Star Wars Republic Commando (Nintendo Switch)
Summary: One of the Lesser talked about Prequel era games is Star Wars Republic Commando available only on Xbox and PC in 2005; it unfortunately gets dwarfed by the more popular games i.e The Real Star Wars Battlefront (Not the EA, DICE money Grabber) and the Rogue Squadron games. Well now we will all get a chance to play this cult classic game as it has been re-released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
2.3
Star Wars FPS
One of the Lesser talked about Prequel era games is Star Wars Republic Commando available only on Xbox and PC in 2005; it unfortunately gets dwarfed by the more popular games i.e The Real Star Wars Battlefront (Not the EA, DICE money Grabber) and the Rogue Squadron games.
Well now we will all get a chance to play this cult classic game as it has been re-released on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Plot
Set during the Clone Wars, Republic Commando follows a four man squad called Delta Force. As they navigate through various missions to stop Bounty Hunters, CIS Droid Factories and coming up against General Grevious throughout the Galaxy on planets like Geonosis and Ships like the Provocateur.
Gameplay
Set up like a tactical FPS, you play as the Leader of Delta Force who must use the other members of your squad to get through each stage. Each member of the squad has a defined role.
– RC-1262 (Scorch) Demolitions
– RC-1140 (Fixer) Hacker
– RC-1207 (Sev) Sniper
Starting in Geonosis, The player must regroup with each member of the Squad whilst navigating through the Geonosian base during the climactic battle seen in Attack of the Clones. In the same way as in Tom Clancy Rainbow Six: Vegas the player uses the directional buttons on the controller to give his squad commands, like follow, cover and breach. When coming up to an obstacle that requires a speciality, the player must aim the reticle at the area and press the fire button. The best specialist for the job will go over and complete it. If the Commando that is best suited to the job is downed any other member can complete the task but it will take longer putting your squad a greater risk of being wiped and you having to respawn at the last checkpoint.
Each Commando is Equipped with a Blaster Rifle and Pistol. The Blaster Rifle can gain upgrades which can change it into a Sniper, Grenadier etc. This allows for more immersive and dynamic gameplay and gives the player options on how best to deal with a given situation.
Health is restored at special pods spread around the levels, whilst standing next to the pods you will be vulnerable to attack and will require your squad to cover.
Issues with the Switch Port
Unfortunately like so many games released nowadays Star Wars Republic Commando for Nintendo Switch has some major issues which can make this unplayable at times and can really suck any fun out of it. The chief issue being the inconsistent and low FPS this can bounce anywhere from about 40fps right down to the low teens. For a game released 16 years ago and for technologically inferior hardware it is a real surprise that Switch is struggling to handle it.
Aspyr, the company behind the re-release announced on the 22nd April 2021 that they are working on a patch to improve Switch performance. But as of right now this Port really struggles to keep up with the PS4 Version and the older PC version which can be bought on Steam.
Conclusion
Star Wars Republic Commando could be a very interesting game for the Nintendo Switch but due to glaring performance issues it will be hard for me to recommend the game in its current state.
For its flaws it does have interesting gameplay and I for one would like to revisit this game once the performance patch has been released and proven to be working correctly.
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