In Star Wars: Republic Commando you take the role of 38, the bred and trained leader of delta squad. Delta squad is a four man team of Jango Fett clones who have been modified to be stronger, faster, tougher and freeer thinking than the bulk of the clone armies. Trained from pod-birth up to deployment to work together as a unit, Delta squad is called upon for the most dangerous of missions, deep striking into enemy territory. With you, you have 62 (nicknamed Scorch), 07 (Sev) and 40 (Fixer), each with their own specialisations and personalities. For example, 62 likes to blow things up, while 07 is a sniper expert, capable of shooting the pilot out of a fighter. In a pinch any man can do any job, including you, and a powerful tactic to hold a strategic location is to get your squad into ideal sniping positions; at this point they can hold off an army with their deadly accuracy while you go and lay down some demolitions.

This game was designed with gameplay in mind and it shows. Any developer who wants to use a concept as innovative as squad command has a big risk on their shoulders, because if it goes wrong the game goes wrong. Thankfully Lucasarts has got the mix of AI and player command just right, and the game plays like a dream as a consequence. In one of the extras shipped with the game it shows that Lucasarts hired a special ops expert with 30 years of experience in the US military to make sure that delta squad moves and coordinates with realistic precision. The commandos move and carry their guns like real special forces, and while their banter is a bit of comic relief at times 07, 62 and 40 almost reek of professionalism and efficiency, to the point that in a very real sense a player can feel inadequate in comparison. For example, when going down a hallway the commandos naturally take cover and advance cautiously and when performing a breach maneuvre, two take position on a side of the locked door while the third places the breach charge. Then he moves out of the way as the door blasts open and one of the crouched commandos throws a grenade into the room. As the grenade is exploding all three commandos move into the room in a single movement, ready to engage any survivors.

Story-wise the game doesn't have much. The commandos have three missions to undertake and suffer a number of issues during the accomplishment of each, that's about as far as it goes. The game relies rather heavily on the player having watched the two new Star Wars movies, episodes I and II, so if you haven't seen these then prepare to be confused. However the character development and emergent personalities of the squad come out in some pretty good voice acting. In particular the player is voiced by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison, whose voice is instantly recognisable. An interview with him is included with the game.

The environments in the game are very faithful to the Star Wars universe, though all are very corridor-esque, with the few outdoor environments and large indoor areas still being far short of the scale of games like Halo/UT2K4, which is interesting given the engine that has been used. All in all the singleplayer campaign is entirely linear which is mildly dissapointing, and since sniper positions, breach maneuvres, etc., are hard coded into the levels, there is no great innovation or strategy planning on the part of the player.

The game uses the UT2K4 engine which is very crisp and clean. Any system with near new components should be able to play at maximum graphics settings and still have a very respectable FPS. However don't be afraid to clock it down if necessary: the game still looks good at medium settings and smooth gameplay is imperative if you wish to be an effective asset to your squad. Explosions look good (and there are lots of explosions), blaster fire is good, model animations and design are excellent. Everything looks and feels professional and shows the developers' deep respect for the Star Wars universe. The physics engine inherent in the engine works well with the many different situations the commandos come across and makes the many quick and violent fight scenes feel smooth and natural, both in single- and multiplayer modes.

Speaking of multiplayer this game doesn't break ground in any special way. All the usual suspects are there: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, as well as Assault, which is carrying-the-flag-to-the-other-base mode. However what would have been really good with this game would have been squad based deathmatch, complicated but very innovative and cool. Alas it is not to be seen, and neither is cooperative play through the single-player mode. Having played it all the way through to the end we can easily envision how awesome co-op would have been, and how easily it would have fitted with the story. However co-op is something that game developers seem to consider unnecessary in PC FPS' these days, a sad blow for the genre. Other than these discrepancies multiplayer is still very good, with a broad selection of maps for each of the four game play modes that have been designed with classic multiplayer deathmatch in mind.

All in all, Republic Commando is a great game, be you a Star Wars fan or no. It delivers an effective new variant of squad based combat into the FPS arena that has been implemented with skill and dedication. The whole game can be finished by a good player in eight or so hours, just long enough to be satisfying and just short enough that the repetitive game play doesn't get annoying. The gameplay is excellent and since the game uses the highly modifiable UT engine, one can expect a plethora of mods on the horizon. Any fan of the FPS genre or squad combat should buy this game, and if you are into the movies to any great degree then this game is definitely worth considering, as the events in it underpin the movies.