Joystiq impressions: Rogue Warrior

We hadn't seen much of Rogue Warrior before Bethesda trotted it out at its showcase event in London last week. The game centers around the life of real-world Navy Seal Richard "Demo Dick" Marcinko and puts you in his incredibly violent shoes.

Unfortunately, the character of Demo Dick is the only unique selling point that the game has and, while his constant swearing (in Mickey Rourke's voice, no less) and vicious finishing moves start off entertaining, the novelty soon wears off.

At its heart, Rogue Warrior is a very generic first-person shooter, from what we saw. The game can be played through either stealthily or as a normal shooter, both of which benefit from the inclusion of a cover system. The most interesting parts of the game are the cinematic kill moves. These are very graphic stealth moves that can be performed if the enemy has not yet spotted you.
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These kill moves have been personally vetted by Dick Marcinko, as has the rest of the game, to best reflect his experiences in the field. As a result, they mostly involve him putting his knife where, really, knives aren't supposed to be. Like in heads. Or groins.

There are about twenty-five of these kill moves in the game, apparently. For a feature that is supposed to set Rogue Warrior apart from other FPS games, it sounds like it could get quite repetitive. The environments were very bland and warehousey, with the enemies looking like the same armed guards you've killed countless times before. There's a slight Duke Nukem 3D feel with the constant swearing and backchatting, but without the over-the-top elements (like, umm, aliens).

There are, however, "lots of different things you get to blow up," which is always a plus. The game also features multiplayer in the form of deathmatch and capture the flag. Up to sixteen players can play against each other over six maps. In other words, there's nothing new here. Of potential interest, however, is the fact that the kill moves are carried over to the multiplayer modes and the player with the highest score during a match gets to play as Dick. It doesn't give you any extra skills, but it makes you look that much cooler.

The thing about basing a game on a real person is that, while Dick Marcinko may be incredibly interesting and full of exciting, if scary, stories of his past exploits, every other video game character is just like him. Especially characters in first- or third-person-shooters with cover systems.

We're not expecting too much of Rogue Warrior when it releases later this year. Judging from the dearth of shooters that are hitting the market this year, however, Rogue Warrior might find a fanbase after all. Then again, Modern Warfare 2 could put pay to that all on its own.