Star Wars: Republic Commando

Introducing Delta Squad. The Republic's Special Forces.

Lucas Arts has been making video games for quite some time. Some managed to become great hits. Others not so much...

Being the Star Wars Universe such a rich franchise, various kinds of games came out, namely arcade space combat simulators, RPGs, MMOs, RTSs and FPSs. In the later category, several games were developed, mainly the Dark Forces series and their descendents which can be traced down until the fairly recent Force Unleashed 2. Altough these were generally good games, they all came down to the traditional "one-man-army" FPS. Republic Commando aims at being something a bit different... and succeeds.

Star Wars: Republic Commando is a squad-based tactical shooter that takes place in the Star Wars universe, between the time lines of Episodes II and III. You play has the RC-1138 "Boss", the leader of "Delta Squad", a four member team of Republic Commandos, which are basically the special forces of the Republic's Clone Army. The Star Wars fan boys (like me) may initially feel a bit suspicious by the lack of Jedis and use of the "Force", but this only serves to be positively surprised with the game experience.

In terms of gameplay, you may find common elements between this game and the Rainbow Six series, although Republic Commando does not focus on realism. You are able to control your squad members by means of point and click commands such as "follow me", "hold position", "cover that", etc.

The HUD is specially interesting, since it is displayed as if you had your helmet on, with all the game's information being provided by it's interface.

The action is what you would expect for any decent FPS, being able to carry a certain amount of weapons and equipment, with the addition of your "vibroblade" for the melee attacks (it's quite fun to sneak up on a droid to perform a melee attack on him and get hydraulic fluid all over your visor).

In terms of graphics, the game is built on top of the Unreal Engine, so, for 2005, they are pretty decent.

Although the previous features would be sufficent for the game to be worth a shot at, there's something else that makes it stand out. The plot, more specifically the characters' interaction, is really something that gets your attention.

I must say that, in my experience, most games that stand out in my gaming memory owe that to their gameplay. However, with this game, I really became attached with the characters and that alone was sufficient motivation to replay the game's (rather short) campaign several times. There is something about the different personalities and their "one-liners" that really makes you feel as if they are your brothers.

Adding that to the fantastic soundtrack of dark and militaristic musics, the mood is set for you to become completely envolved by the game's environment, making for a very enjoyable experience.

Summing up, if you like military style shooters, playing this game will certainly be worthwhile. However, if for you Star Wars must be synonymous with lightsabers and Jedi Mindtricks, this probably isn't the game for you.

P.S. If at the end of the game you got completely into the characters and the clone's brotherhood, be sure to check out all the Republic Commandos' books by Karen Travis.

Name: Star Wars: Republic Commando

Genre: First-Person-Shooter

Platform: PC (Windows), Xbox

Date of release: 2005

Publisher: Lucas Arts / Activision

Rating: 8/10

Oregon Trail

After my dogs, my wife died.

The Oregon Trail was not only played by millions, it was the first contact with video games for a whole generation. Installed on classroom PC's during the 80's, children grew up with the righteous sense that it was okay to play video games during school hours.

As the name suggests, the player needs to cross the Oregon Trail as a pioneer in the late 1800's. There are a number of problems to juggle during your journey - food supply, firearms, clothes, spare parts, oxen, hunting, river crossing, trading, native-americans, thieves, diseases, etc. The game is punishingly difficult no matter what difficulty level you choose, even by today standards.

Mostly text-based, there are some graphical moments and even some shooter action (it takes a surprisingly good aim to become a good hunter) making this a solid strategy game. In the Mass Effect era, it is still a fun game to play, although I doubt you'll get a History lesson from it (as originally intended). However it does (did) teach kids about the importance of making plans, rationing and risk vs. reward.

From the countless ports and remakes since its 1971 debut, the 1985 version for Apple II computers is generally acknowledge as the definitive one, featuring detailed color graphics ahead of their time.

Name: The Oregon Trail

Genre: Strategy/Edutainment

Platform: Various

Date of release: 1971, 1985 (Apple II)

Publisher: MECC

Rating: 9/10

Spacewar!

Somehow, I expect Leonard Nimoy to be standing in front of this screen.

Spacewar! is probably the least attractive but more important video game you will ever play as it is (arguably) the most influential video game ever (11 years before Pong).

Before Spacewar! there are only a couple of video games worth mentioning:

- (1952) OXO or Noughts And Crosses - this is a tic-tac-toe game running on a 1949 EDSAC computer (you can follow this link to download an EDSAC simulator that includes a copy of the game - watch it here);

- (1958) Tennis for two - The technology consisted of an analog Donner computer linked to an oscilloscope used as display. The game was played by two people using hand controls (watch it here).

There are other older wannabe video games (like CRT Amusement Device, or  NIM) but they fail to qualify as they rely on other stuff than video for the output (this is a personal opinion - if you do not agree, fell free to post).

You can read all about Spacewar! in this wikipedia article. Fortunately the original Spacewar! can be played on any computer with Java enabled. Simply go to this link. After reading the "readme" page you can play the game as in 1961.

The game is a monstrous effort for any 1961 programmer - not only does it feature vector graphics, it also imitates some real life physics. Imagine the load on a  200kHz processor (that is not a misprint) and 9 kB of main memory!

Thrust is awkward as it has little power and only switches between full and none - but this is what makes it challenging to play. You can alter your orbit around the star (usually called the sun) with just the right amount of thrust and end up in an perfect circular or elliptical orbit (stand in awe as you see Newton's laws in motion - your speed is anything but constant).

Unfortunately, the shots fired (missiles?) are not under the influence of the star's pull (there was no processing power left) which makes it pretty easy to shoot your fellow opponent - this is probably the only downfall of the game. It ends so quickly, you sometimes wish there was no other player so you could watch yourself orbit around that sparkling thing in the middle.

Naturally there are no sound effects, no music, no storyline, no dialogs, no bosses, etc which, as strange as it may seems, benefits the overall experience.
Make no mistake - although 11 years older (this is equivalent to a couple of centuries in dog-techno-years), Spacewar! blows Pong out of the water.

Name: Spacewar!

Genre: Shooter/Competitive Multiplayer

Platform: DEC PDP-1

Date of release: 1961

Publisher: MIT (Martin Graetz, Stephen Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen)

Rating: 10/10

Spacechem

Never would have guessed that chemistry could make such an entertaining game.

Spacechem puts you in charge of overseeing the chemical production in alien worlds. You are given a few input molecules and you have to transform them into whatever molecule is required as the final product through the cunning use of a few basic operations. And believe me when I say that this game is really addicting. First of all the puzzles are really challenging (almost too challenging sometimes) and the feeling of accomplishment is directly proportional to the difficulty of each puzzle. Second of all the fine tuning of the reaction process, trying to use less elements and reducing the time it takes is very addicting.

Besides, it's educational!! All for $20!

Name: Spacechem

Genre: Puzzle

Platform: PC/MAC/Linux

Date of release: 2011

Developer: Zachtronics Industries

Rating: 8/10