Rogue Trooper
Verdict: Faithful comic book action.
Platform: Xbox, PS2, PC.
Rating: 3½/5
Set far in the future on the war ravaged world of Nu-Earth, the Rogue Trooper is a cloned, blue skinned super soldier bred to withstand the planet’s toxic atmosphere. Gone AWOL, he’s on a mission of revenge against a traitor general responsible for the Quartz Zone Massacre.
Based on the classic 2000AD comic strip, Rogue Trooper is a 3rd person shooter with similarities to the recent Ghost Recon games. With high aspirations and a determination to better the mediocre Judge Dredd game it has the Asura graphic engine to meet the requirements - with a satisfying chunkiness it recreates the comic strip in fine three dimensional glory and wisely eschews realism for graphic novel style looks.
Alongside Rogue is his Bio-chip buddies, the recorded personalities of fallen comrades that reside digitally within his gun, back pack and helmet. Once they’re all onboard via some impromptu surgery the game gets into full swing, giving Rogue the support of a team without the inherent problems of physical buddy A.I.
As well as offering comedic banter and vocal help (‘grenade!’), they offer advanced technological support via their respective placements. Gunnar provides extra reticule information and can be placed as an auto-turret allowing you to cover your back. Helm can hack computers, lure the enemy with noises and create Total Recall style holograms to confuse and distract. Bagman releases mines, feeds ammo to Gunnar (with a tiny robotic arm), heals Rogue and creates new ammo and medi-packs out of salvage alongside new weapons and upgrades.
With all these abilities Rogue Trooper eclipses the Ghost Recon games by offering multiple solutions to problems beyond hide or shoot. The salvage system works well too although looting every corpse can become a little tedious on a busy battle field.
While the gunplay is solid and satisfying the game suffers from an occasionally awkward control scheme and cut scene style stealth kills intrude upon the fluidity of the action that exists elsewhere.
Despite the slick presentation and nice touches like the map loading screen and Bio-chip nulling effects of EMP weapons, it’s a pretty faithful reproduction of a cherished franchise that just lacks that wow factor to make it a classic.
Thankfully, as a 2000AD fan, it’s left me feeling far from blue.