From ComingSoon.net ...


Star Wars: Republic Commando Switch Review:
Starts Fun But Falls Apart
-------------------------------------------
Rating: 6.5/10

Trailer: (58secs)
<https://youtu.be/fJ9R0aRZmi0>

Over 15 years ago, LucasArts continued its expansion of the
larger Star Wars universe with the Xbox and PC game title
Republic Commando, an experiment of testing the tactical
shooter formula in the sci-fi series and the initial result
was great. Sure, its controls were a bit finicky at times
and the sound design faltered under the franchise's rules,
but its overall presentation proved to be a fun ride for 
Star Wars fans, garnering a cult following in the years
since and the titular group even being worked into the
larger canon, which made the prospect of a port for the
Nintendo Switch all the more enticing. Sadly, though, this
port could've used a bit more time in the oven as it tends
to fall apart as the game goes on.

Players step into the shoes of Delta-38 aka Boss, the
leader of an elite squad of Republic Commandos comprised of
demolitions expert Scorch, hacker and technical expert Fixer
and sniper Sev, as they are thrust into the chaos erupting
throughout the galaxy on missions to infiltrate, dominate
and annihilate the enemy in the Clone Wars. Traveling
between Geonosis, Kashyyk and the derelict spacecraft 
Prosecutor, the Delta Squad must battle a variety of
enemies and follow Boss' orders to achieve victory.

Upon booting up the game on both the handheld iteration of
the console and dock connected to my television, I initially
found myself quite impressed by the up-resed visuals, with
the opening planet of Geonosis, the rest of my Delta Squad
and the enemies all looking quite impressive still and the
green blood splatters on the screen from the insectoid
warriors of the planet being killed up close by my melee
weapon and rapid fire rifle. The stages explored in both
Kashyyk and the Prosecutor are still quite exciting to
behold, although the rain element from the former and the
larger groups of enemies in the latter makes for some
horrific instances of frame drops.

While the environments of the planet remained pretty much
the same across the entire level, it's forgivable given its
desert planet setting, but there was one thing introduced in
the level that would carry over and mark a larger problem
for the game: repetitive waves of enemies.

Though the enemies certainly vary from stage to stage and
some prove to be exciting to battle against as a fan of the
franchise, namely the droidekas, the problem is the level
progression essentially boiled down to being in one place
and facing wave after wave after wave of similar or
increasingly-tougher enemies and it's a rather dull formula.
To make matters worse, given the game's short runtime,
players will frequently come upon truly ridiculous
difficulty spikes inserted in a (frustrating) effort to pad
the hours put into the game. The fact that some enemies
players can encounter back-to-back in a level will take two
or more clips from the base DC-17 pulse rifle before going
down and extra ammo being sparse for the rifle in certain
zones will leave some wondering what the intended plan of
attack were in the encounters or why Apsyr didn't elect to
nerf the health and defense numbers for certain enemies.

One element of gameplay that should've come in handy for
these more difficult scenarios - keep in mind, I was only
on medium difficulty - is the ability to command your squad
mates to conduct certain tasks, but unfortunately this
system appears to be broken in this port. Where players are
supposed to hold down a button to bring up the list of
commands for the team, holding down the button certainly
shows them, but the D-Pad directions set to each directive
doesn't work, leaving players to hope their cohorts are
following behind and shooting down any enemies (which they
do surprisingly well). Aside from this broken command
system and a still finicky aim sensitivity, the controls
overall do at least hold up, with the custom mapping
option making it much easier for players to adjust to
their more modern control schemes and making it relatively
easy to move and shoot through the levels.

While it features some of the franchise's iconic tracks
and its own unique score, good weapon effects and great
voice work, the sound design could've used a little
refining. A number of lines of dialogue tend to run over
each other, but even more distracting is the fact that the
members of the titular group are voiced by different
actors, despite the fact they're all clones of Jango Fett
and original actor Temuera Morrison even voices a handful
of characters in the game, including player character
Boss. With the other expanded medias of the Star Wars 
franchise, especially The Clone Wars, keeping the voice
work consistent as one of two people for the clones and
Morrison back in the fold with Disney+'s The Mandalorian 
and The Book of Boba Fett, it seems a bit surprising and
disappointing they didn't just bring him in to record the
necessary lines, especially given the varied voice work was
a complaint upon the game's original release for breaking
lore rules.

Whether stemming from my own nostalgia for the title or
desire for a return to the classic LucasArts games days, 
Star Wars: Republic Commando certainly isn't quite the
awe-inspiring title I remember and while its excessive
difficulty spikes and mildly finicky controls might not
win any newcomers, it's sure to at least entertain fans
desiring to bring this title with them on the go.


<https://www.comingsoon.net/games/reviews/1168554-star-wars-republic-commando-switch-review-starts-fun-but-falls-apart>

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