It may lack some polish, but Rogue Ops is a highly entertaining stealthy adventure.
That's the story of Rogue Ops in a nutshell, a stealth game from Bits Studios that borrows elements from some of the best stealth games in the market and combines them with several original neat ideas. For the most part, Rogue Ops is really good, but a noticeable lack of polish in certain areas keeps it from reaching a higher status of excellence. Still, any stealth fan who's willing to overlook a few missteps should have a very entertaining time with Rogue Ops.
Let's start with the strongest elements of the game. The story, while nothing out of this world, is well written and manages to keep you motivated as you advance through the game. Even better is the way Nikki's personal quest manages to add an interesting twist towards the typical "save the world" scenario. Nikki's character is pretty solid (even if her looks are predictable and somewhat generic); she's pissed at the world for understandable reasons, yet she's above the cold-hearted ways Phoenix and isn't afraid to express her discontent when she doesn't agree with the orders she's given. The rest of the characters are ok, although the villains are way overdone (particularly Serena).
Moving on to the gameplay, the game features eight excellently designed missions that manage to provide variety, plenty of challenging situations, and not a single dull moment. While Nikki is always free to go loud and kill anyone who gets in her way during her quest (with the exception of one particular mission), the game is at its best when things are handled quietly. Sneaking past guards or confusing them first in order to kill them is always rewarding. What's best is the variety of solutions available at any time. Nikki's arsenal consists of a few silenced weapons as well as several cool gadgets that offer the ability to see through walls, scan retinas, or even turn invisible, among others. Also, Nikki is never confined to a single linear path as there are always different ways of navigating through the levels, some that may allow you to bypass large groups of enemies.
Unfortunately the ride is somewhat marred by a few wrinkles that show up along the way. Chief among them are the somewhat clunky shooting controls. Handling Nikki while things are going quiet is a breeze and stealth kills are very enjoyable as they also feature a mini-game element. However the minute things get loud and you have to fight multiple enemies at a time you're at a serious disadvantage because aiming is a real chore. An auto-targeting model could've helped a lot in these situations. Mind you, this isn't a game breaking issue and you may get past this issue once you're deep into the game, but it's a problem worth noting nonetheless.
An inconsistent aspect of the game is the A.I., at times great and at times bonehead stupid. Guards will be alert to sounds or any suspicious movement or change in the environment. An excellent touch is how guards will notice when a fellow guard is missing (whether it's because the guard isn't responding to com-chatter or he didn't complete his route) and come check the situation. Even better, if you kill a guard and leave a pool of blood behind, other guards will notice it and raise the alarm. It's great how guards will react realistically to any mess that you leave behind (unlike other higher profile stealth games). However, once they're engaging in combat the guards' A.I. seems to drop dangerously low. They aren't very efficient at shooting and in some situations they will just quit giving chase to you if you get sufficiently far away. Also, though somewhat rare, it's possible for an alerted guard to walk right past you without noticing you. It's too bad how this inconsistencies mar what is an otherwise great work of artificial intelligence.
It should be noted that Rogue Ops is a somewhat difficult game. Regardless of difficulty level, navigating through the levels undetected is always a challenge and lots of patience is required if you want to make it to the end alive. Avoiding cameras and patrolling guards requires quick and swift movements, or a fast finger on the trigger, otherwise you'll be forced to restart from the last checkpoint. Speaking of which, the checkpoint system can be the biggest source of frustration in the game. Not that a checkpoint system is bad, on the contrary for this kind of game it works in its favor making the experience more rewarding. Unfortunately checkpoint placement is highly inconsistent. Sometimes you will go for long stretches of the game without triggering a checkpoint, forcing you to replay large chunks of the game over and over. At other times, checkpoints are placed very frequently. A more consistent save system would've helped ease some frustration in the game's more difficult sections.
On a technical aspect Rogue Ops is solid if not spectacular. The graphics are very good and feature lots of detail. Environments are well rendered and the variety between levels makes the game easy on the eyes. The sound effects are also well done, although explosions could be a little louder. The game's soundtrack is one of the finer points, consisting of mostly techno music that varies according to the situation you're in, kicking into full gear when things get awry.
Unfortunately the voice acting didn't turn out so good. Basically, the voice acting ranges from acceptable to brutally awful. Characters like tech-whiz Cody and weapons expert Jonah are voiced fine, but sadly the main character's voice work is somewhat uneven, not being able to deliver the right emotions when needed and feeling forced at other times. It's not bad, but Nikki's voice acting could've been handled better. However the villains voice work is atrocious. Serena in particular sounds comical and not at all menacing. The same goes for most of the guards who tend to suffer from terribly overblown accents.
Despite its many issues, Rogue Ops is a very enjoyable ride that manages to do a lot more good than bad. It's budget nature clearly had an effect on the overall polish of the game and one can only wonder how much better the game would've been with a bigger budget. Regardless, while it may not be destined to be a classic, Rogue Ops is easy to recommend to any stealth aficionado looking for a quick and dirty adventure.