Star Wars: The Bad Batch is one of the breakout hits of Disney+. The show follows a group of divergent clone troopers during the purge and subsequent rise of the Empire. This concept, and the relationship between all the clones, provides the perfect inspiration for a tactical-style shooter. However, it wouldn’t be the first Star Wars game to do this, and such a game could learn from previous titles.
Star Wars: Republic Commando is one of the few non-Jedi focused games based on the galaxy far, far away. Instead, this game focuses on the clone troopers through a commando team, which players must lead to victory in a war. The parallels to The Bad Batch are obvious. A game adaptation that follows this formula could be fine, but taking some lessons from Republic Commando could go a long way in making something truly great.
One of the most important facets of the show is the relationships the members of The Bad Batch squad have with one another. Each is radically different from the other members, something that is considered odd in-universe. While most clones have certain quirks that separate them, they are fundamentally similar. This difference is noted as being a strength for the squad that allows them to complete their missions in varied and exciting ways.
Any Bad Batch game would need to capitalize on this by working the character’s unique aspects into the gameplay. Republic Commando‘s clones had different voices and colors, but they were mostly the same, sometimes coming across as interchangeable. A Bad Batch game needs to make the differences between each character clear and allow them to work off of each other, making their personalities apparent through both dialogue and action.
One ways that Republic Commando handled battles was to allow the player to assign the clones to fight in a certain way. While the game was adamant that each clone had a preference for different actions, this rarely made an impact in-game. To an extent, this makes sense, as each trooper would be trained in the basics of most actions. However, it took away the individuality of each clone.
A game based on The Bad Batch would need to make it more apparent that only certain squad members should perform certain actions. For instance, Breaker is strong enough to use lift a spider droid and pitch it over, and he loves explosives. However, he isn’t deft enough to sneak past a group of enemies or snipe a commander, so having him do so wouldn’t make sense. Individuality is what makes the squad so entertaining, and a game should be designed so that each trooper has a unique impact in battle.
It’s also important that a hypothetical Bad Batch game increases the size of the battles. Due to the technical limitations of the original Xbox, Republic Commando‘s battles were small in scale. However, the power of modern consoles means a game could — and should — recreate battles on the scale that The Clone Wars showed. Increasing the size of battles would also allow for vehicles to be included. The Clone army had access to several vehicles, but the Bad Batch rarely had access to many of them, though they did steal them from the droids on occasion. This would add variety to gameplay, which was missing from Republic Commando.
The Bad Batch has the potential to inspire a great video game that brings back a gameplay style that the Star Wars franchise has been missing. Of course, there are plenty of ways a skilled developer could adapt the show into something great, but it would be foolish for them not to take note of a popular game that follows similar themes. Republic Commando did a lot of things right, but considering how much has changed in gaming since its 2005 release, a new game could definitely surpass it.
About The Author