human within the Republic? An individual soldier from their own military? I hope so... The thought of playing as a clone seems dull to me. :(
It will keep the ARC trooper idea separate as well, as if the clones have thier own spec. ops units and such.
Anyway, cool stuff, no?
Thoughts?
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BTW,
Screen 1:
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/openpic.php?name=..%2Fscreenshots_library%2Fdir_232%2Fvortal_pic_116043.jpg
(Bah, image one won't post, so just go there and you'll see it)
Not looking shabby there I guess there... Though, take notice that the muzzle flash of the Republic troop rifles is near the trigger guard??? Secondary weapon in an over-under scheme (Set underneath the main/long upper barrel)?
Also notice the confined "view" in the display... Simulates wearing a helmet. That could be irritating and I almost hope it's a feature you can remove by pressing a button, as I like to see the entire screen so I don't miss any pretty colors!
Screen 2:
(http://www.computerandvideogames.com/screenshots_library/dir_232/vortal_pic_116044.jpg)
Freaky... A separatist alien of some sort? Merc? Just an ugly guy caught on a bad day?
Not the most interesting screen but a good image. I just hope we get more info on this soon.
It's due out for PC, and X-Box so far... So there ya have it.
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I've finally been bitten by the bug for this game. 8) They're now saying there will be Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and CTF multiplayer modes. This is a godsend for me. Who's up for some teamplay this fall? :)
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:)Oh I am so looking foward to this game coming out. Every time I see thew screenshots, I think it sucks it's not out yet, plus I am a huge fan of FPS's.
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I'm a big FPS gamer too Jasper...
This is shaping up to be nice, if not a bit odd compared to what we know of the Clones and such.
The view's goiong to be weird though. i can't get past the view.... Realistic, but I just hope I adjust to it.
Should be fun, but I STILL want a tactical FPS game based in the classic trilogy...
After a new flight sim in the classic or post ROTJ era that is! :)
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Yea the more I see this, and the more I see SWBattlefield, the more I think I'll choose Republic Commando. I'm a huge tactical realism gamer (in Call of Duty I play in servers where the speed, weapons, fall damage, etc, has been adjusted to be completely realistic), and so I'm with Jesse... I want to be a Rebel Fleet Trooper or a Hoth trooper, REALLY bad.
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I meant to say Battlefront, oops.
By the way - One of my big complaints about Commando so far is that it seems way too EU'ish for me. Too many trandoshans and crap - if I buy this I will probably be downloading skins to replace all the EU people with your standard Geonosians, Battledroids, and maybe even humans.
I bet someone will make a skin pack to change the Republic Commando's to Stormies, and the enemies to various Rebels/civilians/bounty.
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Every time I see this game, I just drool. It's looks so awesome and just cannot wait to get my hands on it.
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Check the main page here at Jedi Defender guys...
New Republic Commando movies at Yahoo Games. Links on the main page.
REALLY great stuff in the videos. I mean, they took squad-based FPS's and improved them. That's a good game, so let's hope this takes off. I could stand "Alliance Commando" and "Imperial COmmando" as well as a nice Merc/Pirate version too... These look great.
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More concept art tossed into an article on SW.com... Check our front page for a direct link though. Good story there for anyone curious.
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Anyone download the demo yet? I have and I like it a lot. It's kind of like Socom but for SW of course. :P
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Need an upgrade before I'm gonna be playing this, unfortunately. :-\
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This game should be out next week (March 1st).
I've downloaded the demo and it has been a BLAST playing through the trandoshan/wookiee mission. this game is definitely on my "must-have" list, so much fun, so many clones!
Jeff
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I picked this up today, mostly so I could get Battlefront for really cheap. $50 for this (normal price up here) and only $20 for battlefront, regularly $50. I've got a sealed box if anyone wants to buy one :P
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I'm glad I DIDN'T buy Battlefront now... Not that it appealed to me a ton anyway, but this just seals the deal to me.
