Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Mitch Youngblood

It's rare for me to have as little fun with a game as I've experienced with Rogue Ops, but it does happen on occasion. This game is just flat-out not fun, and then there are the technically incompetent design decisions that go with it. You play at Nikki Connors whose husband and son were killed in a terrorist attack. After two years of hard study and training, Nikki is ready to get into the field and hunt down some terrorists. Where she runs afoul is of the game itself due to bad controls, horrible lighting, and "hidden"� switches that are hidden so well that finding them by your lonesome is dang near impossible.

I don't mind games that focus on stealth, like Metal Gear Solid and its ilk. What I do have problems with is when things are hidden so well they may as well not be on the map, enemies that might not see you if you're standing right in front of them, and a convoluted plot that stretches credibility are all thrown into a pot and then called a "stealth game".

I'd say the graphics were bad, but I'd have to be able to see them first. Even on missions where there is plenty of light, the game is dark. I cranked the settings up to as high as I could get in the menu, and I still felt like I was driving 106 miles to Chicago at night while wearing sunglasses. Rogue Ops at least gives you a night vision visor, but that's only useful in finding enemy body heat and electrical wires. If you're just trying to see what's around the next corner, try guessing because you're better off. The character models are fairly bland, and nothing you haven't seen in Metal Gear Solid.

The maps are pretty cool though, as they're usually based on places which are just cool to infiltrate and explore like a large mansion. But I frequently got turned around and couldn't figure out where to go because I flat-out couldn't see things around me. In order to climb onto things or activate things, you have to line-up your field of vision until an icon appears over that item. You then can activate it with the X button, which will either activate/deactivate a switch, or let your character pick something up, or let you jump onto something. I mention this feature in the Graphics section because when you have to climb onto something but cannot find where it is, that would be considered a bad thing.

The music is nothing special. It's unobtrusive, and after listening to it I didn't think it enhanced the tension of the missions at all. There are many guns around, and they all sound fine. Since this is a stealth-based game, if you're making noise then you're doing something wrong. When you sneak up on someone and execute a combo, the sounds of your enemy's bones breaking are particularly vicious. Motion sensors and gun turrets all are appropriately menacing, and the voice acting is particularly over-the-top. It's telling of a bad game when the highest score is for an average audio, but there you have it. Nothing special, nothing bad, Rogue Ops just has plain sound effects, and run-of-the-mill voice acting spurred on by a script more appropriate to a TBS-original thriller flick.

The controls for Rogue Ops are pretty average as well, with the X button as your action button, the square button being your "activate device"� button, the circle being the button to draw your weapon, and the direction pad will scroll items and weapons. The L1 button will lock onto your target when you're armed, and the L2 button will crouch. The R1 button will draw and shoot your gun, and the R2 will holster or draw it as well.

Sadly, there's no jump button which would have come in handy quite a lot, but I guess the designers had to make an already challenging game extra hard. There is also the fact that you have to perfectly position the camera to jump onto pipes or walls, not to mention the same applies when you're looking for switches. You can also search bodies, but you have to kneel beside them then click and hold down X to search them.

Of course, most everyone I searched had nothing on them even when there was an electric lock nearby and I was expected to find a keycard on at least one of them. About the only thing I enjoyed was how there are different ways of getting around motion sensors and guards. Sneaking up on guards requires a dexterous thumb, because if you push the left thumbstick even a little hard, then you're running and guards will hear you.

Rogue Ops wants so desperately to be a combination of Metal Gear Solid� and Perfect Dark,� but the only thing it succeeds in being is perfectly dark. Get it? Punny! Actually, some of the missions are pretty cool in theory because I think it'd be fun to sneak through places like a large mansion or a bank and take out terrorists, but aside from the darkness inherent to the game, the enemy AI is just weak.

I get that they have limited views, but when I'm standing right in front of one of them I expect to be seen. I stood in front of enemies, and walked the entire circumference around them and was never seen. Does this strike anyone else as odd? Also, you walk into a room where there's a motion sensor, and you've got a few ways to get around it. You can jump on a ledge and wall-climb around, you can hunt down a security card and use it to shut the system down, or you can bring an object into play and see what happens. I just felt the execution was lame since it has been done better so many other times in so many other games.

I did enjoy the results of the combo hand-to-hand attacks, but you really have to be patient to do so. When you're sneaking up behind an enemy, you're view will lock in on him and turn green. At that point, you hold down the X button and watch as the bar progresses. You can let it go at any time, but the fuller it gets the cooler the finishing move looks. Once you let the X button go, a screen will pop up with directions. You have to hit the thumbstick in those directions very quickly, otherwise the move will fail. A cool idea, but not one to redeem the game in my eyes. My advice would be to play something else, but that's me.

Rogue Ops is not a fun game, period. There are too many bad moves design-wise that limit the fun factor, there revenge story isn't that engaging, the main character comes across as Jennifer Garner would on Alias is she were on Valium, and the nefarious villains are about as dangerous as a grocery clerk on a really bad day. I never felt like I was in danger of anything other than madness as I searched valiantly for the next area, or a way around an obstacle.

A way to tell when the game you're playing may not be up to par is when you have to keep replaying the same map over and over because you can't figure out where to go. I enjoy puzzles as much as the next person and challenging games are all well and good, but I have to wonder who play-tested this and how they could have possibly thought of it as fun. Skip it.

Rogue Ops doesn't set new lows for bad games, but it does go pretty far down the scale. I would definitely have to advise against playing this one, as there's not much to recommend. There are several ideas at work which are cool in concept, such as the hand-to-hand combat moves, but the overall effect is not very entertaining.

Gaming Trend Score

56

1. Graphics: 50
2. Audio: 70
3. Controls: 68
4. Gameplay: 50
5. Value/Replay: 45
6. OVERALL:56