I finished "Star Wars: Republic Commando"

 (This is a wallpaper image for Star Wars: Republic Commando.)

 

 

Well I just finished playing Star Wars: Republic Commando, and I really enjoyed it. Normally, I would reserve this sort of update for the forewords of my reposts. They're part actual  forewords about the posts in question and part updates about whatever I'm doing in my life or whatever's going on in the world at the time that I'm writing them. But, I decided to make this its own dedicated post because like I said in my previous post, I am running out of old stuff to repost or post for the first time on this blog, so I won't have any forewords to give any updates in it. And while I'm not at that point yet, I just figured I'd make this its own post because I don't know when I'll post or repost something old that I wrote in the past and write a foreword for it, and by the time I do, I might lose interest and might not have anything to say. So, I might as well talk about it now while it's still fresh in my mind, and I actually have things to say about it. 

I know I also said in my previous post that I wouldn't post that many things on here this month except for my review of The Killer's Game and my New Year's Eve Recap, but I just had to talk about this now for the reasons I gave before. But, don't worry a review of The Killer's Game is coming, if my aunt can add it to her Fandango at Home account. I also learned earlier today that Weekend in Taipei has also hit VOD (video-on-demand) and is on Fandango at Home after only being in theaters in the US 🇺🇸 for less than a month, so that'll be another one to add to the list. I'll have to tell my aunt to get that one too. 

Now, I first mentioned Republic Commando in my post about SYSTEMSPACE AKA The Tsuki Project, specifically the foreword of that post, along with Star Wars Episode I: Racer, or Star Wars: Racer as it's known on the Nintendo Switch combo pack, and I talked about my feelings on the game at the time I was writing that foreword. So, this won't so be a review of the game, since I've already said most of my I wanted to say in the foreword of that post and in the foreword of the Jimmy Neutron reboot post, and my overall opinion on the game hasn't really changed that much. 

This is going to be more of my feelings on the game after finishing it. Basically, I liked it, I thought it was a good game, I just wish there was more of it. The game ends rather abruptly on a cliffhanger, like it was really one of those endings that makes you go, "Really? That's it? 😕" It really does make you wish that there was more, and that game was a bit longer. Now I can see why this game was criticized for being too short by games critics and games journalists at the time of its original release, it's really short game. I can't believe how short it actually is. 

It struck me after playing it that the game only takes place in three locations. It really is just the section set on Geonosis during the First Battle of Geonosis (it was still called "the Battle of Geonosis" back then because Star Wars: The Clone Wars hadn't come along yet and showed that there was a Second Battle of Geonosis), the section set on that Acclamator-class assault ship that was taken over by the Trandoshans, and the section on Kashyyyk, which is both the last and the longest section of the game. Part of me wishes that we got to see more planets, and see Delta Squad do a wider variety of missions like assassinating a politician or something (either on the Separatist side or the Republic side), but I don't mind the story and how it went. 

Obviously this was a tie-in game to Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and the events within it were meant to directly lead into the events of Revenge of the Sith. That's why the game is set partially on Kashyyyk, and why the game ends the way it does. It ends with the last remaining Delta Squad member listening to a holographic message from Yoda himself, who of course participated in the Battle of Kashyyyk and was the lead Jedi general leading the Republic forces in that battle, which was primarily depicted in Revenge of the Sith, being one of the final battles of the Clone Wars. So, in that way, Republic Commando is a prequel to Revenge of the Sith. Just like how Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter was a prequel to Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and the events of that game lead directly into the events of that movie. 

In fact, the events of Jedi Starfighter happen congruently with the events of Attack of the Clones, and they don't converge until the end when Adi Gallia joins the Jedi assault on Geonosis, starting the First Battle of Geonosis, which was the first battle of the Clone Wars as a whole. It's same here how the events of Republic Commando happen both before and during the events of Revenge of the Sith. The entire section on Geonosis is set during the events of Attack of the Clones, in fact, I learned by watching one of the extras on the card that the game was originally supposed to take place entirely on Geonosis during the First Battle. I'm glad they didn't go in that direction for the final game, and that they went to at least two other places. Still, I wish the game didn't end where it did, and we got at least one more level where we got to see Boss, Scorch, and Fixer rescue Sev. But, alas, we didn't get that, and the game ends on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved. 