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I was just waiting for a $10 price decrease. It was $49 for BAttlefront when it first came out, but only on the first day. Since then it's been $59 plus our horrendous taxes, so I just waited and waited for a mark down. To get it for $19 is fantastic IMO. I sure didn't need both games at once, I don't play games that often. But the deal was just too good for now. It'll be quite a while before Battlefront hits the $19 price mark.
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Well on a whim I rented REpublic Commando the other night and began playing it before I buy it on PC. So far, my review's a mixed feeling on the game. If this is how First Person Shooters are going though, count me as disappointed then.
-AI in this game's surprisingly decent... Enemies duck and dodge, they hide, and in general they're smarter than in most games. Far superior to HALO 1 or 2, and generally superior to most FPS games I think, but the clones still do some dumb **** from time to time which is frustrating... Running ahead of you, getting stuck places, running in front of you during a firefight. AI's just not quite up to par with other games like Call of Duty yet.
-Levels are nicely designed and make sense, but they're incredibly linear which is a step backwards. There's few "side halls" that are dead ends and things, and to me those are the little details that can make a game more real in the mind of the gamer. For instance, Dark Forces would put a latrine as a side room in the middle of a base. Why? Because in real life Stormtroopers need to take a piss like the rest of us and it would exist...
Some levels have blocked off routes, namely the Acclamator Class Destroyer level, and that's good, but the game lacked many accessible "dead ends" which would've greatly helped it feel more gritty and real. The levels are designed well though and don't feel illogical or unrealistic with high ledges that you can't reach but somehow an enemy is on it... That kinda crap.
-The graphics are fine... I'm not fond of the game sort of taking liberties with alien design though. They have Trandoshans as almost a cross between apes and lizards rather than the thin look Bossk implied to us in ESB, and so they basically rewrote movie canon for their own use. That irks me and it's simply laziness on the part of the game designers to make a new enemy or to make the Trandoshans unique/interesting as they are rather than just change their physics all together.
Another enemy I found annoying that they changed is the Geonosians. They don't look like ugly, thin, frail bugs... Instead the game beefed them up graphically speaking, and that's unnecessary.
Dumb, Dumb, Dumb.
Beyond that, the graphics of the game are great, gritty, realistic... If the enemies were too the game's visuals would be flawless I think.
-Enemies TOO TOUGH!!! I don't know what the hell the game developers were thinking, but they made every enemy damn near impossible to kill. Absolutely stupid.
Now, I'm a gamer so this isn't just me picking the game apart and saying, "Wah! This is too hard!" or anything. Far from it... I like difficulty.
The proplem is they made every enemy unrealistically difficult to kill. The movies show how tough something is to destroy and this game just does NO justice to the films. Should a Trandoshan (unarmored and with only knives) be as tough to kill as a heavily armored person is in another more well done FPS? I don't think so.
The Super Battledroids should be tougher to destroy than battledroids, but should they take a Clone emptying 3 or 4 clips before he actually kills one? WTF!? Stupid... In the movie they'd take 10 shots at most... AT MOST! In the game you're practically dry on ammo before one's dead and it's ripped you a new one in the process.
Battledroids even take more than 2 shots sometimes. What's up with that? In the movie they drop like flies, so I think the game developers should've just had more attack you rather than make them tougher (not to mention they too are not like the the films but rather they look black and tough to see... Where's red or cream color for them? Why not give them "Commanders" that when you shoot an OOM-9 one the others flee or become less coordinated, ya know? Think Developers, think!).
The SBD's and Trandoshans are truly the last straw, but then the spider droid is like fighting a huge tank instead of it being nothing more than just another larger/tougher droid. It's super tough and only anti-armor can take it out... Silliness, and the films showed otherwise so just set the characters up like the films and leave it at that, don't get creative! ::)
-Dialogue/Sound... I put dialogue first because it is the most noticeable sound actually. And it's funny and interesting to hear... Lots of static-filled conversation, characters chattering, etc... Sound effects are good and realistic... It's everything you'd expect from a SW game so I'm content there.
-Gameplay/Controls... Very good layout, and even with all the commands and such the X-Box controller made it relatively simple. It's no Tom Clancy game though, I'll say that. It's nowhere near the complexity of a Ghost REcon or Rainbow Six... That sort of sucks actually given that both really would make for a great Star Wars game if they were to mimic that style.
