Rogue Trooper

Rogue Trooper Is a game that improves with memory. Although it suffered from the same empty-world syndrome that broke the immersion in Rebellion's Judge Dredd FPS, there's a strong script at work, and fine acting.

2000AD noobs will need an explanation: Rogue Trooper is a blue, genetically modified soldier who sees his squad die in the opening scenes of the game. However, that's OK! In the future, soldiers have biochips, which store their personalities, that can be installed into their rifles, helmets and backpacks. This leaves you - Rogue - with an entire team around your person.

This is a great, stylish take on the HEV suit with invisible voices bickering around you. And some of the comic translates well into gameplay, too. For example, Gunnar's biochip (installed in your rifle) allows you to drop your gun and leave it to act as a sentry post.

The characterisation is classic, sassy soldier chat, and it's done well - and it's an above-average shooter. Rogue Trooper is nothing you haven't seen before, but you can't go around demanding to see new things every day. What are you, some kind of princess?

Rebellion blew a couple of hats off with their first 2000AD conversion; Dredd vs Death took two of the best-known characters from the stable, and now it's Rogue's turn for his first digital daytrip since the days of 16-bit. And there aren't any crates of Red Bull lying around, either.

First off, it looks good, in a grimy war-torn way. The controls tutorial starts with the presumption that you've been holding a pillow to your face since Quake, but as Rogue's squad are killed and their bio-chips incorporated into his equipment, it starts to become fun to play.

The weapons you discover from blueprints and the powers you gain from your friends (decoys, sentry guns, upgrades, micro-mines) aren't ground-breaking, but they're diverse and faithful to their roots.

It isn't a hugely challenging third-person shooter though, and the tutorial is too mothering for too long. Perhaps it's just me, but when Gunnar said, "Take cover, there's too many of them," I refused because it wasn't my idea. And I died. So thanks, Gunnar.

Finally though, kudos to the scriptwriters and actors for providing a stream of banter that never once made me want to pull my jaw off and mash my teeth against my forehead. Something so rare, I added two to the score.