Rogue Warrior – 360 – Review

Dick
Marcinko is the type of man who chews nails instead of bubble gum and thinks
that taking a stroll into a fortified enemy stronghold filled with armed
terrorists is like a nice holiday getaway. He’s the type of Special Forces
operative that will take on any mission but disregards his superiors’ orders
when they don’t suit his liking. His is the real-life model for Rogue Warrior
for the Xbox 360 … a first-person shooter that lacks everything we love
about the genre.

 

In 1986,
Dick “Shark Man of the Delta” Marcinko as well as two other special operatives
are dropped into enemy territory in Northern Korea looking for a double agent
passing Intel from the inside as well as locating and destroying a series of
missiles. When a grenade kills his two fellow operatives, Marcinko is on his own
as he goes on a communist killing spree. Forget the orders from HQ; he’s going
to carry out his mission solo because killing terrorists is what he does best
and if he accomplishes the main objective while he’s at it then even better.

Armed with a
silenced pistol, a sub machine gun and a few grenades, Marcinko finds himself
taking on the Northern Korean army as well as the Russian army in the later
missions while attempting to disarm the missiles by running and gunning his way
through the environments. The game does add some stealth elements so you can
sneak up behind an enemy and press the A button to pull off a number of
signature kill moves such as hammering a knife into an enemy’s kidneys a couple
of times or simply jabbing said knife into a foe’s skull. You can press against
a surface to slip past enemies or to use as cover. Both the kill moves and the
cover system change the first-person perspective into a third-person view.

Stealth,
however, isn’t a requirement nor will it garner advantages in the game. Even the
cover system isn’t helpful and this is mainly because the enemies you face are
simply too dumb to the point that you can get away with just blasting your way
out of a situation. It shouldn’t be too hard to kill an enemy who hides behind
explosive material nor one that tries to hide behind the place where an
explosive barrel once stood.

 


Unfortunately, you’ll be killed a lot too and it’s mainly because the game
features poor hit detection. There are times when I made nearly impossible shots
with nothing more than an AK47 and then, with the same gun, managed to miss an
enemy nearly at pointblank range. I once unloaded an entire clip on two enemies
racing towards me only to be the one that died when one of them fired their
pistol just once. There were times when I died by my own hand because throwing
grenades can be a bit awkward when you’re doing it behind cover.

The game’s
level design is also uninspiring with nothing really original to add to the
genre. At least the Soldier of Fortune games had ultra violent kills and
interesting mission scenarios so Rogue Warrior also disappoint on that
front. It becomes impossible to care about Marcinko’s mission when all he does
never changes from start to finish. Really, this is one game that feels like it
was made in the early 1990s.

There’s also
an online multiplayer mode when you’re done playing the single-player campaign
but – like the solo game – there’s nothing new here as well. You will find Death
Match and Team Death Match for up to eight players but it’s just a
by-the-numbers experience that I don’t see gamers wanting to play this for very
long or at all for that matter.

Visually,
Rogue Warrior
isn’t a visual treat either. Sure, most of the characters look
really good up close and Marcinko actually does stand out nicely when he’s
performing a stealth kill move but that’s about it. The backgrounds and
environments lack detail and contain muddy textures that actually make the game
look more like an Ok PS2 game. Even the explosions lack some visual punch.

 

Dick
Marcinko hates commies and he’ll let you know it every few seconds with his
expletive-laden dialogue spoken by actor Mickey Rourke (of “Sin City” and “The
Wrestler” fame). There are many games loaded with profanity but this game simply
overdoes it. The music isn’t particularly great either and the sound effects are
decent but it’s nothing that really stands out.

Rogue
Warrior
for the
Xbox 360 is a forgettable and completely unoriginal game that, sadly enough,
doesn’t do justice to the first-person shooter genre. I simply adore
first-person shooters and have seen my share of good ones as well as bad ones
but Rogue Warrior is the first game that made me feel the sting of
disappointment. Sorry, Bethesda, but I cannot see myself recommending this game
to anyone.


Review
Scoring Details for Title of Rogue Warrior

Gameplay: 2.0
You get to assume
the role of a real SEAL and ant-terrorist specialist with the capability to
infiltrate enemy bases without breaking a sweat and that’s a very cool thing
indeed. The trouble is that the gameplay is dated and the action is tame thanks
to poor enemy AI and uncreative level design.


Graphics: 3.5
Dick Marcinko
actually does look good and some of the enemy looks decent enough up close as
well … until Marcinko gets a hold of them during stealth kills. Other than that,
the backgrounds and visual effects look like they belong on the PlayStation 2.

Sound:
3.0
Listening to
Mickey Rourke spout an endless stream of profanity starts off comically enough
and then just gets old and annoying really fast. You hate commies, we get it
already. The sound of gunfire is handled well and the soundtrack is just so-so,
though.
 


Difficulty: Easy/Medium
If it wasn’t for
the poor hit detection, the game would have been really easy seeing as the enemy
is just too dumb to take cover. If they do take cover, they do it behind an
explosive barrel or with half their body sticking out.


Concept: 2.0
We have assumed
the role of a One-Man-Army before in other first-person shooters but Rogue
Warrior
doesn’t do anything different or better. The signature kill moves
are a nice touch but it doesn’t help make this game better. There’s online
multiplayer but it’s a simplistic and unentertaining experience.


Multiplayer: 2.0
I only got to
play the online multiplayer Death Match once with the only two players the lobby
contained and it was a brief experience since the players got bored very
quickly. There’s nothing to the multiplayer matches and I don’t see anyone
playing this on Xbox Live very often or at all.


Overall: 2.0
A very
disappointing game from start to finish, Rogue Warrior is a game that
brings nothing new to the genre nor does it make for a fun first-person shooter
worth the money. Simply put, this isn’t just an awful shooter but it’s also a
terrible game. Sorry but this is one hero we would like to leave behind.