Star Wars: Republic Commando

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a first-person shooter Star Wars computer and video game, released in the US on March 1, 2005. It was developed and published by LucasArts for the Windows and Microsoft Xbox platforms. The game uses the "Unreal Engine" developed by Epic Games.

Synopsis
The game is set during the Clone Wars that were started at the climax of the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. This game helps to bridge the gap between Episode II and Episode III. In it, the player takes command of a squad of elite clone commandos. These clone troopers have been specially bred at the clone facilities on Kamino, trained differently than their clone trooper brethren, taught to adapt to the situation and to think on their feet.

Clone commandos were trained by Mandalorian mercenaries, as clone template Jango Fett believed that computerized simulations would teach them nothing. Once the Commandos were fully grown, they were divided into groups of four, nicknamed 'pods' after the aiwha hunting pods that lurked beneath the surface of Kamino's waters.

The newly created Commandos were instructed and trained by the most elite of warriors, people such as the Cuy'val Dar, a group of brilliant training sergeants hand-picked by Fett, and renowned figures such as Sergeant Walon Vau and Sergeant Kal Skirata. The Commandos were trained in situations with live fire, making them realize just what battle felt like.

Some commandos chose to concentrate on certain areas of their own expertise, some specializing in slicing (such as Fixer), some in combat (such as Sev) etc. The commando team featured in the game, known as 'Delta Squad', trained by Walon Vau, travels to various locations in the Star Wars universe, including Kashyyyk and Geonosis, as well as a derelict Acclamator I-class assault ship. The game is among the first in the Star Wars universe to feature a militaristic style, which sets a darker tone than other games that are a part of Star Wars. The developers state that if the novels and movies are seen from the point of view of the Jedi, then Republic Commando is from the point of view of the troops.

Cast

 * RC-1138 (Delta Three-Eight or "Boss"), voiced by Temuera Morrison
 * RC-1140 (Delta Four-Oh or "Fixer"), voiced by Andrew Chaikin
 * RC-1207 (Delta Oh-Seven or "Sev"), voiced by Jonathan Cook
 * RC-1262 (Delta Six-Two or "Scorch"), voiced by Raphael Sbarge
 * Taun We, RAS Ship Computer, voiced by Rena Owen
 * Trandoshans, Trando Multi-player announcer, Clone trooper sergeant, Republic voices, Radio chatter voiced by David W. Collins
 * Automated ship voice, Clone Troopers, Clone trooper lieutenant, Gunship pilot voiced by Roger L. Jackson
 * Yoda, Captain Talbot, Trandoshan slaver #2 voiced by Tom Kane
 * Battle droid, Super battle droid voiced by Clint Young

Crew

 * Director&mdash;Tim Longo
 * Writers&mdash;Ryan Kaufman, Michael Stemmle, John A. Hancock, Justin Lambros

Characters



 * Ko Sai
 * The Delta Squad
 * RC-1138 Boss
 * RC-1140 Fixer
 * RC-1207 Sev
 * RC-1262 Scorch
 * Clone advisor CT-01/425
 * Captain Martz
 * Captain Talbot
 * Tarfful
 * Yoda
 * General Grievous
 * Sun Fac

Droid models

 * B1 battle droid
 * B2 super battle droid
 * Droideka
 * IG-100 MagnaGuard
 * Advanced dwarf spider droid

Events

 * Clone Wars

Locations

 * Kamino
 * Tipoca City
 * Cloning facility
 * Geonosis
 * Petranaki arena
 * Chaykin cluster
 * Prosecutor
 * Kashyyyk
 * Kachirho

Organizations and titles

 * Galactic Republic
 * Confederacy of Independent Systems

Sentient species

 * Geonosians
 * Geonosian elite
 * Trandoshans
 * Trandoshan Slavers
 * Heavy assault mercenaries
 * Trandoshan mercenaries
 * Wookiees

Vehicles and vessels

 * Acclamator I-class assault ship
 * Prosecutor
 * Arrestor
 * Low Altitude Assault Transport
 * All Terrain Tactical Enforcer
 * V-19 Torrent starfighter
 * Belbullab-22 starfighter
 * Trandoshan dropship
 * Nantex-class territorial defense starfighter
 * Lucrehulk-class battleship
 * Lucrehulk-class Core Ship

Republic Weapons
The Republic-issued weapons are most effective against droids, being ion-pulse blasters. They maintain much of their effectiveness against organics, however.