Unfortunately, Rep. Commando is more an improvement on HALO than it is an attempt at a real squad-based combat shooter like Ghost Recon. I think the latter (with more realistic enemies) would've been greatly superior. That's me though. To me, HALO's nothing but a watered down game that doesn't revolutionize FPS gaming in the slightest. If anything it dumbs it down for a broader audience is all.
Rep. Commando improves on the ideas HALO sets forth, but with Ghost Recon available to mimic I think you go with more the older crowd than trying to make everyone happy.
-Storyline... Great really. Very interesting, but very low on cutscenes to advance it. I love animations and cutscenes to keep a story cohesive so I'd label that a criticism, but these Clones missions are great and lead you through the Clone Wars well enough. This game could just do more to expand upon that... Show in elaborate scenes WHY you're doing what you're doing, etc...
And with that, I'll wrap up the review...
It's an ok game... Good in its own ways, but it's not the "blockbuster" I would've expected it to be... It didn't take Star Wars FPS gaming to a whole new level, and it really didnt' even try to make itself fit firmly into the EU other than its storyline is good enough that it fits in the time between AOTC and ROTS.
I'd say that this is a rent it and wait for a decrease in price at best... I'll likely do just that because I'm thinking replay on this is gonna be minimal.
I'm not happy with the game entirely, and a lot of my anger revolves around how they made the enemies A) not look like they do in the films established canon, and B) the enemies are EXTRAORDINARILY difficult to fight. Not to the point that the game is impossible, but to the point that I find the game to be a nuisance since you should be just breezing through some areas. There's instaces where more enemies rather than stronger enemies would be the better balance to the game, rather than the other way around.
The game's designers were trying tooooooo hard to cater to the "HALO" crowd. To me, trying to make 15 year old boys happy (sorry to the adults who do like HALO, I'm not trying to be offensive but it's pretty well known that there's a difference in crowds between those who like Call of Duty or Ghost REcon, and then those who like HALO) over trying to make a game that does the Star Wars films justice.
To me this is a little like Castle Wolfenstein... Beefing up Germans and things to make a WW2 shooter when WW2 itself should give you plenty of material to make a game with on your own... Though RtCW wasn't a bad game and had a better balance to it than Rep Commando does.
That's my wrap on this... I'm gonna be holding off on buying it now. Glad I didn't go bust my ass upgrading my PC to get a copy (though I feel sure it plays better on PC where control is more fluid, fast, and accurate) of Republic Commando though. It's not all it boasts in my book, and it'llb e something I wind up buying just because I like a full library of SW video games on hand.
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OK, and after that tirade...
I beat the game earlier this evening. A very abrupt ending but one that definitely leads straight away into Episode III. A minor cutscene at the end, but like I said it was cut incredibly short and the game overall lacked cutscenes.
Anyway, my opinion basically stands as it was...
So my views again, more briefly:
-Lack of cutscenes hurts story and the game overall
-Enemies being made incredibly hard throws the "realism" intent of the game's designers out the window. You can't claim you went for realism and make every alien require a clip full of ammo to die, or rockets/anti-armor to just take out a SBD. Keep it like the film god dammit! SBD's just took 5 - 10 shots instead of 2 - 3 shots like a regular BD! >:(
-Game Controls are nothing special, but the command function is simple and effective. It combines features in games like Conflict Desert Storm with a FPS which worked well. Sucks they didn't keep realism again. :(
-Level design/layout was pretty good... Could've stood having a few dead-ends though, and areas to explore. There were many more areas with "locked" doors though, especially in the Kashyyyk levels. Best of the game.
-Character designs strayed from "real"... IE: the films have established what a spider droid looks like so animate one exactly like the films. The films established what Geonosians look like, so animate them as such. The films established Trandoshans as well so don't try "beefing them up". Just go with what's established if you want actual "realism" within the game.
-Not really any puzzles... I like puzzles in a game, this didn't have that.
-Ducking and Crouching are useless practically. Very little use and that sucks. I like that dynamic of jumping up on a ledge rather than taking steps. Not that you need "Force Jump" powers, just normal jumping ability or even the added ability to climb obstructions or hop them perhaps??
