Rogue Warrior is a game that fails to reach its potential and instead settles on a mediocore experience.
--[Story]--
The story of RW is pretty straight forward. In the game you play as Richard Marcinko. Decorated Navy Seal and the Founder of anti-terrorist group Seal Team Six. Marcinko and two other SEALS are sent on a classified mission in North Korea to retrieve intelligence on ballistic missiles. Shortly after arriving though his team members are killed in action. This leaves Marcinko, on his own, to retrieve the missile intelligence and stop the movement of these missiles by an means neccesary.
The story is told through in game cutscens and sound breaifings before each level by Marcinko. Its a very 80'ish type story. Which is what I think they were going for. This story will not win awards..but it works.
--[Graphics]--
While im no graphics whore by any means at all. Graphics do not bother me However, with that being said Rogue Warrior does not look the greatest. Marcinko himself is detailed very nice and is one of the standouts in this game. Other than that..everything else isn't as good looking. There is bland textures..enemies have the same models. While they are nicely designed a little variety would be nice. Exploisons are dull and boring..and very bland. There is no chemistry to them, they just look flat.
There is also numerous graphical glitches I came across. One was very noticable as everytime I turned the screen faded black. There was no skyline or anything...weird. Also I would like to mention RW has some really weird snow animations. If you turn while its snowing in a level the snow stops until you stop, then it falls again.
The good things about RW graphics is as I mentioned Marcinkos model is very nicely detailed. There is some high res textures in here. Its just a shame not all where as good looking. Water and lighting are very nice though. Which is the case in most Rebellion games. Weapons are nicely detailed. Espeically the dragonov sniper rifle. It looks very nice. Levels are varried which is nice..but ultimately they feel the same.
The Asura Engine Rebellion uses is capable of producing better graphics than this. Overall I was dissapointed in the look of the game. This could of been avoided if more polish was done to the game.
--[Gameplay]--
Gameplay is straight forward. In each level you have two options you can either sneak around for the first part of the level or shoot it out right at the get go. Eventually though if you sneak your cover will be blown. You can take cover behind objects and peak and shoot as you please. One nice addition to the standard gameplay is the killing moves. At anytime you can run up to a enemy and activate a quick kill move. There is 25 of them and they all are nice and brutal.
Enemy AI is very dull. I recommend playing on hard as they somewhat have a brain then. However, most of the time they are braindead. The spetsnaz solders you encounter later in the game are smarter and will flank you. Mostly though they are just the same. Weapons also have no punch to them. Theres barely any recoil.
A big problems with the gameplay is its all the same. You enter a level and do the same thing regardless of its location. There is little variety a apart from peak and shoot gameplay. a little more variety would of saved this game. Like a sniper vs sniper battle in the Russian mountains. A full stealth mission just anything. While I did have fun with the gameplay don't get me wrong. Its fun to shoot the enemies and perform these quick kills. Just more variety would of saved this game..as well as polish
--[Sound]--
The sound in RW is very good I believe. Richard Marcinko is voiced by Mickey Rourke and he does a really good job. The soundtrack consist of 80's type guitar rifts and james bond type themes. Its really sweet I thought it fit the games tone nicely. Weapons sound nice and heavy like their real life counterparts. All in all I enjoyed the sound of the game.
--[Replay Value]--
RW has little relay value. The campaign only takes acouple hours to complete even on the hardest difficulty. There is multiplayer but no one plays unfortunately. Which is a shame because you can do the quick kills online..which sounds awesome. Very little replay value here apart from trying to get all the trophies.
Overall Rogue Warrior is a game that fails to reach its potential. Its a shame what happened in its development and its horrible a game like this didn't turn into what it could of been. I hope a sequel is made and more time and effort is given and they turn it into something awesome. However, I did have fun with RW despite its faults. I say If you want a cheap purchase and "some" fun, RW may suit your needs. Just do not expect much from the title...