 * Retractable Knuckle plate vibro blade - This is the main melee attack for the commandos. The vibroblade is built directly into a gauntlet in the left wrist of the Katarn commando armor. Kills most enemies in one strike, but has a very short range. According to the game, this is Fixer's favorite weapon.


 * DC-15s Side Arm Blaster - A quick-firing blaster pistol with effectively unlimited ammunition, but relies on a limited energy cell to provide said ammunition. The energy cell can produce roughly seven shots in rapid succession before it needs to temporarily recharge.


 * DC-17m Ion Pulse Blaster Rifle - The primary weapon of the commandos, the repeating blaster attachment for the DC-17m has a fast fire rate with very little recoil. Due to its ion-based projectiles, it is best used against battle droids. The blaster uses easily-changed power packs that each provide 60 shots, and a commando typically carries up to an additional four power packs in reserve for a total of 300 rounds.


 * DC-17m Sniper Rifle - The sniper rifle attachment for the DC-17m is a highly accurate and deadly weapon. Equipped with an electromagnetic scope that magnifies up to 20x with no loss of image quality, this weapon can kill most targets from a great distance with one well-placed hit.


 * DC-17m Anti-Armor Weapon - This gun is very powerful. The large size of the anti-armor shells allows each commando to carry only limited ammunition: three shells in reserve with one in the chamber, for a total of four shots. In addition, the ballistic projectiles mean that depending on range, the weapon must be elevated higher or lower to reach its intended target, to compensate for gravity. All shells explode upon impact on any surface.

Trandoshan Weapons
The Trandoshan weapons seem to be analogous to Human weaponry found on Earth. They are effective against Trandoshans and Geonosians, and overload shields very quickly. However, they have little effect against droids' armored hulls.


 * Accelerated Charged Particle Array Gun (ACP Array Gun) - Similar to a shotgun, it is only effective at close range. This weapon can be very devastating against organic enemies, especially Trandoshans. It holds eight charged particle shells, with a Commando usually carrying 16 more in reserve. Boss notes that it was made to emulate old weaponry.


 * Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun (ACP Repeater) - This is an inaccurate, mildly damaging automatic weapon. It is most often carried by Trandoshan mercenaries. Inaccurate at a distance and lacking in power, this weapon makes up for it somewhat with its high rate of fire and stability even when fired full auto.


 * Heavy Accelerated Charged Particle Repeater Gun (LS-150 Heavy ACP Repeater) - This is an inaccurate, fast-firing fully automatic weapon. It is essentially a mini-turret, and is very devastating against all organics in its path. Despite the ineffectiveness of ACP weapons against droids, its sheer firepower allows it to threaten lighter mechanicals as well, and it flays shielding off droidekas in moments. It has an ammunition capacity of 200 rounds that it can fire in a continuous protracted stream. It is very bulky and heavy, slowing down any Human who wields it, requires an extended time to reload, and its large power supply allows a Commando to carry only one extra; though this still totals to 400 rounds of ammo.


 * LJ-50 Concussion Rifle - The BlasTech LJ-50 Concussion Rifle is a heavy field weapon used in medium to long distance engagements. It utilizes a concussive energy charge that implodes on impact and creates a 500 unit radius area of effect. One power core holds five shots, with an extra one carried for a total of 10 blasts.

Wookiee Weapons
Wookiee weapons are both massive and effective. The Bowcaster has great range while the Rocket Launcher is the most devastating weapon in the game.


