Since this was originally designed for consoles as well, controlling your squad is relatively straightforward – you can use a simple formation selection option to determine how the AI soldiers will act. How well you get out of these battles doesn’t just depend on your own defenses and weapons though – it’s mostly down to how well you command your teammates, something that made Republic Commando a game that was ahead of its time back in 2005. Health doesn’t recharge so you’ll pickups for that, but your shield is electronic and will thus repair itself if you give it time to charge after a challenging confrontation. Although (as you’d expect for a republic commando) your core weapon is a sort of assault rifle, you can install customizations to have it fire other projectiles, and you also have grenades to toss that can get you out of a tricky spot.

This brings tactical gameplay with it because you’re not just firing your own weapons but also in charge of your AI teammates. In the game, you’re part of Delta Squad, where you’re the squad leader. That was just after the second Halo game, and the game’s look and feel resembles that time period very well – it was launched a few months before the Xbox 360 and thus was a good example of a late period title in the Xbox/PS2 era. It’s hard to believe that Star Wars Republic Commando is already over 15 years old, with the game originally launching back in 2005. Aspyr’s built a solid reputation for porting older games over to modern systems, and their latest is Star Wars Republic Commando, which just launched on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Star wars republic commando gameplay