A Star Wars game that has nothing to do with either the Jedi or epic space battles should be an interesting digression, which is kind of the case with LucasArts' squad-based first-person shooter Star Wars Republic Commando. An attempt to show what the Clone Wars were like for the clone warriors who fought it, Republic Commando focuses on an elite special-ops commando unit of "pod brothers" who do all the covert-infiltration search-and-destroy stuff that's apparently necessary even though your army is led by powerful telepathic telekinetics with swords of energized plasma. Once players get past that leap in logic, if possible, they should be prepared to assume the identity of Commando 1-138 (groan for those in the know), meet their clone brethren, and strap in for… a perfectly middle-of-the-road gaming experience.
That's a shame, because the squad of super-trooper-quadruplets you work with manages just fine. They take cover, use the right weapon for the job at hand, and stay out of each other's way even without specific orders. They even, in a new and an interesting gameplay mechanic, resuscitate you when you're killed. When players play strategically—taking the time to set up a sniper and an anti-armor position just so, in order to support the demolitions expert setting his bomb—they're helped out by the game's well-done system of simple and comprehensive commands. That strategy will likely prove effective, thanks not only to the excellent squad AI, but also to the enemies' tendency to attack in a blind suicidal rush. It's never a good sign when a game's toughest moments are due to healthier bad guys, rather than smarter ones.
And the list of little flaws doesn't stop there. The Star Wars universe, for all that it's recently devolved into the story of one man's family, is broad and deep. So why are the environments so claustrophobic, linear, and short? The squad is usually given one objective, which can be accomplished one way, and has only one narrow path leading to it.
Beyond the gameplay: Not the rewards you were looking for. Upon completing one of Republic Commando's three (sigh) areas, you'll unlock every gamer's absolute favorite thing of all time: "Making Of" videos. Did you know that it was none other than George Lucas himself who suggested using four different colors on the armor of the four different commandos? Truly, the man's a genius!
Worth playing for: The great squad mechanics and AI, plus the first-ever use of both defibrillators and laser-powered windshield wipers (lightwipers?) in a squad-based first-person shooter. Also, Wookies occasionally throw bad guys around like bundles of laundry.
Frustration sets in when: You finish the single-player campaign after a dozen hours or so, only to find the multiplayer options are few in number and boring in nature. Or maybe long beforehand, when you realize that, based on every available source, an average Jedi would've breezed through all the game's situations in about eight minutes.
Final judgment: It's innovative, but hardly a must-buy, except for the diehard fan, and even those poor souls will probably get everything they need out of this game in a single rental.