
If the sniper can take position above you, for instance, you’ll see the highlighted area telling you that’s possible. You can order your teammates to blow something up, take cover, attack a particular target, or move into position to provide cover fire, but those tactical choices are limited to a few set areas in each major battle. It was nice of the enemy to install healing kiosks ahead of our invasion! Don’t worry, though you’ll find upgrades for your standard-issue blaster, pick up weapons dropped by the enemy, and heal yourself using bacta tanks that are strewn all over the game’s world, despite the lack of logic. Republic Commando consists of eight to 10 hours of tightly scripted battles in which you and your squad have to protect the interests of the Republic against the Separatists, and those rogue forces are not going to go down easily. These are just aesthetic details, but they sell the idea that you are a killing machine who has been kitted out with impressive equipment to get the job done. You view the battlefield through the slightly warped display of your helmet, which gives you tactical information, highlights what needs to be done, and gets cleaned by a sweeping, crackling line of electricity that acts as a virtual windshield wiper, burning off alien blood whenever it splashes on your face. Each member of your team has their own personality and special skills, and it’s up to you to give them orders saying where to go and what to do while fighting alongside them as the fourth member of the unit, the leader.

The story follows the exploits of Delta Squad, a group of four elite clone commandos who get sent in to do the jobs that standard soldiers can’t. So the question for today comes in two parts: Is Republic Commando worth playing in 2021, and how well does the Nintendo Switch hardware deal with this port of a 16-year-old game? We’re not monks, we’re soldiers

In fact, Republic Commando is being re-released on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch to reintroduce fans to four very capable merchants of death.

There are other ways to tell stories in this fictional universe, from strategy games like Empire at War to first-person shooters like this one focusing on infantry instead of warrior monks. 2005’s Star Wars: Republic Commando was based on the idea that Star Wars games didn’t need to take place either in a vehicle or with a lightsaber in your hand.
