As a scout is sent forward, the familiar shrill of blaster rifles opens up as swarms of Geonosians (those insect-like winged warriors) set about the lone trooper.

Static interference crackles menacingly across the teams' visors, making it hard to penetrate the gloom ahead. As one mission begins, we see our squad descend into the bowels of Geonosis, steam rising from rocky pores and organic goo casting familiar spires that jut out from the dank and dim walls. Matulac also puts forward Aliens as another influence - and after being treated to a view of some early levels, it's easy to spot why. 'We wanted that same sort of military feel, to move away from the high gloss of Attack Of The Clones and introduce a real sense of foreboding, where alien worlds feel very creepy and the game itself stylistically looks very de-saturated. We were inspired by movies like Black Hawk Down' says Steve Matulac, producer of Republic Commando. Using the Unreal engine, heavily adapted from the 2003 edition to include its high detail models, ragdoll physics, cool lighting and confined level design, we can rightly expect Republic Commando not only to be the best prequel title to date, but one of the most tense Star Wars games ever. A game that not only enables you to step inside the white armour of those soon-to-be stormtroopers, but one that will require you to command a full squad of toughened clone warriors as they conduct secretive behind-the-lines missions where others - Jedi aside - would fear to tread. Yet, despite these reservations, we remain not only optimistic but really rather excited - aroused even - about the prospect of a new first-person Star Wars shooter. Going by the quality of the last two films and the games tied in to promote them, the worry is that Republic Commando will follow much the same path. More pertinently, the game is obviously not set around events of the classic but specifically in between theĬlimactic Geonosis battle from Episode II and the introduction of General Grievous, said to be a major antagonist in next year's missing link in the Star Wars saga. In addition, LucasArts' home record these last few years has not been as consistent as when it's recruited specialist p from outside - such as with BioWare's recent magnificent RPG Knights Of The Old Republic. As we all know, it's rare for a shooter to impress as wildly as it might when designed to work on lesser hardware. Apart from being designed to fit the constraints of a living room console, Republic Commando is being coded internally. There's a disturbance in the Force concerning LucasArts new Star Wars game.

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