State of Play: Rogue Trooper

I seem to be experiencing a Wii renaissance of late. It seems that (literally) blowing away the dust has revealed a cracking little games machine.

I picked up Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Zone Massacre a few days ago but it's a game that I've wanted since it was released on the PS2 and Xbox several years ago. I would have forgotten about it completely, I suppose, if it hadn't remerged as a cash-in port for the Wii. Annoyingly, it was a game that wouldn't come down in price. Perhaps because it wasn't a widely available title.

As it happens it appeared in an Easter sale for less than six quid. I snapped it up and it was shipped an hour later to arrive the next day.

If you're not in the know Rogue Trooper is from the 2000AD stable of British comic characters, a group that was part of my teenage years long before I dabbled with manga. The Rogue Trooper was possibly my favourite along with Judge Dredd (I loved Dredd because he was a complete bastard, and armed with a gun). There was something that appealed in the tales of being an outcast (the only surviving Genetic Infantryman) and the lonely madness of war.

When a game came out for the Commodore 64 featuring the blue-skinned solider I picked it up albeit when it appeared at low-price ("on budget" as we used to say in the 8-bit days). The game was, though, slow and disappointing. It was in monochrome too.

This new game is courtesy of Rebellion, the developers who own the rights to 2000AD characters appearing in videogames. They released a Dredd game a few years back and have recently been receiving less than favourable reviews for the latest incarnation of Aliens Vs Predator. Thankfully, I think Rogue Trooper is pretty good.

The game's subtitle refers to the heart of the comic's narrative. The incident which saw the wiping out of all of the South's (the tale is played out in the USA of Nu-Earth and is a case of North versus South) latest fighting force: the Genetic Infantrymen. These soldiers are bred for war and are able to breathe the poisonous fumes of Nu-Earth unaided - a distinct advantage over the North's (or Nortland's) army which is encumbered with breathing apparatus. However, a betrayal sees them all wiped out except for one soldier. He learns the truth and goes rogue to unmask the traitor thus becoming a target for both sides in the endless war.

Rogue Trooper the game plays all of this out which immediately pulled me into the game. Because I've not read all of the stories I know of the incident (it's frequently referred to in flashback) but I don't know if the massacre was ever related as straight narrative. It's hard for me not take a biased stance so I've no idea if the story would be appealing to non-2000AD readers.

The game itself is very much a Gears of War affair, which should be enough to explain everything. The differences come from the addition of the comic's lore. Thanks to Rogue's deceased comrades (GIs can live on if their microchips are removed quickly after death and slotted into available equipment; Rogue's buddies Helm, Bagman, and Gunnar live on as...well you can guess) he can crack security, fire an assortment of different types of gun, and manufacture his own ammo.

The visuals aren't great. It's fairly ugly even for a last generation game; the palette is mostly greys and browns. The sound is nothing special either except for Rogue's gun which for me is the most satisfying since the Half Life series (strange as it may seem that I only ever feel I'm shooting a gun if Gordon Freeman picks one up, and that's after having played both Modern Warfare games).

The Wii controls aren't satisfactory either. It's definitely a cash-in affair and awkward because of it. The X360 pad is ideal for these types of games and I'm missing it sorely.

So it's probably very much a case of love is blind. The foundation - story, gameplay, etc - is sound though. Better controls and a HD makeover and I'd snap it up again. As it is it's already put Prototype on the back-burner.