Rogue Trooper Redux Hands-On Impressions - E3 2017

By Kevin Mitchell Posted on June 28, 2017

During E3 2017, the UK based video game developer/publisher Rebellion featured two intriguing titles behind closed doors. Rogue Trooper Redux, developed by TickTock Games, is a remaster of 2006’s Rogue Trooper. Based on a science fiction comic, players are caught between a war between the evil Norts and the Southers. As I missed the game when it was first released, I decided to play the game from the beginning, learning about the characters and the war itself. Rogue Trooper was one of the first cover based shooters (with Kill Switch being recognized as the first modern title to do so), as you’ll automatically go into cover as you walk into interactive elements in the environment.

Although you can run around and open fire on the battlefield, you’ll want to take cover when possible. Players assume the role of a genetically modified super-soldier with blue skin. As the original game is a decade old, headshots are quite easy to pull off, and can easily take out the overwhelming enemy soldiers. Armed with a pistol and your assault rifle, I found myself zooming in quite often for one-shot kills. Suppressing enemies by firing blindly behind cover causes them to seek their own cover. The 30 minutes or so that I played, I also got to use a couple of gun emplacements and some heavy duty firepower to destroy a tank.

Showing its age, Rogue Trooper doesn’t feature regenerative health. Instead, you’ll need to find them scattered across the battlefield and use them once your health starts to deplete. Considering a number of games that have received the remastered treatment from the PlayStation 2 era, I found the visuals in the game relatively crisp, even with some disappointing textures.

The original game featured online broadband multiplayer on the PlayStation 2, and the competitive multiplayer will be included in Rogue Trooper Redux. However, it wasn’t playable in the version of the game that was at the event, so I can't talk about if anything has changed or been improved.

Rogue Trooper Redux is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC later this year. It should be a great nostalgic trip for those that want to check out one of the first third-person cover shooters from the last generation.