Star Wars: Republic Commando

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a first-person shooter Star Wars video game, released in the US on 1 March 2005. It was developed and published by LucasArts for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox platforms. The game uses Epic Games's Unreal Engine. As of April 19, 2007, this game is backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 with a downloadable patch.

Plot
The game is set during the events of the Clone Wars that started at the climax of the movie Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. In the game, the player is expected to take command of a Clone commando team, made up of elite Clone troopers. These clone troopers have been specially bred at the clone factories on Kamino. The commando team will travel to various locations in the Star Wars universe, including Kashyyyk, Geonosis, and the derelict spacecraft, Prosecutor. The game is the first in the Star Wars universe to feature a militaristic style of playing, which sets a darker tone than other games that are a part of the Star Wars franchise.

Near the beginning of the game, Delta Squad is deployed from the RAS Prosecutor individually into the front lines of the battle of Geonosis. There, Delta RC-1138 ("Boss", the player) meets up with Deltas 1262, 1140, and 1207 ("Scorch", "Fixer", and "Sev" respectively). Delta-38 has been selected to lead this unit and guides them on their mission to assassinate Geonosian leader, Sun Fac. After accomplishing this objective, they take on several other missions in the battle. They sabotage the droid factory underneath Sun Fac's headquarters, disable an anti-aircraft bunker that is wreaking havoc on the Republic Army's air forces, and then sneak onto a disabled Confederacy Core Ship, stealing important Launch Codes to prevent the Separatist fleet from retreating, escaping seconds before the ship is destroyed.

A year into the war the now veteran Delta Squad is sent to investigate the derelict Republic Assault Ship (RAS) Prosecutor, their former home before being deployed to active duty. The team splits up to investigate, when they begin to lose contact with each other one by one aboard the ship. When he first enters the ship, Delta-38 ponders why the interior of the Prosecutor remains deserted and eerily quiet, when he is suddenly ambushed by droids known as Scavengers, responsible for the communications disruptions between the squad members. Delta-38 continues fighting off Scavenger Droids and comes across Trandoshan Slavers and Mercenaries. He single-handedly fights his way through collecting information from the ship and reviving fallen teammates. Once his team is together again they take out a jamming device in order to restore communication. Delta Squad then destroys the Trandoshan dropship in a hangar blowing up the its shield regulator by accident. Immediately afterward, a Confederate Trade Federation Battleship drops out of hyperspace nearby - it turns out the Trandoshans were about to sell the vessel in exchange for droid support. As Republic reinforcements are en route, Delta Squad defends the vessel against hordes of battle droids, destroying the docking shield stabilizers, allowing nothing to pass through. They then proceed to code the auto turrets while under fire, saving the vessel and providing support to its recently arrived escort.

As the war drags onward, Delta Squad participates in increasingly dangerous missions. A cry for help is heard by the Republic from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Delta Squad is sent to rescue General Tarfful from Trandoshan slavers and mercenaries. After spotting General Grievous himself in one of the compounds and fighting off his elite guards, they learn of the full ramifications of a Confederacy/Trandoshan alliance. Delta Squad sabotages a vital Trandoshan supply depot and proceeds to the key battle of Kachirho, the beginning of the battle of Kashyyyk. There, they move through the Wookiee tree city, securing important objectives and battling against hordes of advanced battledroids. They destroy the Bridge at Kachirho, cutting the droid army off from its reinforcements, and proceed to secure the Citadel. Soldiering through the most elite CIS forces and weaponry, Delta Squad once again splits up to man four Heavy AA turrets in order to assist in the destruction of a separatist battleship. Once the ship is destroyed, Advisor orders the Deltas to regroup at 38's position. However, Sev doesn't make the rendezvous and the squad manages to grab a last transmission from him, in which it's clear that he is under heavy attack and is possibly injured or killed. Delta Squad prepares to rescue Sev, but the commander orders them to pull back. As they head out on the gunship, they are debriefed by Jedi Master Yoda. A huge Republic offensive is seen deploying outside the gunship, as Delta Squad prepares for another assignment in the battle.

Gameplay
The game features systems that have been featured in other first-person shooters, including Metroid Prime, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, and, probably the most notable, Halo. The Heads-Up Display (HUD) in the game has a similar feel to that in Metroid Prime. The squad-based order system is similar to the Rainbow Six games, where certain positions are tied to an action. Pressing the order key will tell one of the squad to move to that position and do a predefined action, such as providing sniper or anti-armor fire. There are also orders that govern the entire squad, such as Search and Destroy, Hold Position, Form Up, and Recall. The player can only carry 2-3 guns during the game, excluding the main gun's attachments such as the Sniper attachment and the Anti-Armor attachment.

The game features a multiplayer mode for Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the flag gameplay, with Xbox Live support for 16 players on the Xbox, and 32 for PC over the Internet.

In single player mode, players do not die, they are merely incapacitated for the time being. While they are "downed", they can order squad members to revive them, maintain their orders, or reload to the last saved checkpoint. The same applies when one of the squad members gets downed. Therefore, the game is only truly over when both the player and the squad members are incapacitated. An aspect of this is that as squad leader, one can also order that one be attended to first, regardless of convenience. This gameplay decision was based on the fact that the elite commandos of Delta Squad have special bacta implants that sustain them during severe injuries. When health is deteriorated, bacta packs can be found scattered around maps, and will heal any and all injuries, restoring health to full.