Rogue Trooper Impressions

During a recent meeting with Eidos, we had an opportunity to check out the latest work-in-progress PlayStation 2 version of Rogue Trooper. Inspired by the 2000 AD comic book character of the same name, and being developed by UK-based Rebellion (who owns said comic book), Rogue Trooper is a third-person action game in which you'll assume the role of the titular one-man army as he hunts for the traitor responsible for the deaths of his brothers-in-arms.

The first level that we got to see being played was titled "Together Again," which is no doubt a reference to the fact that three pieces of Rogue's equipment incorporate biochips containing the digitized personalities of his fallen squadmates. The upshot of the whole biochip situation is that Rogue's equipment has enough intelligence to perform some of the actions that would previously have been performed by the other squad members. Rogue's gun, for example, is named Gunnar, and it can be deployed as a turret with auto-targeting at any time. Rogue's helmet, on the other hand, is named Helm, and can be used to hack into security systems and such while Rogue (and Gunnar, perhaps) keeps the area clear of enemies. Rogue's other gadget is a backpack named Bagman, which we've yet to see in action.

The level took place on the desolate-looking surface of the planet Nu Earth, and tasked Rogue with infiltrating a building guarded by enemy soldiers from the Nort Republic. Memorable moments from the level included having Gunnar shoot at enemies in turret form while Rogue used a pistol to "blindfire" at them from behind a crate; having Helm crack a security door open while Rogue used a stationary gun emplacement to shoot at a large enemy gunship; and ducking in and out of cover with a powerful sniper rifle to take out enemies from a great distance.

Rogue Trooper will feature a total of around 12 levels, two or three of which will be vehicle-based, inasmuch as you'll be inside a vehicle for their duration. One of the levels that was mentioned, for example, will task you with manning a gun on the side of a helicopter, while the level that we got to see was titled "Hovertrain Journey." In the level, you'll stand on a train that's coming under fire from bipedal-creature-riding enemies on both sides, as well as from bad guys flying in the skies above. You'll defend the train by moving between three different gun emplacements and taking out any enemies who manage to slip past those defenses and board the train.

All of Rogue Trooper's character models and weapon effects looked quite impressive during our demonstration, although many of the environmental textures looked bad when Rogue got close to them. Rogue Trooper definitely looked like it'll be a lot of fun after we actually get our hands on it, and we were excited to learn at the end of our meeting that the game will feature special cooperative missions for up to four players (split-screen or online), in which you'll play as Rogue, Gunnar, Bagman, and Helm before the squad ceased to be.

We'll bring you more information on Rogue Trooper, which is currently scheduled for release in spring 2006, as soon as it becomes available.