Rogue Trooper

Everything on GOG seems to get only 5 star reviews. It's a little bit suspicious. I picked up this game in a charity shop only a few months ago, because, when I was a kid, I loved the comic strip Rogue Trooper from 2000AD. The game is faithful to its source material, but bland in every other way. It's a competent but unexceptional linear shooter where the detail of aiming, taking cover, etc., is handled automatically, and where the only purpose of an environment existing is in order for the player to progress through it. Which is to say that, the level design, while reasonably atmospheric and while allowing you to adequately suspend your disbelief, is not designed with exploration or alternative paths in mind. This game is not bad, but nor is it much good - it's simply okay - it's probably not worth a whole £3, for instance. It's not going to be compulsive fast-paced gameplay, or a particularly immersive experience (while faithful to the comics it fails to have the same effect in terms of the humour or the excitement), it doesn't require much in the way of tactics and it isn't very difficult. That's the Rogue Trooper game.

Fans of 2000AD like myself will no doubt enjoy the premise of this game which offers a fun romp through hellish, war-torn, Nu-Earth as you play the role of the eponymous hero waging single handed war ... with the help of your biochip buddies ... against legions of evil Norts. The game is at its best during the missions where you guide Rogue through the level, taking on enemies with your preferred blend of stealth and gung-ho direct assault. It is at its worst when you have to play through a couple of painfully tedious and badly executed levels which the game designers have included to presumably mix up the gameplay. Not to mention a poor twist on the oh-so-tired gaming cliche of losing your equipment mid-game. Level design is about as linear as it could be, to the point that you are told what to do at virtually every step. Though there is some flexibility in the tactics you can adopt to achieve your in-game goals. I also found the game controls to be awkward with aiming particularly irksome as the sights wobbled slowly and erratically around the screen. That said, Rogue Trooper is overall an enjoyable game that should be enjoyed on its merits and I'd recommend its purchase, particularly if its on sale as it was when I purchased it.

This game is a cracking actioner, even if you're not familiar with the source material. What elevates this from your standard run of the mill shooter is a couple of gameplay additions: Firstly, you don't pick up enemy weapons or ammo, you have to manufacture it, using salvage that is scattered about. You have a variety of ammo options, including grenades, so it is a balancing act between which item you make with a limited resource -do you go for a grenade, or a couple of ammo clips? Secondly, you have access to a few tools like holographic decoy which tricks your enemies and free-standing mode for your rifle, whereby it can autonomously fire at targets and give you covering fire. The gameplay is satisfying shoot-em-up fare, but a special mention must go out to the sound design - your weapon sounds absolutely bad-ass. The only fly in this delicious soup is the graphics. They looked basic when the game was released and they look really, really basic now. I get that Rebellion wanted to make it look comic book, but I honestly think they would have been better off going for a more authentic Dave Gibbons art style, rather than whatever they've gone for here. The characters look clunky and are very, very low poly. A shame, because I do believe that if they had tried a less stylised look, it would have achieved a greater market penetration with gamers. Highly recommended.

I've read about the game in an old magazine, but haven't read any comics, tho I've decided to get the game after checking out some reviews. And I have to say, it totally worth the money. It's really fun, the characters are likeable, and the interactions between Rogue and his comrades are really well written, and the voice actors did a great job. The movement of the characters are excellent, and the salvaging method is really entertaining. I wish it had more missions, but overall a really blast for your bucks, and a positive surprise in my book.