I don't know for sure if they ever planned on doing a sequel, I heard from a few places and saw a few comments on YouTube that they did, Star Wars: Republic Commando II, where we would've seen the remaining three members of Delta Squad rescue Sev from the Separatists, and perhaps even seen their reaction to Order 66. Given that game was set during Legends (or the Expanded Universe as it was known back then), I'm not sure if they would have carried out the order like the other clones or if they would've refused to carry it out. Because in the EU, if you remember, the clones didn't have chips. The Clone Wars, was what introduced the idea that they had biochips put in their brains 🧠 to program them to kill Jedi upon being given the order to execute Order 66. 

But before that series was even a thing, the clones didn't have chips. They didn't have chips in their brain 🧠 to make them kill the Jedi after being commanded to. In the EU, or Legends, it was more like they were brainwashed or conditioned by their education and training on Kamino to follow any order they're given, especially by the chancellor. Even if that order was to kill their own Jedi commanders. They knew all of the orders that the chancellor could give them, including Order 66. And they're fully aware of their actions and their decisions to carry out this order, as evidenced by the 501st journal in the original Star Wars: Battlefront II. They know what they're doing. It's not like with the biochips in Canon where they lose all their free will and their decision making is impaired, and they just act like zombies as they carry out the order, complete unaware of what they're doing, at least until it is far too late and the deed has already been done. 

But, with Delta Squad, they are shown to be a lot more independent than the average clone. They are an elite special unit, they have to be more independent, and able to think creatively, and think on their feet instead of just rigidly following orders. It's just like the Bad Batch in the Canon, who kind of took on more of Delta Squad's role despite Delta Squad and Clone Commandos as a whole existing in Canon as a result of their inclusion in The Clone Wars. An accident of history, because Dave Filoni wanted to include them, did these guys ♂︎ become canon. Maybe, it's like a Navy SEALS and Green Beret type of thing. The Bad Batch would be like Navy SEALS while Clone Commandos would be more like Green Berets (US Army Special Forces 🇺🇸). Though, how Clone Commandos are portrayed in The Clone Wars, at least in the clips that I've seen, they're a bit more like the US Secret Service 🇺🇸 (the security force that protects the president and other elected and unelected officials within the US government 🇺🇸) since we never see Delta Squad or any other Clone Commando take part in any combat missions, except for Gregor, but that was an unofficial action. 

So, there is a chance that they would've refused to carry out Order 66 because a different Clone Commando squad in Legends (or the EU) refused to carry it out because they thought it was a fake order, a trick by the enemy into offing their own Jedi commander. They did in fact refuse to carry out the order in Canon but I don't know how unless they had their chips removed kind of like Captain Rex, or never had chips kind of like the Bad Batch. But, it begs the question why the Kaminoans didn't put chips in their brains 🧠 too. Why just the average clone? Why not these elite ones too, since they'd be even more effective and efficient at killing Jedi? Maybe it was oversight on their part that they didn't think it was important to put chips in their brains 🧠 because they were special clones and not the average, and they didn't foresee how it would backfire on them. 

Regardless of whether or not they did plan on making a sequel or not, it obviously never happened for whatever reason. Maybe it was because it was canceled just like Star Wars: Battlefront III or Star Wars 1313. Any hope that they would ever make a sequel someday died once Disney bought Lucasfilm, rebranded the EU as Legends, and declared it all non-canon. But, maybe not. Because I learned, while looking on Wikipedia that there's apparently a remake of the first Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game (or KOTOR for short) in the works and it's going to be on the current gen consoles, started off as a PS5 exclusive before being ported to other systems. So, maybe if Disney is willing to allow a remake of a game from Legends, one of the cornerstones or crown jewels of Legends, to be made, then maybe they could allow a sequel to this game to be made. Especially since the characters themselves exist within Canon, even if the events of the game itself are in Legends. 

