Xbox

Rogue Trooper

It’s good solid shooty goodness at a budget price. About the only thing bad I can say about Rogue Trooper is that it’s over too soon (three or four nights will about do it), and the main character is way-overpowered, especially with those tasty mini-mines! Hmmm...mini-mines. A real solid action title from the guys at Rebellion, and a good title to tide you over until the boys of fall arrive. Drop a few bucks and enjoy.

Nu-Earth, an uninhabitable burnt-out rock that's near a strategically important worm hole (in space) in the ongoing battle between the Norts and the Southers. The land is decimated and the air a toxic poison. Here, soldiers do battle against one another in environment suits that are bulky and because of the strategic importance and hellish conditions, millions of lives have been lost. The Southers, in an attempt to gain an upper hand, genetically create a super soldier that can heal quickly, fight ferociously and breath the acrid air without any need for an environment suit. But in an act of treason, the regiment of Genetic Infantrymen are betrayed and only a handful survive. This is where you come in - as the Rogue Trooper who manages to save only three of his comrades it's your turn to do some betraying. Because as far as you are concerned, anyone on the other end of the barrel is the enemy, and you will make them pay.

Action games tend to get stale rather quickly. Especially now, when third-person explode-a-thons rule the marketplace. Developers need to come up with ways to set them apart. That, or go the traditional route and just do it better than anyone else does. Look at God of War. It didn't really do anything new, but it offered a wild degree of polish and refinement.

Most people buying $30 for Rogue Trooper, a discount that can partly be attributed to next-generation Xbox 360 pricing and rising demand, shouldn't expect a Metal Gear Solid 3 or Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. What you should expect is an inter-generational game meant to help keep revenue steady while Eidos prepares for WWIII (i.e. PS3 vs. Xbox 360 vs. Wii). If you're thirsty for a third-person shooter on your PS2 or Xbox, by all means, give this game a try. You may rather just spend that money towards Hitman: Blood Money though.

Find an American that knows about the Nort Republic, and you’ll have a found a true comic book aficionado. More popular in its native land, Rogue Trooper is a sci-fi rag that has quite a following among ravenous popular culture consumers. While I don’t think the Rogue Trooper comic book will ever catch a head of steam in the states, I do propose that that the game of the same name will be a sleeper hit. Rebellion’s and Eidos’ Rogue Trooper is steeped in the history of the comic, but you’ll probably care less about that than its unique third-person shooter gameplay. Let’s see if futuristic warfare starring genetic freaks is all that and a bag of silicon chips

Ever wonder what the Blue Man Group would be like if they were equipped with talking machine guns, placed on a poisonous future version of Earth, and given a whole army worth of guys in giant bio-suits to shoot? If you find yourself fitting into this category, then Eidos has just the game for you. Rogue Trooper, their new third-person shooter, puts you in almost that exact scenario, and surprisingly enough, the results are pretty fun. As a single-player game, Rogue Trooper really is a blast to play through. The missions are all exciting and varied, the graphics and sound are both solid, and the gameplay is fun and innovative. It's just too bad there's not more of it.

All up it’s a fun although not entirely impressive package. The game is over quite quickly too – Normal difficulty could be finished within 5-7 hours, or a bit longer if you stuff around. There is a bit of replay value hidden in there for those of you who wouldn’t mind playing through the main campaign again to unlock some more encyclopedia entries or ‘cheats’. Personally I’d say it’s better for a rent than anything else.

Rogue Trooper is a third-person shooter based on the 2000AD comic of the same name. In case you don't follow British comic books, Rogue Trooper is a gritty sci-fi strip about a genetically engineered soldier named Rogue who fights in the perpetual war that wages on the planet of Nu Earth. It's an interesting premise, and the story translates well into a video game, allowing for some unique gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the standout features in the game are negated by a stunted single-player campaign, limited multiplayer, and a handful of annoying design flaws.

Finalement plus convenu qu'on pourrait le croire, Rogue Trooper est un petit Third Person Shooter sympathique mais trop facile et trop court pour qu'on s'y attarde vraiment. Un titre que l'on réservera aux amateurs en manque à condition de ne pas y mettre trop de précieux brouzoufs.

After the unfortunate Dredd Vs Death debacle back in 2003, the world hasn't exactly been waiting with bated breath for the next 2000 AD spin-off to roll off the Rebellion production line. But, with some harsh lessons learned, the one-time starlet of the UK development scene (back in the Alien Vs Predator era) has turned things around, with several decent games under its belt (notably the award-winning - yet generally under-rated - WW2-based Sniper Elite). Following on from the gradual return to form, the swaggering arrival of the slick action-adventure that is Rogue Trooper underlines the growing confidence within the Oxford-based developer-cum-comic-publisher.

Don't feel bad if you haven't heard of Rogue Trooper -- I hadn't either. A long-running series of UK comics, Rogue Trooper chronicled the adventures of the titular soldier, a blue-skinned Genetic Infantryman (GI) engaged in an eternal war between the Southers and the Norts on the planet of Nu-Earth. The new game by Rebellion covers similar territory, throwing players into the role of Rogue as he cuts a swath of destruction across the landscape in search of a traitorous general. It's as good a story for a game as most, and the relative simplicity leaves you free to worry about more important things, like blasting lots of Norts.

Games like Rogue Trooper make my brain hurt, mainly because it tries to be a competent third person action game with attitude, but ultimately fails at this goal. While it does have momentary flashes of intrigue, it ends up falling prey to the trappings of being a mediocre action shooter.