Based on the 2000AD story of the same name, Rogue Trooper revolves around a bitter conflict fought on war-ravaged ‘Nu Earth’ between the Norts and the Southers. With the planet awash with chemical fallout from endless battles, the Southers engineer genetically intelligent soldiers that can breathe the atmosphere and contribute to gaining the upper hand against the Norts. However, when and a Souther General turns traitor and the orbital dispersal of the G.I.s becomes an all-out massacre amid a Nort trap, it soon comes to pass that only a single G.I. (Rogue) survives on the surface of the planet.
Ignoring orders to retreat and return to Souther command, the last G.I. retrieves and transplants the genetic chips of 3 fallen comrades into his weapon, helmet, and backpack, imbuing his armoury with their dismembered personalities. So, armed with an on-board squad to provide covering fire remotely while assisting with aiming, manufacture weapons and ammo upgrades from scattered scrap, and hack security systems and pilot usable vehicles, Rogue sets off across the poisoned wastelands in search of the traitor General and a whole lot of revenge. To the Norts he is the last G.I. standing in the way of victory, to the Southers he is a Rogue Trooper.
At its heart, Rogue Trooper is a squad-based third-person shooter locked within distinctly first-person gunplay; that’s to say, though Eidos would have you believe that careful and clever tactics are integral during Rogue Trooper, their implementation is never truly needed for the sake of progression. The fact that Rogue carries the intelligence chips of his fallen squad mates in special slots on his equipment, and that they can be called upon to assist tactically, doesn’t really stretch to the lengths of integration seen in, say, Brothers in Arms. The 3 fallen comrades, Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm, conveniently find themselves installed into Rogue’s - yes, you guessed it - gun, backpack, and helmet, and each provides different strengths to Rogue’s quest for vengeance. Yet, apart from their witty banter, direct two-dimensional uses, and battlefield warnings, Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm are somewhat flatly defined in terms of an actual (and useful) squad.
Gameplay is fairly frenetic from the off and waves of A.I. Norts rush headlong at Rogue in search of swift release from the pressures of life, which he’s only too happy to provide. As with most shooters, weaponry is initially restricted but Bagman’s craving for scrap soon sees Rogue kitted out with meatier weapons, handy upgrades, more effective ammunition, and medical kits, all of which are applied via a mechanical arm that unfolds from within Bagman to deliver the goods and accept incoming scrap. Rogue himself is fairly mobile throughout the game world and isn’t left mundanely treading across ground when canyon walls can be negotiated, wrecks explored, and platforms clambered upon, which helps broaden the game’s general appeal beyond merely running and gunning. Using cover against enemy fire is also a useful element, and Rogue can lean out and aim at targets or simply take his chances firing blind, much in the same way as in Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. Unfortunately, using grenades from behind cover can prove rather a painful chore as the on-screen flight trajectory is twitchy and occasionally it fails completely as live grenades bounce back off cover that’s supposed to be out of the firing line. Luckily for Rogue the squad are already technically dead.
In the light of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, the recent E3 unveiling of the PlayStation 3 and Wii, and the current standard of PC games, Rogue Trooper’s aesthetic performance is fairly lacklustre-indeed, in terms of graphics, it struggles to look much more evolved than an original PlayStation title. The in-game sequences are solid without being especially impressive, and the level design and quality of environmental texturing are also a little below par where pizzazz is concerned. That’s not to say that Rogue Trooper looks bad, because it doesn’t, but - on this PS2 version - it certainly feels overly grimy and ragged around the edges, and is perhaps guilty of not attempting to push against PS2 expectations. Rebellion and Eidos need only look at Black, God of War, or Shadow of the Colossus to see what Sony’s greying console is capable of.
Beyond the single-player campaign, which, though not as glossy as it could have been, is still a thoroughly decent third-person jaunt, Rogue Trooper also offers up Ethernet Network play for up to 4 people and a wealth of game-related extras that are unlocked in relation to player performance. Each level ends with a statistical sheet that breaks down everything from damage taken and damage delivered, to headshots and scrap collected. The better a player’s assessment, the more goodies are unlocked. These extras include the cinematic sequences from the game and also a multitude of entries to the Nu-Earth Encyclopaedia, which covers in-depth background information, character profiles, and mechanical data that pertain to 2000AD’s Rogue Trooper universe.
Ultimately, Rogue Trooper is an entertaining distraction that certainly warrants a look and holds its own in terms of immersion for fans of the comic and casual gamers alike. The unusual squad mechanic is merely an interactive HUD with 3 separate character personalities, but the remote firepower, portable manufacturing, and swift system hacking collectively provided to the player means that concentrating on mowing down hordes of Norts is always the game’s central component. Those players willing to actively seek out ways to use Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm in a true tactical sense may find themselves a little disappointed, whereas simply getting into the thick of the action quickly proves much more rewarding.
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