Rogue Warrior Preview

If your husband, brother or son hasn't written many letters home since joining the North Korean army, Dick Marcinko may know something about it. Craggy of face, piercing of stare, and pony-tailed of haircut, this one-man militia is the last thing thousands of enemy soldiers see before they head for that big old barracks in the sky.

Having caused the VC so much trouble in 'Nam that they put a bounty on his head, tested Presidential security by breaking into Air Force One (mid-flight, hopefully), and helped the Cambodians take on the Khmer Rouge, and having been involved in various classified outings that presumably included keeping the watery depths of the Marianas Trench safe for democracy, and developing the fortunes-reviving "I'm Lovin' It" slogan for righteous, commie-hating fast food masters McDonalds plc, Marcinko's been places you've never heard of, met people you didn't even know existed, and stared deep into their eyes, quietly weighing up whether or not they deserve to live for another heartbeat.

The only reason he can't be here with us now is because he's been shuttled deep into outer space for the afternoon. To fight Moon Nazis.

The team at Rebellion Games is, to put it lightly, a fan of Marcinko's work, particularly his Rogue Warrior series of books, which explained how he set up two US Navy counter-terrorist units. Sean Griffiths, the senior producer for a new game on the subject, and a man so used to dealing with shadowy intelligence agents that one eyebrow is now permanently arched, can fill a good ten minutes of the title's presentation simply reeling off various reasons why we would never want to encounter this particular ex-Navy SEAL on our way to a Socialist Worker's meeting with a copy of Mao's Little Red Book tucked under one arm and the second verse of "The Internationale" playing on our lips.

Marcinko says things like "Showtime!" before stabbing someone through the brain, a phrase most people reserve for cueing up a LoveFilm rental for the evening.

Throughout this narrative, the portrait that emerges is of a simple, honourable, and double-dangerous individual, with powers of death at his disposal which border on the supernatural. Griffiths only just stops short of telling us the man can freeze somebody's blood and make their spleen explode just by coughing. Perhaps he misplaced the PowerPoint slide for that one.

Working closely with Marcinko, Rebellion is creating a title worthy of the man's career. In other words, it's not a cuddly virtual pet sim staged in a rainbow-coloured children's ward in the clouds. It's a game in which you single-handedly take on the might of North Korea and Russia, dealing out swift, pony-tailed death, and blowing an awful lot of military installations into the next world - where they belong. Voice acting is, inevitably, provided by Mickey Rourke.

Rogue Warrior is shaping up to belong to that lovable genre known as guilty pleasures. Part stealth, part definitely-anything-but-stealth, the narrative drops you into a series of military encounters around the North Korean border, all of which see you out-manned and out-gunned, and all the happier for it.

"Rest in peace, as*hole," announces Marcinko after lobbing someone into a canyon.

The presence of Rourke is the first thing you notice, probably because he never shuts up. For a man whose life often depends on sneaking around, Marcinko rarely misses an opportunity to ruminate on the matter at hand, often leaning heavily on the swears as he doles out pithy insights into the ineptitude of his enemy, and his own fondness for finishing them off. Despite a surprising chattiness, Rourke's performance looks to be a genuine treat, and gets you so firmly behind Rebellion's agenda that you've warmed to the game before you've even nutted your first North Korean and pushed them over a railing into some whirling machinery.

Not that it's long before that happens, of course. The mission we're shown is plucked from about halfway through the game, with "Demo Dick" - other nicknames include "Shark Man of the Delta", not the kind of title you pick up by hanging around on Brighton seafront selling ice cream all day - perched on a ledge overlooking the Russian border. He's come here on the trail of some nukes the Koreans are selling the Soviets, and his objective is wondrously straightforward: check out the cargo, blow it to pieces, and then kick back with a bottle of Jack and a copy of the latest Guns 'N' Ammo.

Rogue Warrior flits restlessly between stealthy "infiltration" mode, and a standard run-and-gun option, whenever you've blown your cover and the situation calls for a more explosive approach. Infiltration sees the game's standout feature front and centre: a range of contextual "kill moves", which let you sneak up on the enemy and finish them off with the push of one button.

There are a range of different moves available, all of which play to the brutal end of the spectrum: the very gentlest option is a brisk loft over a railing followed by a swift fall towards the rocks below, while most involve knives in some way: in through the eye, in through the ear, in - is this even possible? - through the forehead. I'm hoping, naturally, that the opportunity crops up to strangle the enemy with Marcinko's ponytail, but I didn't see it, and was afraid to ask about it lest Shark Man himself surface suddenly from a nearby pot plant and blow-dart my tiny brain out through my ear. If it doesn't make it into the game, there's always DLC.

"Dick has seen these kill moves, and wholeheartedly approves of them," says Griffiths. He's seen his character model, too, and if he's signed off on that, his mind might be starting to slide somewhat. While Rogue Warrior is generally a first-person affair, going into cover sends you into third, and reveals that Mickey Rourke's voice belongs to a bearded, stary-eyed vagrant who resembles the kind of aging hippy who might run a local gardening shop and make flamboyant kites in his spare time. Whatever the viewpoint, Marcinko remains a force to be reckoned with, though, as the demo gets into its stride and the bodies pile up.

Rogue Warrior gives you colourful options whichever way you play it, and being spotted in a stealth section simply changes the pace of the game rather than flinging you back to the start. Kill moves may disappear when the enemy knows you're coming, but with a solid cover system and some weighty-looking shooting, you'll probably be able to blast your way through just as enjoyably.

The game focuses on the nuclear ambitions of North Korea. Thankfully, foreign politics has moved on from this subject since the eighties, or the whole thing could have been a little insensitive. [Er. - Ed]

As the level progresses, each area showcases a range of simple tactical variations - one sees you shooting out the lights, switching to a murky night vision, and finishing off five soldiers before they even knew you were visiting their fine country, while another has you sticking C4 all over a bridge the nukes will be travelling over, shooting it out with random patrols in the process, and the final leg sends you hurrying to catch up with a departing train to check out whether the nukes are on board before you blast it to smithereens.

Alongside the single-player campaign, Rogue Warrior will ship with six multiplayer maps, and a traditional range of deathmatch options, all of which will allow you to incorporate kill moves for fun and profit. The entire package also boasts a visual presentation that makes up for its slightly workmanlike textures and lighting with some nice art design - the mission we're shown takes place against a dramatic mountainous backdrop, with morning mist slinking peacefully through a cluster of towering pines. If Marcinko wasn't blowing the whole place to pieces, it would be a nice spot for a holiday.

For a man who works undercover, there are plenty of photos of him on his own website.

The first attempt at a Rogue Warrior game returned to the drawing board because the approach taken didn't have enough character, according to Rebellion's publisher, Bethesda Softworks. Between Rourke's gravelly interjections and some over-the-top shootouts, this one has character to spare, and, geopolitics aside, its real appeal is as a brutally cheerful ramble around the best late-night eighties TV movie you never saw. Despite calling out to your most extreme murderous tendencies, Rebellion seems to be proceeding with predictable skill, if not subtlety, and while Rogue Warrior's unlikely to get too many Game of the Year nominations, if the developer pulls it off right, it could have a tight, taught, brainless funhouse on its hands.

As for Marcinko himself, he'll probably be back behind enemy lines come launch day, most likely taking on an entire platoon of villains armed only with a dusty teacup and a pencil sharpener. In other words, he'll be doing what he does best: keeping the world safe, so you can play videogames.