The control scheme itself is straightforward, though. The digital pad allows players to change weapons, grenade types, and apply a self-med tool. Players can hide up against walls, duck for cover, peep around corners, dive in all directions, climb, snipe and perform stealth attacks. Tossing grenades is also fairly simple, but requires a bit of a learning curve, as it is a mix between EA’s third-person 007 games and Brother in Arms. For aimed grenade throwing it takes time to line up the throw and that can seriously work against players in a heated firefight. However, tossing grenades from behind an object is quite simple, and Rogue automatically throws the grenade in the enemies’ direction. How effective the grenade is depends on the kind that’s being used. There’s a handful of different grenades, and each made for a different purpose. The most innovative would have to be the sticky bomb, which could be attached to any surface--even an enemy. When shot, the sticky bomb will explode, and when attached to a foe, him and any of his nearby buddies get blasted too.
There’s also a number of gun-variations (since Rogue only use one gun) which can be obtained and upgraded. For example: a sniper-rifle which can be upgraded to support longer ranges and larger clips, a shotgun, a ground-to-air missile, a machine gun, a pistol, mines, a mortar, and an electrocution weapon that goes by the name of a “beam rifle.” The new weapons can only be obtained and upgraded during designated parts of the game. Added to this, upgrades can only take place by acquiring blue-prints and salvage scattered throughout the stages.
Mechs are tough to beat in this game
Salvage is also used to refill and upgrade med-kits, grenades, mines, Rogue’s helmet and Rogue's backpack. More importantly, though, salvage is used to gather ammo. Without salvage, there’s no ammo. Why Rogue couldn’t take the enemy weapons is beyond me, but he seems to manage well with the parts from their guns. Bagman--Rogue’s backpack--can create or refill ammo for Rogue’s weapons. The pistol is the only weapon that doesn’t have a finite amount of ammo, although it still has to be reloaded. Strangely, next to the sniper rifle, the pistol was the most accurate and well-rounded weapon in the game. Had it been fitted with the sniper rifle’s silencer, the pistol would have been golden for acquiring normal and stealth kills.
The only problem I found with stealth kills, though, is that it’s very, very difficult to get behind enemies on the maps. When a stealth kill is pulled off (good luck with that), players are treated to a pre-set sequence showing Rogue brutally killing his foe. Players are also awarded extra salvage for not damaging the enemy’s equipment. There’s also a melee attack which Rogue can use when up close, but the AI normally moves back and away to avoid being clobbered on the head. Most of their tactics are sound and challenging, and the AI is quite good for a game of this kind. Unlike Halo, if one enemy is alerted not all the others are alerted in that area. Instead, the enemies in Rogue Trooper just yell out that one of their men has been hit, and he needs support (think Farcry). If more than one enemy spots the player, they will work cohesively to flank or suppress Rogue; tossing grenades, issuing commands to secure the area by circling the perimeter or using snipers for cover fire are just a few of the tactics they use. Surprisingly, if players manage to take out the top-ranking soldier in the group, they are more susceptible to fleeing, or ducking and hiding.
Take cover!
Players can also utilize certain tactics for drawing the attention of a group of soldiers. For instance, shooting the oxygen tank on the back of a soldier will cause him to panic and run around before being blown sky-high. When others go to investigate, using the silencer players can pick them off one-by-one without ever being spotted. The only thing I had to watch out for is that when the tank on the soldier’s back blew, they could fly in any direction due to the rag-doll physics. If he happened to land near my position, then my stealthy plan of attack would be ruined. Still, it’s an awful lot of fun watching how the soldiers react to the effect of grenades and explosives. Rebellion did a good job trying to make the soldiers scramble for cover before being blasted half-way across the screen. The physics aren’t over-done or over-the-top, though; rag-doll effects are almost entirely appropriate for the results of each gun, melee attack, or explosive device.
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