 * Bowcaster - The signature weapon of the Wookiees, the bowcaster is as mighty a weapon as its creators. While decreasingly effective beyond 30 meters, the bowcaster is more powerful and accurate than typical blaster weapons. This weapon can fire charged bolts that reflect off certain surfaces (walls, boxes, crates, etc).


 * Wookiee Guided Rocket Launcher - This massive weapon is the most powerful weapon in the game. Although its warheads travel slowly, one shot from this will kill anything in one hit, except for Super Battle Droids (2 hits; 1 takes most of their health off), MagnaGuards, and Spider Droids. Due to its large bulk, the Wookiee Guided Rocket Launcher makes the wielder move slower.

Geonosian Weapons

 * Geonosian Force Pike - An unusable weapon in the game, it is wielded by most of the Geonosians seen in the game.
 * Geonosian Elite Beam Weapon - The only Geonosian weapon commandos can use, the Geonosian Elite Beam Weapon is only carried by Geonosian elites. Very devastating against organics, the weapon is attached to the Elite's arm, and then drains the elite of its body fluids and converts them into a fiery napalm-like spray. It is the only usable Geonosian weapon in the game.

Detonators/Grenades

 * Thermal Detonators were standard thrown explosives. Once thrown, the detonator will explode after a small amount of time. There is also a chance that it will explode on contact. It has a concussive area affect.


 * EC Detonator. The skill mechanic for the EC (electrostatic charge) detonator is the same as the thermal, but the ECD shock that has expanded produces an area effect that affects all electrical entities in the area. It is highly effective against droids.


 * Sonic Detonator. The sonic detonator can adhere to surfaces. It is triggered on proximity once deployed. It has a fairly large damage radius. Sonics detonators do have a limited life span, however, and will explode after a small amount of time if not triggered.


 * Flash-bang grenade. These detonators blind organic enemies and stun them so the attacker can finish the job.

Miscellanea

 * Bacta
 * B-1 battle droid dispenser
 * B-2 battle droid dispenser
 * Droideka dispenser

Map Editor
A map editor was released with one of the patches to Republic Commando. It used the Unreal engine, UnrealEd.

PC Requirements
The following are the minimum requirements in order to run the PC version of Republic Commando:

General Requirements:
 * Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
 * 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible computer
 * Intel P3 1 GHz or AMD Athlon 1000 MHz CPU (Intel P4 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2400+ recommended)
 * 256 MB RAM (512 MB Recommended)
 * 64MB 3D graphics card with Hardware Vertex and Pixel Shader (VS/PS) capability (128MB card recommended)
 * 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
 * 8X or faster CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
 * Keyboard and mouse
 * 2.0GB free hard disk space

Multiplayer support:
 * Internet/LAN
 * Dedicated server: supports 2-16 players
 * Non-Dedicated server: Supports 2-8 players
 * Dedicated Server: 2.4 GHz or faster CPU recommended for dedicated server
 * Internet Connectivity for Multiplayer: 56K or faster connection (DSL, Cable, or faster connection recommended)

Delta Squad
The clone commandos featured in the game have distinct personalities, a factor not usually explored with standard clone troopers. The commandos in Delta Squad are:


 * RC-1138 (Delta Three-Eight or "Boss"), voiced by Temuera Morrison
 * RC-1140 (Delta Four-Oh or "Fixer"), voiced by Andrew Chaikin
 * RC-1207 (Delta Oh-Seven or "Sev"), voiced by Jonathan Cook
 * RC-1262 (Delta Six-Two or "Scorch"), voiced by Raphael Sbarge

The four commandos each have a specific job assigned to them. Boss is the team leader and seems to be capable of handling any weapon effectively. Fixer is the second-in-command and the computer slicer. Sev is the die-hard fighter and sniper. Scorch is a demolitions expert with a sense of humor. The player assumes the character of Boss. While every squad member tailors to their specific job, every character can perform the same task just as effectively.

