Rogue Trooper Review - PC

In the never-ending quest for "realism" in military action games, the unimpeded excitement that can accompany totally unrealistic gameplay seems to have been all but forgotten. That's why Rogue Trooper is a breath of fresh air. Who needs humanlike enemy AI and the resultant tactical scenarios that emerge from it? I just want to shoot some people in the face. And even though it's got a laundry list of issues, you'll be having so much fun that you probably won't mind.

I'm Blue, Da Ba Dee Da Ba Daa

Ripped from the pages of 2000 AD, the British comic magazine most famous for spawning Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper is the tale of a group of bio-engineered warriors with sky blue skin and white hair. There's no real explanation as to why the troopers were bred to resemble Smurfs on steroids. In fact, there's not much explanation for anything. The original comic clearly has a rich backstory, but little of this makes it into the game -- you're thrust into war on a post-apocalyptic future Earth with nothing but a vague idea of why you're fighting in the first place.

But whatever! Let's kill some people. Right from the start, you'll have a wide variety of ways to accomplish this lofty goal, mostly thanks to the untimely deaths of your three best friends. Your pals kick it early on in the adventure, but since their brains are stored in convenient, removable ROM chips, Rogue can pick them up and use them to upgrade his gear. Your best buddy Gunnar becomes a heavy machine gun with auto-aim. Supplies expert Bagman will manage your backpack full o' gear. And Helm snaps into your headgear, lending you expert surveillance and sniping abilities.

I Don't Need A Weapon. I've Got Plenty

As you progress through the cities and wastelands of Nu Earth, you've got plenty of options. At first, you'll just be running through the game's linear levels blowing every enemy away with Gunnar, occasionally ducking behind some cover and taking potshots from around a corner. And it's great fun. But when you start getting specialty weapons like grenades and sniper rifles, you can begin to apply some basic combat strategy.

Rarely are you forced to take any one approach to a given situation. Sick of being stealthy? Just run out, guns blazing. Want a more cerebral challenge? Try sneaking up on as many enemies as you can before they catch on to your presence. Or getting up to a high vantage point and snipe away.

Unfortunately, it quickly becomes apparent that the reason you can choose your own killing style in any situation is because Rogue Trooper is a very easy game. The enemies mostly just stand there and wait for you to kill them; they'll duck behind cover sometimes but then all you have to do is run around the wall and open fire. You'll rarely run out of ammo and health, because you don't have to find individual power-up items. Instead, all the equipment you could ever possibly want is generated on the battlefield out of "salvage" metal and parts that are scattered liberally around Nu Earth. If you're even the slightest bit attentive to collecting scrap, you'll always have a vast surplus of salvage.

Who's The Boss?

Not only is Rogue Trooper easy, there's not much to it other than taking out every enemy you see. There aren't even any boss fights -- yeah, every now and again a somewhat large walking robot will open fire on you, but taking them down is as easy as tossing a signal-jamming grenade, then shooting them when their defense shuts off.

It's the variety of levels that keep things interesting -- every environment is different from the last, and levels are set up along a linear path that continues to unfold new surprises as you walk through it. Two levels even break from the third-person action paradigm and put you into a first-person, on-rails shooting contest. But after you've seen it once, there's no reason to go back. Rogue Trooper has both online and local multiplayer, but it's limited to cooperative gameplay -- no head-to-head.

Fun While It Lasts

For all its shortcomings, Rogue Trooper is still worth a playthrough for fans of the heavy-firepower, run-and-gun action genre. The spit and polish in the presentation makes it an entertaining ride from start to finish, even if you're not a fan of the comic series. But the lack of lasting depth and challenge keeps it from being more than a quick fix.

Review By: Chris Kohler
Video Produced By: Mark Fahey