I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that.

This is from San Andreas, specifically from a mission that requires the player to go into the desert looking for two passed-out drunks, who then want you to help them look for their friend. Along the way, one of them needs to throw up...

Too bad that isn't how helicopters work.

Glimpses of Republic Commando

Before I started exploring Battlefront, I played Republic Commando through in a couple of weekends. Unlike my other first-person shooter experiences, I played it all the way through: I grew bored of Elite Force's endgame, which became repetitive, and I'm solidly stuck on a level in Medal of Honor.  Republic Commando, while harder than those in part, and more fun because of the solutions I had to improvise, constantly gave me refreshing gameplay. This was the first game in which I had command of a squad, issuing orders by moving my cursor to an icon in the environment and hitting the "use" key.




My squad is automatically taking cover fire, and as this is an early mission one of the Commandos is giving me advice. The intuitive control system allows me to order my men to place charges, set up a sniping/grenade position, and get healed up without diminishing my ability to shoot things.



Delta Squad, attempting to enter the bridge of a stolen Republic ship. It's a tough go.



Having gained control of the bridge, one can watch a battle outside the windows.



One of the hardest portions of the game, and my favorite: Delta Squad must cross a bridge, facing opposition from SuperBattleDroids whose numbers continue to be replentished by dispensers. This is made near-impossible by a powerful turrent on the far side.




I ordered my squad to give me cover fire while I ran across the bridge, flinging grenades at the turrent before it could kill me. Having emptied it, I seized command of the gun and turned it on the droids, ordering my men to plant explosives on the dispensers. That didn't work. I had to shoot droids, exit the turrent, heal quickly, use the turrent to kill more droids, and then alternativly set the explosives and destroy droids from the turrent myself. That was fun.



In the last campaign of the game, Delta Squad cooperates to take out a spider droid.



There's no better time to have an anti-armor machine when the elevator just brought down a pad full of Super Battle Droids. Heh, heh, heh.




A creepy sequence, fighting in the dark.

Glimpses of Battlefront

Recently I purchased Star Wars: Best of PC, which netted me Republic Commando, Jedi Knight II, Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic, and Empire at War. I've been playing them for the past month or so, and all have been new experiences for me. Battlefront is a third- or first-person shooter in which the player, other human players, and NPCs battle on large maps dotted with control points. The control points effect how many troops either side can send into battle.




Jabba's Palace, spotting Han for the first time.

At the Battle of Geonosis: a very brave clone trooper moves among a Spider Mech's legs firing at it.



Tatooine, Imperials v. Rebels. Fighting in Mos Eisley, that celebrated hive of scum and villainy.



Kamino: bad news for the Clones. The Confederacy of Independent Systems has captured the cloning facilities and is now wiping out the survivors. The droideka is a powerful unit, impervious to small-arms fire with its shields up.



That explosion just took out part of a Rebel squad moving through the tunnel, and the guy who survived won't live for long.



At the Battle of Hoth: yes, I AM about to fire a rocket up an AT-AT's tuchus.