Trivia
"Looking forward to hanging out—and hearing more about trip back home I‘ll be in PA for july 4th bbq-wanna do that again? 15 years later? Otherwise I’m not sure if I’ll be back in city on Monday or stay down there since I do have that day off…let me know how things unfold for you" “Based on our / revised project / schedule, and / after talking / with chris, / its apparent tha / t it would be good / for the project / if I delayed my / upcoming vacation / by a week. Thus, / I will be gone from / Monday, Septemb / er 20th / for 3 weeks, / and will return / on Monday, / October 11th. / However, I will / still be out on / riday, September / 10th, as my / parents are takin / g a road trip acro / ss the country / The new / objective elipse / thing makes it / really hard to / see. It’s a major / imparment to comb / I know we / ve revisited / it a ton of times / but it just / blocks out too / much of the playe / ’s view to be he / lpful. I’d sugge / st either a halo / style 3d world / position indicator / or a 2d indicato / at the top of the” (the /’s replace the original line breaks, missing letters are as in the original text). It can be speculated that, because they needed something to appear on the HUD, the programmers just took random texts out of internal memos or e-mails and translated them to Aurebesh.
 * The main character's number in the game is 1138. This is paying tribute to one of George Lucas's pre-Star Wars projects, THX 1138.
 * A novel tie-in of the game (Star Wars: Republic Commando Hard Contact) was released in October 2004, with a sequel (Triple Zero) released in February 2006. The third book in the series, True Colors was released October 30, 2007, with a fourth book (Order 66) in development.
 * There are several references to the original trilogy quotes. When you approach B1 battle droids, Scorch says "Ah! These must be the droids we're looking for!" and "Look sir, droids.", and when you approach the Core Ship, Sev says "Look at the size of that thing", both references to A New Hope. When Boss is pointing his weapon at a lightsaber, he says, "An elegant weapon for a more civilized time, eh? Well guess what? Times have changed!" is another reference to "A New Hope."
 * There is also a hidden lightsaber in one of the multiplayer levels onboard an RAS cruiser.
 * The game's main menu screen features scrolling text written in the Aurebesh font. Similar to some of the Aurebesh texts in Galactic Battlegrounds, the selection is totally unrelated to Star Wars. When translated, the text reads:
 * When the player is incapacitated, the right side of the HUD shows a scrolling Aurebesh-text, that repeats until the Delta 38 is revived by one of his squadmates. Translated, it reads:
 * Several holograms in the game display Aurebesh text which reads "I hate computers so much"
 * Some key differences between what is seen in the game and in the films are that all of the B1 battle droids have metallic-gray armor plating (which appears to be rusty). They also have oversized circular cybernetic eyes instead of black optical sensors. Also some species have had changes made on their physical structure. The Wookiees and the Geonosians, for example, are taller than normal. The Geonosians also look more mechanical than as they are portrayed in the films. However, some of them are classified as Geonosian elites&mdash;who can belong to a different subspecies.
 * The game features high levels of violence, an unlikely occurrence in a Star Wars game. For example: when the player punches an enemy to death or kills them any other way when they're at very close range, it (the enemy) essentially spills blood (or oil in the case of droids) over the clone commando's helmet visor, which subsequently cleans itself automatically. The Geonosians (having the most violent death graphical sequences of organic enemies) can explode if enough damage is dealt. Another example of heavy violence is that the player can venture through a Geonosian birthing chamber and kill Geonosian infants. Also, if a player shoots his Wookiee allies, they bleed red blood. This violence is not only limited to alien species, but extends to Humans as well (as the clones are Humans). This is more apparent in the Acclamator-class assault ship raid, where at least in two sites of the ship some clone troopers are torn apart with a little spill of blood near them.
 * The Trandoshans are, unlike the other species in the game, not taller, but shorter than is the norm in other media. Most are short and stocky to the point of looking overweight. They bear a stronger resemblance to Barabels. This is explained by Fixer when he says that they are lazy because they are slavers.
 * On the second part of the level "Attack of the Clones," during the ride down the booby trapped elevator, elevator music can sometimes be heard.