It also struck me as a bit odd in the game, during the Kashyyyk section when Geonosians all of a sudden appear in the later levels of the Kashyyyk section. Like, why are there Geonosians fighting on Kashyyyk? I was always under the impression that the alien species that aligned with the Separatists (the Confederacy of Independent Systems) stayed on their home planets, and would only participate in battles if they took place on their home world. Like Geonosians stay on Geonosis, Pau'ans stay on Utapau, and Umbarans stay on Umbara. I know the Pau'ans were aligned with the Republic, but my point still stands. Only battle droids went from planet-to-planet to do battle with clones…and Jedi. But I guess, for this game at least, they decided to have all the species that sided with the Separatists converge on Kashyyyk for the battle against the Republic—the Battle of Kashyyyk—and have them fight Delta Squad while they carry out their mission. I guess it make sense from a gameplay perspective, you want all the enemies in the game to be in the final level so that it'll be a culmination of everything you've done to that point. But, story wise, lore wise, it doesn't really make sense for the Geonosians to be there.

Oh, and one more thing about the extras, I unlocked nearly all of the extras except for the Temuera Morrison interview. Ah well, I can always find it on YouTube if I really want to watch that. There's no way I'm going back and replaying the game just unlock that one extra. Besides, I did manage to unlock all of the important extras, all of the extras that actually matter, like all the behind-the-scenes ones that explain different aspects of the development of the game. I care way more about those than watching some interview that was probably edited down to fit in the extras of the game.

The only one that I unlocked that I didn't think was all that important was the music video to the nu metal song that they used in the end credits, "Clones" by Ash. I was so taken aback when I heard that song when the end credits started rolling, like it is was one of the most 2000s thing (mid-2000s) I've ever heard. It just doesn't fit Star Wars at all, even in this more militaristic Star Wars game. It reminded me of that nu metal song that was created for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, "Immortal" by Adema. For some reason, Mortal Kombat: Deception didn't get a nu metal song for its soundtrack and have a music video to put on the extras, curious. I know that this isn't a Mortal Kombat game, but it did feature Scorpion 🦂🔥 as a hidden skin in (it was developed and published by Midway after all), Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, a third person shooter with science fiction and supernatural elements, also had a nu metal song created for its soundtrack called "With My Mind" by Cold. I guess if you were an action game made for teens and adults in the 2000s, you got a nu metal song and had a music video for that song included in the extras.

 

(This is the cover art of Star Wars Racer & Commando Combo, the combo pack that I got Star Wars: Republic Commando with along with Star Wars Episode I: Racer, or just Star Wars: Racer as it’s known here.)

 

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Update (Thursday December 5, 2024):

 

 

 

 

(This is concept art for the canceled Star Wars: Republic Commando sequel, Star Wars: Imperial Commando.)

 

 

I did learn after writing this post that there was indeed a planned sequel, two sequels as a matter of fact. There was Star Wars: Imperial Commando which would've focused on a Clone Commando squad that fought on the side of the Empire, as the Republic became the Empire after Order 66 was carried out and the majority of Jedi scattered throughout the galaxy were slaughtered by their own Clone Troopers, and Palpatine (secretly Darth Sidious) declared himself emperor. So, they were no longer Republic Commandos, but now Imperial Commandos. Based on what I can read on Wookieepedia (the official Star Wars Wiki), it seems that they game would've focused on you and your squad going up against the Rebel Alliance as well as hunting down the last remaining Jedi who survived Order 66. I mean, the Wiki doesn't say Jedi specifically, it just says "lightsaber-wielding enemies," but come on, it's Jedi, what other lightsaber enemies would they be? 

 

 

 

 

(This is some fan art by DeviantARTist Spacesalami showing what Imperial Commandos might look like. Here’s a link to his page here.)

 

It would've been interesting if they had the Imperial Commandos conduct political assassinations, against any Senators who speak out against the Empire, or killing any other government official (any ruler) on any other planet thinking of defying the Empire and joining the Rebels. I know said that I wanted to see something similar with Republic Commando to show the blurring of lines between which side of the Clone Wars is actually good and which side is actually bad, and show that the Republic was becoming more authoritarian under Palpatine. But, that sort of thing would probably fit better in Imperial Commando after the Republic became an empire, and using a Clone Commando squad to assassinate political enemies is more something the Empire would do than the Republic would do. But, it doesn't seem like the developers were going to do that, instead, much like Republic Commando, they were just going to focus purely on the military aspect and just have the Imperial Commandos conduct military operations during the early years of the Galactic Civil War, which is the name of the war between the Empire and the Rebellion that we see depicted in the original trilogy films. 

