Rogue Trooper is one of the
lesser-known shooters of 2006. Although it was
third-person, this is still your typical action
shooter. And when your in cramped spaces the
camera reverts almost to first-person anyway.
So your setting is nothing
new; the galactic other-worlds which look remarkably
like earth, as seen in everything from Unreal
II to Halo. There are 12 levels which take you
from bases, more bases, mountains, cities. There
are, unfortunately, two 'rails' levels, but
they aren't as bad as some games.
The design and graphics are
a little average for 2006. I've seen much better.
There's nothing breathtaking here, but having
said that it's not poor either. The design is
simply adequate. Linear, lacking detail, but
enough variety and decent enough to keep you
satisfied throughout the game.
The gameplay is a mixed bag.
Rebellion tried to do things differently here
by giving you a live 'shop' you can purchase
from at any time during gameplay. So there's
no ammo or health scattered around the levels.
Instead you have to find scrap, which somehow
is turned into cash which you can use to purchase
ammo, health, upgrades to your weapons. It's
not exactly realistic, but neither is a pumped
blue-skinned trooper with demon eyes as your
main character. The problem with this system
is that your forced to search for scrap in order
to purchase enough ammo and health to stay alive.
You can't complete a level, especially in the
later stages, without purchasing. It also breaks
up the flow of the game when your forced to
purchase more health right in the middle of
a firefight when your near death. Ultimately,
I threw on an unlimited ammo cheat (and stuck
to the weaker weapons throughout the game) so
I didn't have to bother with the constant 'search
for scrap... purchase ammo' rubbish.
Ultimately the gameplay is
a good challenge. Enemies are all the same,
but weapons are fairly decent and the game never
gets frustrating or too easy. Again, just like
the design, the game is just getting by at being
fun, but nothing memorable. The only problem
with gameplay is often you'll be firing at enemies
and for whatever odd reason, they just won't
die. Not because they're invincible, but because
apparently your not in a position where you
can shoot them. When you've got an enemy well
within sight, your crosshairs go red. But many
times you can clearly see you've got them in
sight, there are little obstacles, and yet the
crosshairs won't go red and therefore you can
pile hundreds of bullets into their heads and
they won't die. One minor niggle in an otherwise
fairly decent game.
Decent because you don't go
in expecting greatness with a game based on
a 2000AD comic (sorry folks but Judge Dredd
is rubbish) from a studio that hasn't released
anything worth playing since 1999's Aliens vs
Predator.