-Weaker enemies = more of them... I like shooting more people and feeling overwhelmed rather than fighting "super" enemies. It's a better aspect of FPS gaming I think and keeps more with the enemies in the prequals too... There's SOME of this in Rep Commando but not a lot, and it's watered down due to the intense strength the designers gave to the characters. Very dumb.
-A Jetpack feature like in Bounty Hunter could've gone a long way. Just a thought, and Clone Commando's seem like they maybe would use that technology if it were available.
-AI is ok... It's not great, it's not revolutionary to the FPS genre, but it is ok. I did find that enemies did dumb **** often though. Even a bodyguard of Greivous gets stuck in this one part and was easy to just knife to death. Your own teammates do dumb **** too though, and run headlong into rooms without YOUR command to do so.
Nice training. ::)
-Short... The game itself is short. Very short... It could've really gone on a lot longer. The ghost ship level was neat but there could've been a lot more to this game.
-Graphically the game is visually great overall. No gripes whatsoever. Explosions are intense, lots of cool features, lots of colors in the flora and fauna of worlds (Kashyyyk I'm lookin gat you), and each environment conveyed itself well... Could've used more interactive features like shooting panels off walls and whatnot though.
-Weaponry was cool. The Jedi Knight series has lost track of making blaster weapons "fun", but RC had good weapons and while the enemies were too tough the weapons were still fun if not a little awkwardly designed (the rocket launcher was stupid, and a half-assed machine gun that Trandoshans used sucks).
-No vehicles... minor, but could've been neat if you really got into something like an AT-XT with a teammate and trashed some enemies, or perhaps use a speederbike to traverse some terrain...
-And did I mention the enemies are WAY too tough. Not all mind you, but Geonosians taking 2 shots? Come on these guys are cannon fodder in the movie!
And the Super Battledroid is possibly the most annoying thing in the whole game. Incredibly frequent throughout the game, and a droid that should only take like 20 shots from the basic Clone rifle suddenly now takes a bunch of heavy weapons to kill. bull****! Beyond him though are the Trandoshan and Geonosian Elites and Trandoshan Berzerkers... Stupid ideas, stupid abilities... Sucked ASS. Every bit of realism this game acheived went out the window because the game developers (again) catered to the HALO crowd instead of keeping Star Wars as Star Wars.
Dumb, Dumb, Dumb, and easily this game's greatest downfall. :(
Still, with all that, it was fun to play through... It wasn't terribly hard actually, or challenging, and when it was a little hard it was mroe annoyingly hard than actually entertainingly difficult.
I won't be buying this for a while now... The gamer rag reviews on this game just show me once more than gamer rags DON'T know **** about gaming and cater more to a child's mindset. They aim more towards the 15 year old on X-Box live cussing at you while you play him in Battlefront I think.
I expected more given what was being touted about this.
Glad I beat it on a rental (not even trying real hard at first) so I don't feel compelled to buy it and finish it then. :)
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I wish I saw your review before buying this game. Just about everything you said is true. It also could have used a larger selection of enemies. The game is WAAAAYYYYY too short. I think they were going on the premise that people would just buy this to play on X-box live and online communities (Like Halo).
What really amazes me, is for how long this game has been in the making, to have it come out and lack content is sad.
I wasted $50 bucks and I feel pretty stupid for it. I'll try it online tonight and see if that's any better.
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My buddy just gave me a copy of this game for the X-Box. I had played the demo and really liked it, more so than either of the Battlefront when I tried them. I'm not a huge gamer, so it will remain to be seen if I'm as picky about it whenever I start playing it.
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There's flaws to the game and lots of qualities too... In short it's far from perfect for its time (IE: It's no "Jedi Knight" or "Dark Forces") but it's a good run through kind of game with a little replay value too.
Myself I felt that the drawbacks were the lack of realism in enemies (SBD's requiring a practically artillery sized weapon to bring them down, Geonosians, etc.), and I feel the command system was too linnear and "obvious" for my tastes with little room for actual leadership decisions. AI isn't the best but not the worst, graphics and level design are INCREDIBLE, difficulty is fair to good. It's not bad.
