Rogue Trooper Review

Twenty-Five years ago cult British comic-book 2000AD launched a brand new story called Rogue Trooper, which focused on the story of a genetically enhanced soldier as he hunted down and sought vengeance upon a traitorous general. The original story arc lasted until 1985, but Rogue's adventures together with stories of other cloned brethren lasted through to just a few years ago. Having already tried their hand at bringing 2000AD's most famous character, Judge Dredd, to the videogame market in 2003 with Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death, UK developers (and owners of 2000AD since 1999) Rebellion has now brought the original Rogue Trooper story-arc to current-gen (minus the GameCube) and PC platforms.

Set in the distant future on the toxic planet Nu Earth, the war between the Norts and the Southers continues to rage; in a final bid to win, the Southers create an army of Genetic Infantrymen (GI) who are immune to the toxic atmosphere around the planet. Hardier than normal humans, these blue-skinned 'Smurfs with attitude and machine guns' are decimated on their first drop by the Nort. But death isn't the end for the fallen GIs thanks to 'biochips' that retain their personalities and can be inserted into battle equipment until a clone body can be produced. After the GI massacre, the last remaining clone soldier - Rogue - sets off to uncover the truth behind the battle and to uncover the traitor who masterminded the GI decimation. Right from the off it's clear to see that Rebellion has captured the visual essence of the 2000AD comic; stylised and gritty, the developers have evidently been using their archived materials to good effect. In addition to the design of the characters and the environments there're plenty of little details to appreciate, such as the exhalation cloud from the enemies as they breath and the red sight lines from sniper rifles, which really helps to add a greater sense of style to the proceedings..

Within the first hour of playing the game, Rogue will have collected the biochips of three of his fallen comrades, which continue to communicate with him (and each other) once they've been installed. But this element isn't used to just create a sense of battle-chat; instead each of the three enhance Rogue's battle equipment in their own unique ways: "Gunnar" implements an auto-target reticule; identifies when Rogue targets a head shot or air-tank shot (culminating in an explosion); and can also transform into a standalone automatic turret. "Bagman" provides Rogue with the ability to manufacture new items such as ammo and medikits, together with weapons upgrades, and finally "Helm" allows Rogue to override security doors and project a holographic GI to dupe enemies.

Besides utilising ideas already established in the original comic book story, there's very little originality to the game. Inevitably given the narrative, Rogue Trooper is a third-person action shooter with everything that we've come to expect: lots of shooting, lots of enemies, in lots of linear levels. The level design is strictly a linear affair with environments changing as Rogue makes his way across the Nu Earth landscape and settlements. Several of the game's elements, such as picking up salvage from dead bodies and debris in order to create more ammo/health or upgrade weaponry plays on already well-established gameplay dynamics. Yet the creative use and implementation of the three 'buddy chips' and their respective abilities, as per the comic books, together with the strategic set pieces in the game lift it beyond that of the bustlingly generic action shooter. Despite the linearity of the levels, it never feels like you're being dragged through the experience. Of course gamers can run through the gameworld gunning down the Nort military as they go, but that'll only mean that death follows rather quickly. Instead, careful gamers will see the open designs to the set pieces dotted throughout Rogue Trooper, for instance, do you try and lure enemies with the holographic projection into a path of mines or do you set up Gunnar as a turret and lure the Norts one at a time?

In a multitude of press releases about the game both Rebellion and the game's publisher Eidos have been keen to point out Rogue Trooper's implementation of stealth tactics in the gameplay. The idea of adding stealth to an action game isn't perhaps the most original idea, but despite that, it does work quite well. There's also a lot of 'duck 'n' cover' tactics to be had in the game, which certainly helps progression when Rogue is facing a barrage of hot led and grenades. As a one-man army, Rogue can lay down seemingly random suppressing fire when covering behind an object or correctly target an enemy. The random fire is more of a scare tactic against the Nort forces rather than a practical 'mow down the lot of them' technique, but it does give Rogue enough time to boost his health before the next face off.

As well as the single-player campaign, Rogue Trooper also features a limited number of multiplayer modes that can be played offline, across a system link, or online (via Xbox Live or Network Play). Two gametypes are available, Progressive and Stronghold, with both quite playable with a single gamer. In Progressive, players have to run a gauntlet of firepower and enemies in order to achieve the appropriate goal, whilst Stronghold sees players fend of Nort soldiers in order to protect an injured GI. Both offer something quite different compared to the usual fare of deathmatches and capture the flag gametypes - see, it can be done - and both offer the same intensity of the single-player campaign.

Thanks to some innovative ideas, Rogue Trooper doesn't fall into the category of a standard third-person shooter as easily as it could have done. A strong sense of style that stays close to the source material, Rogue Trooper isn't just one for the fans however; an intensive and sometimes intelligent shooter, Rogue Trooper is certainly one that could interest you if you're looking for a shooter that's a little bit different to the usual.