Rogue Trooper (PC DVD)

With a story developed by Rogue Trooper's current writer and long-time 2000ad contributor Gordon Rennie, and vehicles, costumes, uniforms and weaponry taken directly from the strip itself, this game's visual and storytelling pedigree are beyond reproach. Utilising a third-person view, the play mechanics are more akin to Tomb Raider: Legend than the first-person Dredd vs Death (which was universally decried as decidedly average by the gaming press, and required too much concentration for casual gamers more used to Dead or Alive: Beach Volleyball, or Halo). More of an arcade experience than DvsD, but if you've played the game based on Marvel's The Punisher, you'll have a good idea what to expect.
A shame more games based on comics weren't given the same development and care as applied here, as the likes of Daredevil or Hulk could learn a thing or two.

I read the first issue of 2000ad when my brother bought it when I was 5. I started buying it for myself in 1981 and immediately my favourite characters were DR & Quinch, Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog and Rogue Trooper. I remember the enticipation every Saturday morning when my copy would be delivered with the papers.
When the Judge Dredd game came out a couple of years ago I played the demo and made the wise decision not to buy the game, but with the release of Rogue Trooper I couldn't help myself and splashed out twenty five sovs.
And...?
It's okay.
It's not the stinker Judge Dredd was, but it's not going to win game of the year.
The graphics are somewhat dated - it looks like the Quake 3 engine and, in the wake of Quake 4, Half Life 2 and Far Cry, it just looks a bit old. If the gameplay was good enough (like Jedi Academy) this can be overlooked but sadly that's not the case. There are some great little tweaks and innovations - your backpack (Bagman) can make you ammo, you can use your rifle (gunnar) as a senty gun and so forth, but there aren't any moments when the game grabs you and drags you in like in the aforementioned classics. As it is, you just run through the levels shooting the bad guys and nicking their stuff, much like many other games.
There's a huge backstory and history around the character, but the depth which the established comic character has is lacking, and at no point does the player really feel that they're actually involved in an all-or-nothing future war. If anything, it feels more like an episode of Splinter Cell with more gunplay and slightly worse animation. There are neither the hordes of troops you'd expect, nor the insanity of war so well drawn in the comic.
I might be sounding negative, but it's really not all bad. A fan of the comic character will get a lot out of it, but I'm not sure someone who doesn't know the background will as the backstory is only very loosely sketched.
Like I say. Not great, and not awful. Just very ho-hum. If Rogue Trooper had appeared on the shelves two years ago, it would have been hailed as a classic. As it is, it feels dated and surpassed by other games of the last twelve to eighteen months.
Another missed opportunity by the developers, and I can only hope that the promised Stronium Dog game delivers a corker.

Feeling a bit flush, I rushed out and bought this title on it's day of release. I'll admit I'm a 2000AD reader, so I'm more than familiar with the character, and I reckon that gives me the right to be even more critical in my opinion of the game.

The good news is that I think Rebellion have done a bang up job of bringing Rogue and his bio-chipped buddies to the

computer screen.

For anyone not familiar with the title, you take on the role of Rogue - a vat grown super soldier, bred for combat in

the warzone of Nu Earth. Immune to all the toxins in the air, with heightened strength, senses and highly skilled in all

methods of combat, Rogue (and all his pals) are the (bright blue) weapon of choice for the Souther forces battling the

evil Norts for control of the planet. Just point your G.I (Genetic Infantry) soldier in the direction of the bad guys

and he'll wipe the floor with them. That is until the Quartz Zone massacre - which is where the game begins.

Betrayed by a General on their own side relaying their strike information to the Norts, the G.I's are all shot down, with

only Rogue escaping. Fortunately Rogue manages to be on scene for the deaths of three of his colleagues - Helm, Bagman

and Gunnar. Cutting out their bio-chips (storing all their memories and personalities), he installs them in his gun,

backpack and helmet, giving them a second chance of life and being able to assist you with their talents as you

progress through the game, hunting down the traitor General.

But enough of the back story, what's the game like? It's a third person shooter, which you can play stealthily, all-out

guns blazing, or however you want. The controls are very intuitive, taking on the usual WASD system, right clicking

to activate the scope on your rifle, and other well established key presses/controls as found in other games. So you

can pick it up and play without any need for a tutorial (although the first mission will guide you through controlling

Rogue and his functions). Taking advantage of your bio-chipped kit's talents is a matter of two simple clicks. These

talents include setting up Gunnar as a sentry gun, so he'll distract/kill any enemies whilst you do other stuff, using

Helm to project a hologram of yourself to distract/lure out enemies, and using Bagman to manufacture items/ammo from the

salvaged bodies of the folks you kill. Bagman's talents allow you to add additional firepower to Gunnar as he'll

produce shotgun shells, sammy rockets, beam lasers and all kinds of stuff which add a bit of flavour to the game.

At various points you're able to take control of vehicles/cannons which provide a refreshing break to the running around. Chasing the traitor General in his helicopter on one level and another defending a train against Nort attacks turns the game into something more like a Virtual Cop style rail shooter, which is also a welcome change.

Dispatching enemies is fun, you can go the stealth route, sneaking up and stabbing them, the straight forward

headshot/gunning down, lob a grenade or two, place micro-mines to booby trap areas, set them on fire by blowing up

nearby fuel tanks/vehicles, or rupture their chem-suits airtanks with a bullet and watch them panic before the tank

explodes taking them with it.

The enemy AI is also impressive. You won't find Norts running into your bullets in wave after wave like lemmings,

they'll take cover, react to noise and generally try to keep themselves alive.

Graphically it's nice, starting off with basic wartorn desert type affairs (plenty of rocks, bunkers and the like),

moving on to military complexes, cities, a huge crashed spaceship (which is very well done, lots of nice lighting

effects and a real sense of scale) and other locales. The characters/machinery are all nicely crafted, and really

reference the original source material - fanboys will love it! Rogue's movement is also well animated, from leaping

over barriers to poking his head round corners, and there's an occassional cut scene which progresses the story.

Sound is good, plenty of budda-budda's and booms!, with the voice actors for the characters doing their job without

getting too repetitive (Gunnar shouting comments like "You want some?!?" when in sentry mode are quite amusing).

I've read comments that moan about clipping problems and things like that but I've not encoutered anything too

distracting myself. I've seen Rogue's arm disappear inside a wall when he's playing out a standard animation

(e.g screwing a silencer onto his rifle), but not had any problems with being shot through walls, falling through

objects or anything as severe as that. The camera views are good, not at all getting lost in walls/scenery and Rogue

fades to transparent if he's too much "in your face". There's also a lot of reviews that reference the Judge Dredd

game, but I think it's wrong to compare the two. The only connection is the fact they're both based on 2000AD characters and were both produced by Rebellion. Dredd had it's faults, and was quite roughly treated on the review front I thought -

I've got it, and quite like it - but don't let your opinion of it prejudice you against trying out Rogue Trooper.

Rebellion seem to have learnt a lot in the 3 or more years since Dredd hit the shelves and it shows.

It's very faithful to the source material (you'll be hearing the Norts shouting "Stak!" and Rogue telling his bio-chips

to "Synth out" - and you get a cameo by Venus!), an entertaining play that keeps you wanting to progress and I thoroughly recommend it.