Rogue Trooper is a comic strip that dates back to 1981. Starring Rogue, a “Genetic Infantryman,” or GI for short, the story follows his struggles in a massive war on the fictional planet Nu-Earth. The series has seen a handful of videogame releases throughout the decades since the comic began, including a PlayStation 2-era release with the same title. Developer TickTock Games showed us their progress towards a fully remastered release on current-generation consoles at publisher Rebellion Developments’ meeting room during E3 2017, and we have a preview ready for you below.
TPS From the Past
Rogue Trooper Redux is a third-person shooter, featuring cover mechanics and a smattering of weapons, both traditional and sci-fi. Although Rogue is a super soldier, he isn’t invulnerable, and so you are going to need to get used to the cover system, and utilize all your available weaponry, if you hope to make it to the end of the game.
One thing that will take some getting used to is the game’s health system. Rogue Trooper comes from an era when regenerating health wasn’t always the norm. Here, you have to conserve the limited number of health packs you pick up while doing battle, using them only when your health is actually low. A nice animation plays each time you use a health pack: the robotic backpack you’re always carrying injects you with a healing substance. If you hate needles, you might want to look away!
The original Rogue Trooper included an online mode, featuring that “BROADBAND ONLY” icon on the PS2 pack shot. While we were unable to sample the game’s online mode in its pre-beta state, the option was there front and center on the main menu. So if you remember having some fun playing the original online, then you’ll likely have another chance when the remaster comes out.
Definitely an Upgrade
Graphically, Rogue Trooper Redux is naturally an upgrade compared to the original PS2 release, but then again, the technical leap from the PS2 to today’s PS4 is so drastic, even a simple upscaling of graphics would look fairly good. Thankfully, it does appear more effort than a simple resolution increase. The cutscenes carry over intact, and it appears they were originally done in-game, which bodes well in a remaster – no jarring, blurry cutscenes in the middle of some HD gaming.
Rogue Trooper Redux is looking like it’ll be one for fans of the original release. With upgraded visuals and performance, the game can finally be played as it was originally intended – looking back at old PS2 footage of the original, it’s hard to believe those visuals were the norm, especially running at those kinds of frame rates! Stay tuned for more coverage of Rogue Trooper Redux as it approaches release, currently “coming soon.”
