Rogue Trooper Redux (Nintendo Switch) Review

By Albert Lichi 25.10.2017

Review for Rogue Trooper Redux on Nintendo Switch

The 2000 AD comic-zine publication was home to some fine British comics, such as the famous Judge Dredd and, of course, Rogue Trooper. In the mid-2000s, the PlayStation 2 would get games based on both classic franchises, but only one of them would become a cult hit while the other faded into obscurity. Rogue Trooper was the better game and in 2006 there was no other third-person shooter that offered as much flexibility. This was months before Gears of War came out and other titles, like Kill Switch, Max Payne or Red Dead Revolver... Choices for third-person shooting games were limited. With Rogue Trooper Redux, the original game gets a facelift, with completely new graphics. The gameplay remains exactly as it was from 2006, so Cubed3 checks if this lean, mean, blue fighting-machine still holds up or completely blue it with outdated gameplay.

One thing that Rogue Trooper Redux gets right is how faithful it is to the source material. The very nature of the story from the comics is fertile ground that makes a lot of sense for a videogame. A cloned army of genetically enhanced super soldiers, known as the Southers, are born to fight and keep back-ups of their consciousness in a microchip just so they can get a chance to continue fighting after death. The Norts are obviously an evil empire that sounds vaguely like Germans or Russians. These two forces clash on a battlefield known as "Nu-Earth," which is such a hilariously cheesy name that it actually works. Even the main villain is called "Traitor General." The set-up parallels World War II and even some elements of the American Civil War, but other than that the plot line is fairly stock, and is only elevated thanks to the imaginative setting and weird visuals. Massive tanks the size of a small shopping mall make for an unusual vista as dozens of blue shirtless guys storm a desert with huge quartz crystals jutting out of the surface. It is a very lurid and bizarre landscape that does 2000 AD justice.

Screenshot for Rogue Trooper Redux on Nintendo Switch

After a few of Rogue's brothers in arms suffer mortal wounds on the battlefield, he manages to save their consciousness by extracting their memory chips and inserting them into his gear. Bagman becomes Rogue's backpack, able to craft gear and ammo on the fly. Gunnar gets to be Rogue's assault rifle and can become an automated turret that attacks and distracts. Helm is placed inside the helmet where he can cast holograms and make distractions. All these genetic infantrymen have very tragic names that all were tied to their fate and are so obvious it becomes adorable. It really would have been awkward if Rogue put Gunnar in his helmet first. All of this ties back to the gameplay and this was what made Rogue Trooper unique back in the day: flexibility and options on the battlefield. When Rogue has access to the core abilities, the game opens up in a substantial way where a ton of leeway is offered. Rogue is essentially a one-man platoon and being able to lay mines, set up an automated turret, and then run a distraction with a holo-Rogue makes for some interesting situations when up against a small army of Norts and snipers. The gameplay would normally hold up but the issue with Rogue Trooper Redux is that while there have been such painstaking efforts to update all the 3D visuals, nothing has been done to the game's playability.

Screenshot for Rogue Trooper Redux on Nintendo Switch

Rogue Trooper at one point also got ported to the Wii. On the Wii, the game had Wii Remote aiming implemented, and while the graphics were the same as it was on PlayStation 2, it was better off that way. Rogue Trooper Redux's 3D visuals would normally be impressive if it weren't for the fact the original 2006 animations and character rigging were not recycled. The older 3D models were built with the restrictions of the character animation and with much higher fidelity models; the lack of range of motion and animation really sticks out in a bad way. This is seen in cut-scenes and felt in gameplay. The simple act of doing a dodge roll looks really off and seems like there are missing frames from the actions as Rogue snaps from certain poses. It's not quite clear if this is the result of a poor porting to Nintendo Switch or if this is present in all versions. Optimisation on this version is not ideal and is rife with inconsistent frame pacing and drops. The much lower resolution is understandable, but there is no excuse for such a sparse looking game to run so poorly.

Screenshot for Rogue Trooper Redux on Nintendo Switch

Anyone who still has their copy of Rogue Trooper on Wii is better off with that version. The controls in this remastering have been butchered. The sensitivity for Rogue's aiming is both unresponsive and too sensitive, a feat that was thought to be impossible. Aiming requires extremely careful and subtle movements on the analogue stick, which will move the reticule much slower than it should. Trying to exceed this subtle gesture results in Rogue snapping aim way off target since the aiming in Rogue Trooper Redux becomes way too sensitive. This was clearly such a problem that the game relies on a very forgiving hit system that requires aiming to be much more vague than necessary so bullets sort of home in on targets that are close enough to the reticule. It's a crutch for a lacking aiming system and feels like riding a bike with training wheels on all the time, making for very unsatisfying gun-play.

Rogue Trooper Redux has nothing much going on for it by today's standards. At best, it is a quaint relic that has some creative ideas, but does not translate well due to a poor Switch conversion and lack of effort put into making the 2006 mechanics congruent with the modern day advancements in game engines. The presentation is sloppy and while 2000 AD's source material is faithfully represented, the characters were flat and not really compelling to begin with. Rogue Trooper Redux needed more fine tuning so it can be comparable to the competition. The co-operative mode is functional and even active. Without any voice chatting options, the lack of communication will make for a completely incoherent play session, which quickly degenerates into boredom.

Screenshot for Rogue Trooper Redux on Nintendo Switch

Cubed3 Rating

3/10
Rated 3 out of 10

Bad

The Wii version of Rogue Trooper had much better controls, the graphics fit the animations and is still the best way to play out the Quartz Zone Massacre. Rogue Trooper Redux on Switch is an unpolished mess with technical issues and looks horrible docked and in portable mode. The new model's rigs cause extensive clipping and makes character anatomy do all sorts bizarre contortions and twists that are just painful to look at. The limits of old hardware made the developers be creative with their modelling and consider more carefully how they would be rigged. All of that is thrown out the window in favour of technical advancements... not artistic advancements. While it is playable, expect a very sloppy version of what was already a run of the mill third-person shooter.

Developer

Rebellion

Publisher

Rebellion

Genre

Action

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  3/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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