I just NOW bought it in the last 6 months actually. I'd rented it and beat it so I refused to buy it at that point but I found a copy used for less than $20 and jumped on the purchase (I think it was like $15).
It's a game that grew on me, I must say. My initial impressions were down on it but I changed my tune after a while. :)
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After reading the books, the game means a lot more to me. I think you really didn't make any decisions at all, but it was nice to be able to disengage covering fire and such or get your guys out of the way. Most games I've played don't give you that ability and it makes 2+ player levels terrible IMO. That Vjun level in Jedi Academy is the worst ever. RC really avoided some of those difficulties. Enemies are unbelievable stubborn, but with melee capabilities, I did OK. There were some great tactical points in the game which made me actually think about what I was doing instead of just point and click, so I really do appreciate this as an FPS. Have fun playing and let us know what happens! :)
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How is the control on Commando? I really liked how Rainbow 6 was done. You could switch to any of your four men and place them where you wanted and leave them with certain orders.
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Hey Dafoo,
I merged your question into the Republic Commando video game discussion just to help get you a better answer I think. You originally posted it in the EU discussion for REp Commando which will certainly have non-gamers talking in it, but here it'll maybe continue the talkon this game. I'll give my own thoughts on the command structure...
For what I got out of it, it's not nearly as realistic as Rainbow Six (or other clancy games). The command system is simpler, and you can only order your commandoes into specific patterns outlined and highlighted in combat areas in the game. It's a little hard to explain really without playing it. It's a completely unique command structure to most games though. If I had to pick better, I think the "Conflict" series and Full Spectrum Warrior series are better laid out games for commanding units like this. More "free".
I personally love the Full Spectrum Warrior series... Or for a WW2 feel, Brothers in Arms. These are fantastic squad-based shooters that the SW genre could learn from. If you got a SW shooter that mimiced Brothers in Arms in every way but with a better, more comprehensive story and a little more freedom, I think I'd be in gaming heaven.
Commando's not bad, so don't get me wrong, it just isn't up there with the others in this new offshoot gaming genre I think. It's fun, but don't look to it for a "realistic" experience, if that makes any sense. It's much more linear in how you have to set up your Squad, and not very free unfortunately. It'd be a much better game if it were actually.
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Thanks for getting the post in the right place.
I'd have to say Rainbow6 wasn't all that free, well from what I can remember. I hate it when 'allies' in a game go off and do whatever they want. Like walking infront of me while I'm shooting. And like everytime that results in a failed misson! grrr.
R6, I would use my allies as blockers, just set them in a spot and set them to not move and shoot at bad guys. I'm going to have to dig it out and play it again.
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I finally started on Republic Commando. I really like it. I've only eliminated Sun Fac so far, but I'm really digging how the game introduces the characters and gets you up to speed with the command functions. In a lot of ways, it's like SW Halo. I really have an appreciation for why the commandos are so popular too.
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After breaking to play SW lego II, I started back on this game. Just got onto the control ship and having lots of fun.
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I finished this game a few days ago. While it was very fun while it lasted, I though it was too short. I was totally expecting to go after Sev. :'(
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Gotta leave room for part 2, right? :)
I actually was hoping we'd see Rep. Commando spawn something of a series for Star Wars gaming... I'd like another Rep Commando, maybe a little refined (and more realistic in terms of the droid's strengths. I'd rather face more SBD's than just indestructable ones), and also see the game expand into the Imperial era with "Imperial Commando" and "Alliance Infiltrator" type themes... The Infiltrator one really intrigues me since they're the baddest bad asses in the Rebel army.
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Gotta leave room for part 2, right? :)
I actually was hoping we'd see Rep. Commando spawn something of a series for Star Wars gaming...
Same here. The games was actually challenging up to a point whereas it wasn't just running round and wiping everything out. The various Battle Droids were actually pretty hard to take down without the right equipment, which was great. It was pretty much a Halo for SW. There should at least be a sequel, if not more scenarios like you suggested.