by: Corey Peace

July 21, 2006

Rogue Trooper is definitely a game you will probably pay 100% attention to the gameplay as opposed to the story behind it all. It’s fortunate and unfortunate in this case because for a game to be made out of a comic book, from Britain no less, you would think the story would be the compelling reason to keep playing…but not in this case. The story really isn’t anything special but it doesn’t hurt the game, thing is the gameplay is good enough to keep anyone from caring.

The vast majority of players of Rogue Trooper are not likely to know the basis of the game and probably have never heard of the comic. I’m somewhat of a comic fan myself and I have heard the name Rogue Trooper before but, had no idea it was a British comic so I can’t safely say that it’s dead on but it seems alright. The story goes as follows; you play as Rogue, a genetically engineered infantryman who is cloned by the numbers as a special type of soldier. Rogue works for a group called the Southers, whose intentions are to eliminate their enemies the Norts on their home planet of Nu Earth. It’s a waste-barren land that has suffered massive nuclear and chemical attacks to the extent of it being completely uninhabitable, except for the Rouge troopers who are immune to it all. Human-beings are still on the battlefield but, they must walk around in hazard suits in order to survive and fight you.

It’s nice to see that the amount but, more importantly the quality of third-person shooters are increasing with time. Gears of War will by far be the defining title for the Xbox 360 and Rogue Trooper could be the last best shooter for the Xbox but, because it’s so unknown to Americans it will probably be no more than a sleeper hit. It will definitely be a shame if that does become the case because for the most part I loved the gameplay. John Olin and I actually got to play Gears of War at E3 this year and once I played Rogue Trooper I couldn’t help but notice how similar they are. You run around with the third-person view but it’s not over-the-shoulder view much like Gears of War is but, it works.