That isnвЂ™t a dig at the prequels either, as the attention to Star Wars detail is surprising poor. At the time Republic CommandoвЂ™s graphics were above average for the era but today the bland art design and limited number of enemies quickly begins to numb your senses. Star Wars: Republic Commando вЂ“ the droidekas are surprisingly ineffectual enemies (pic: Aspyr)ДЄs with AspyrвЂ™s other recent LucasArts remasters, such as Episode I: Racer, thereвЂ™s no change to the guts of the original game but in this case increasing the resolution, smoothing out the frame rate, and speeding up the load times does a lot to improve the original Xbox release. ItвЂ™s also so ruthlessly linear that thereвЂ™s little real opportunity to experiment with unusual tactics and the few chokepoints in difficulty can easily be navigated simply by learning the set piece by rote. The other troopers will happily do their own thing if you donвЂ™t give any orders though and since anyone can revive anyone else the game is disappointingly easy most of the time.

Because the game relies on a single-button control system you canвЂ™t choose who goes where, but while that rarely matter the controls used to target a specific enemy are fiddly and imprecise, which often causes problems. The compensation for this is that youвЂ™re able to order around your squad-mates, either to perform specialist roles like hacking a computer or to take up cover behind a conveniently placed obstacle. To make matters worse, some enemies soak up a huge amount of damage before they fall, which combined with some questionable hit detection often leaves you feeling uncomfortably impotent as a solider. The default blaster has such a high rate of fire it feels like youвЂ™re shooting water out of a hose, which is completely unlike anything in the movies. Even BattlefrontвЂ™s gunplay failed to offer any satisfying sense of feedback or weight (most Star Wars props are based around real guns and the actors often talk about how heavy they are) and Republic Commando is especially bad in that regard. None have really got blasters right though. Many Star Wars games have managed to get starfighter combat right, so that it feels how you imagine from watching the movies, and a few have even managed to come close to doing the same with lightsaber combat.

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