Rebellion brought more heat than usual to E3 this year, revealing an exciting new IP in Strange Brigade (preview to come), while also showcasing the nearly completed re-skin of their classic, third-person shooter, Rogue Trooper. First released in 2006 to positive reviews, Rogue Trooper has spent the last 11 years amassing somewhat of a cult following, reaching 90%+ overall rating on Steam, and prompting a full HD ‘redux’ from its now independent developers.
To be clear, this is just a re-texture, with a few polished animations and minor gameplay tweaks. There’s no shame in that, but with an identical code base to the original and no major changes made to gameplay, there isn’t a great deal to say in this preview. I will, of course, cover the basics.
The re-texture was a complete success, and the game looks fantastic, considering the decade old modelling underneath the textures. The visuals still aren’t groundbreaking, but Rebellion have certainly rescued the game from PS2 era graphics and increased its current-day playability in the process.
I previewed the first mission in the game, The Quartz Zone Massacre. Dropped immediately into a fight, I was able to test out RTR’s highly praised combat mechanics, which have been lauded in recent history for being the first to introduce a cover mechanic into gunplay (debate still exists whether Rogue Trooper or Gears of War did it better).
At any rate, fans in 2006 were right; combat is fast paced, multi-directional, and rewards smart movement and placement around the battlefield. One control change, noted by devs, was that where entering cover used to require a button press, it now happens automatically upon approaching cover. It’s usually the little mod-cons that I miss in old games, so it was nice to see that the devs have caught stuff like this.
The run-cover-shoot-run gameplay got a little boring by the end of the level, and, frankly, the whole thing felt a little simplistic and primitive by comparison to what we’d call a shooter today. This brings me to the major issue with RTR; it’s from 2006. You could drape it in Lil’ Yachty shirts and fidget spinners and it’d still be a game from 2006. I think this is one that’ll sell with existing fans, but I can’t see it drawing a new, younger fan-base.
That’s all really. It’s literally the same game with an HD texture mod. I guess that’s a good thing if you like the original, or if you’re a fan of 2000 AD/Judge Dredd. I don’t mean to say it’s bad, it just isn’t exciting either.