 

 

 

(This is more concept for Star Wars: Imperial Commando, showing the Rebel Alliance, were to be the main enemy faction in the game.)

 

 

The other sequel they had planned was Star Wars: Rebel Commando which would have actually continued the story from Republic Commando and shown Sev being rescued by his squad (presumably), and then defecting from the Empire (formally the Republic) after Order 66 to join the Rebellion. There's no further information about the game beyond that on the Wiki. I'm guessing that Imperial Commando was much further along in its development than Rebel Commando was as there is actual concept art for Imperial Commando and no concept art for Rebel Commando.

These were two competing ideas for how to do a sequel to Republic Commando, and it seemed that Imperial Commando was ultimately going to win out. But alas, neither of these sequel ideas and pitches ever saw the light of day as development on the sequel was canceled following the mediocre sales of Republic Commando. Honestly, I would've liked to have seen both sequels get made. Imperial Commando could have been the second game, showing a completely different Clone Commando squad as they transition away from the Republic way of doing things to the Imperial way, fighting Rebels and the last remnants of the Jedi Order, and then Rebel Commando could have been the third game, picking up the story of Republic Commando where it left off, and then go on to show things from the Rebels' perspective, and show as they resist the tyranny of the Empire embodied by the Imperial Commandos in the previous game. That would have been really cool to see. But as I said before in the main text of this post, a sequel is unlikely to be made now that Lucasfilm is owned by Disney, the Expanded Universe (EU) has been unilaterally declared non-canon, and LucasArts has been completely gutted and replaced with Lucasfilm Games, but it's not impossible. 

As I said before, the original KOTOR is getting remade for modern consoles, and something that I didn't mention before was that Star Wars: The Old Republic (a game within the KOTOR series) got an expansion pack in 2022 called Legacy of the Sith. That's why we got that new cinematic trailer in 2022 called Disorder, it was to promote the new expansion pack. So, Disney is at least open to allowing some new Star Wars projects set in the old Expanded Universe, or Legends as it's known now, to be made at least in the video game arena, so long as they're popular and they're profitable, which the KOTOR series is. And while Republic Commando certainly was not as profitable as any of the KOTOR games, it has gained a cult following in the years after it was originally released, and there'd be millions of Star Wars fans who'd be willing to buy a sequel to the game. Maybe not as much as they would be for a KOTOR remake, but certainly more than when it originally came out back in 2005. 

 

 

 

(This is a wallpaper image for Star Wars Episode I: Racer, known as Star Wars: Racer on the Nintendo Switch port.)

 

 

I know, I spent these last few posts talking about Republic Commando, but I feel should say one more thing about the other game included in that combo pack, Star Wars Episode I: Racer AKA Star Wars: Racer. Something that I learned about the game after I started playing it was that it did in fact have a sequel. It's just that it faded into obscurity. It was called Star Wars Racer Revenge, it was released in 2002 as a PS2 exclusive, and it was meant to tie more into Attack of the Clones as we see an older Anakin in the game that more closely resembles Hayden Christensen rather than Jake Lloyd like in the previous game. I've never played it, as very few people have, but the people who have played it said that it was inferior to the first game, Episode I: Racer, in pretty much every conceivable way. 

 

 

 

(This is the cover art of Star Wars Racer Revenge, the long forgotten sequel to Star Wars Episode I: Racer.)

 

 

 

That, along with the fact that it was a PS2 exclusive and has never been ported to any other system since, is probably why Racer Revenge faded into obscurity and why hardly anyone remembers it or talks about it. I compared Episode I: Racer to the Wipeout games, at least the first four on the PS1, and based on what I've heard about Racer Revenge is that it's like the fifth game in the Wipeout series, Wipeout Fusion. It was the only Wipeout game made for the PS2, and it's generally regarded as inferior to the earlier titles on the PS1. Even if the Star Wars: Racer series now exists in Legends, like with Wipeout, maybe it could get a proper sequel in the future that does the original game justice in a way that Racer Revenge (or Wipeout Fusion in the case of Wipeout) never could. 

 
 

(This is the cover art of Wipeout Fusion, the only mainline Wipeout game made for the PS2.)