Rogue Warrior

Rogue Warrior is at best a generic FPS, and at worst a nigh-unplayable mess

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Disliking Rogue Warrior as much as I did puts me in a pretty awkward position. On one hand, I feel that it's my job as a critic to warn gamers of titles as poorly assembled as Rebellion's latest effort; but on the other hand, I certainly don't want to offend ex-Navy SEAL and all around badass Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko, the man whose real life exploits served as the basis for the game. He could easily sneak into my apartment and kill me in any number of unfathomably gruesome (yet undeniably awesome) ways, but as much as I respect, admire and fear Commander Marcinko, I'm going to bite the bullet and call Rogue Warrior for what it is: a horrible, horrible game.

Pros

  • Kill moves are entertaining at first, F-bomb is used very creatively

Cons

  • Buggy gameplay, ugly and dated visuals, uninspired level designs

Bottom Line

Rogue Warrior is a generic, buggy and broken shooter with limited appeal, even to dedicated fans of Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko and the many books and novels that have documented his incredible life.

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It's at best a generic FPS, and at worst a nigh-unplayable mess. Originally toted by then-developers Zombie Studios as a tactical third-person shooter, Rogue Warrior changed hands in early 2009 with Rebellion Developments taking over -- this was not a good thing at all. The project was stripped of its innovations, including four-player drop-in/drop-out co-op and unique randomly generated multiplayer maps, and was instead reborn as a thoroughly by-the-books first person shooter. It reminded me a lot of an earlier Rebellion effort, Shellshock 2: Blood Trails as it shares many of the same persistent issues, including the painfully stupid A.I. Enemy soldiers will frequently run right past or outright ignore you; they'll also fire directly at explosive barrels that they're standing near when they're not busy playing grenade handball with each other. Throw in the game's sluggish aiming controls, poor level design and broken cover system, and you have a title that's very obviously destined for the bargain bin.

Rogue Warrior also suffers from incredibly dated visuals. The game's dark, murky textures and limited visibility make aiming a chore, and prominent clipping, slowdown and texture popping only serve to further hinder the adrenaline-fueled covert-ops experience Rogue Warrior tries so hard to recreate. Hollywood heavyweight Mickey Rourke barely earns his paycheck as the game's gruff protagonist, sleepwalking through a flimsy Cold War narrative so over-wrought with gratuitous F-bombs it'd make Kevin Smith blush. This is topped off by all-too-frequent deaths, unbalanced enemies, barebones multiplayer and glitchy gameplay that just about strips any inkling of fun out of what could have been an amazing opportunity to explore the life and times of an inspirational war hero.

Instead, Rogue Warrior is a generic, buggy and broken shooter with limited appeal, even to dedicated fans of Marcinko and the many books and novels that have documented his incredible life. In fact, do yourself a favor and pick up Demo Dick's books instead, because Rebellion's SNAFU of an FPS simply pales in comparison in every conceivable way.

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