An underrated game, well worth checking out for fans of 3rd person action.
In any case, I think the setting had a nice bit of semi-familiar nostalgia for me, so that may colour this review. Having played through the game I have to say first that some may find it relatively easy to play through. It took me probably the better part of 10 or 12 hours to get through the first time. I myself am in the camp that believes a game should err on the side of being slightly easier rather than too challenging, as repeating a sequence more than 10 times generally tends to be more of an exercise in frustration than anything else. That being said, there are a few challenging battles in the game, but there are so many options to approach those battles that you generally are focused on changing one's tactics rather than doing the same thing over and over again.
A large part of the beginning of Rogue Trooper is somewhat tutorial in nature, although the veneer of being led through and instructed on the game mechanics disappears quickly and you feel immersed in the world after the first few areas. The game works surprisingly well, and the faithfulness to the source material seems extremely strong (although I will admit to not being a Rogue Trooper expert).
Interactivity
Most of the interaction with the environment involves hugging up against walls, vaulting over low cover or climbing up to higher spots. Like Gears of War for the X360, you can fire blind from cover, chuck grenades (via precision or just a quick toss) or use melee attacks if you're in close. Most of the fun begins in using your weapons, which have multiple functions. Your fallen comrades have rejoined the fight, implanted as chips into your Backpack (Bagman), Helmet (Helm) and Rifle (Gunnar). I'll take it as not much of a spoiler as these are their names before they become relegated to equipment (although having personalities, there's a fair amount of banter from each of them), and move one by saying that it's an innovative system for the game that works from the get-go. You can salvage raw materials from downed enemies or hidden (mostly not-so-hidden) caches, so that Bagman can manufacture more ammo, grenades, or upgrades. Gunnar can be left on his own on a tripod to provide cover support (and gives lots of support in the form of comments 'Oooh, headshot!' "Nice shooting, Rogue!". Helm can eventually be useful for providing a decoy that you can use to scout or distract your enemies. Indeed one of the best aspects of the game is to decide whether to go stealthy or guns blazing. In most other games of this type, these mechanics rarely end up being fun-- as soon as the alarm is tripped, usually all hell breaks loose and you're left with only one other alternative. This is less the case in Rogue Trooper, however. There's a war going on, so it feels less like you're breaking the suspension of disbelief when you go and hide someplace and they lose your scent.
In fact, some of the fun is that there IS a war being fought, and on a place much different from Earth. Nu Earth has a poisonous atmosphere (to all but you, Genetically enhanced Infantry that you are), so most of the foes you fight are wearing some sort of breathing apparatus-- which can be shot off, or punctured in some way so as to provide explosive satisfaction.
Plot
Well, it IS a comic book. That being said, the plot is fairly straightforward, and about what you'd expect for a game of this type.
Characters
The only really memorable characters are Rogue and his weapon-bound buddies, and your arch-nemesis, and even then, he's pretty much a 1-dimensional character. But the whole thing fits within the milieu and works surprisingly well.
Immersiveness
Level design is good, making Nu Earth feel like a war torn planet in some far flung galaxy. A few of the areas are predictable, but for me, they worked really well and I didn't see many of the "seams" of the world that I've noticed in other games.
The graphics are actually quite good, and don't suffer from most of the aspects of console ports. There's actually a fair bit of detail, and they seem to work well within the confines of a graphic novel to video game adaptation. There are swirls of smoke and the war going on in the distance add to the atmosphere of a world under siege. A constant presence in the sky is a strange wormhole-like phenomenon, with some nice detail. Voice work is well done, without being too hammy or flat, like someone just reading from a script. It /works/ and feels like comic book dialogue ripped straight from the page (and this is a good thing). Speaking of the comic book, there are nice touches like a reward system that lets you unlock comic book art and other info based upon how much salvage you've acquired throughout the game. The rest of the sounds are good, with great weapon sounds, and the music moves things along without drawing too much attention to itself.
The Big Question
Is it fun? If you haven't guessed from my review so far, I found Rogue Trooper to be extremely fun, and found it a delightful romp through that corner of the 2000 AD multiverse. In fact it's one of the few games in recent memory that I feel compelled to replay immediately afterward, just to try out some different tactics or see what else I can unlock/find. It's also fun to approach some of the battles from a different perspective, or see how many silent kills you can achieve. There are lots of fun toys to play with, even though there's a finite number, I never felt like I was out of options playing through the game. I recommend it, but perhaps wouldn't pay overmuch as it did feel like kind of a short but sweet experience.
9.0 Superb