Rogue Warrior Review

By Richard Leadbetter Published 9 December, 2009

Shellshocking.

Version tested: Xbox 360

It's got Mickey Rourke voice-acting. It's got more gratuitous bad language than just about any first-person shooter you've ever experienced. But sadly that's all the good stuff. Rogue Warrior has nothing else of much interest, and the obscenity-littered dialogue that would become its trademark were it memorable enough to deserve one isn't particularly witty anyway.

The Rogue Warrior of the title is real-life SEAL commander Dick Marcinko, upon whose heroics the game is apparently based. Slashing, shooting, blasting and punching his way through North Korea and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, Marcinko's task is to blow up the Russians' nuclear arsenal, plus their own fully armed and operational Star Wars missile defence shield, all the while ignoring explicit orders to disengage from the pencil-necked bureaucrats at mission control.

In addition to guns, grenades and knives, Marcinko is also armed with an infinite supply of star-spangled F-bombs that he unleashes with gay abandon upon the hated Commie scum, who are, apparently, "cocksuckers".

'Rogue Warrior' Screenshot 1

Extreme close-up iron-sights often make it harder to aim since so much of the screen is obscured.

I don't have any real problem with the foul language. Indeed, I was drawn to reviewing this game mostly because of the eighties setting, and the forlorn hope that it might summon up the spirit of the foul-mouthed action movies of that era that I love with a passion. Unfortunately, the dialogue is almost as bad as the "user-generated" variety you typically encounter on Xbox Live, albeit minus the homophobia.

Disappointing obscenities aside, the real problem with Rogue Warrior is content, or more specifically the abject lack of it. On the default difficulty setting the average gamer should be able to complete the game's meagre eight missions with change left from three hours, while FPS veterans should be aiming to polish off the game in just over two. I personally found myself somewhere in the middle, easily vanquishing every mission before elevenses on a Sunday morning, with time for a hearty breakfast and the latest episode of The Thick of It.

'Rogue Warrior' Screenshot 2

The game has few weapons and they're poorly balanced. The sniper-rifle in combination with any machine-gun kills the game's challenge.

In a world where the Modern Warfare 2 single-player campaign gets short shrift for its brevity, Rogue Warrior actually offers less gameplay than the average DLC expansion pack and, unbelievably, is being sold as a full-price game - although retailers, perhaps now conscious of their mistake, are discounting the game by over 50 per cent already.

More than that, the actual variety level within the campaign itself is slight to an almost shocking scale. Weapons selection is minimal: a couple of pistols, a small selection of machine-guns, a sniper-rifle and a single shotgun - less than 10 different shooters in total. There's no special equipment, just one type of grenade and that literally is your lot. Mission objectives are similarly bereft of variety, usually taking the form of moving from point A to point B in the dullest fashion imaginable, and placing some explosives en route if you're really lucky.

The issues with the single-player game, while it lasts, are many and varied. It's tempting to lay into the enemy AI, but that would involve calling it "AI", which would be excessive for the blanket incompetence of these identikit soldiers. Stealth elements could also have been so much more. One of the game's few positive points is its use of light and shadow, but this is squandered in a game design that telegraphs the action and stealth divide so blatantly.

Stealth kills are a piece of cake because, in the areas of the game the level designers have set aside for this sort of behaviour, virtually all of the enemies have their backs turned to you by default. Not only that, but they remain blissfully unaware of your approach even when your thundering footsteps all but give the game away. Even the screaming deaths of their comrades do nothing to alert other soldiers, despite their being just metres away from the kill.

Rogue Warrior does at least have brutal close-quarters kills - simply move up close to an opponent and press the A button, and you're shown a set-piece animation involving fists, knives or the murderous use of scenery - but these get very old very, very quickly. It's also interesting to note that being blasted by another enemy soldier while the sequence takes place doesn't seem to break your stride. Must be all that SEAL training.

Overall, the single-player campaign is best described as disastrous, and the game's credentials are not boosted by the inclusion of what is a mostly awful multiplayer mode. This too is basic and lacking any kind of originality whatsoever, taking the form of bog-standard deathmatch and team deathmatch. It's like going back in time to the launch of online console gaming, and, actually, it's like going back there graphically as well.

'Rogue Warrior' Screenshot 3

The third-person stealth kills involve knives, fists or contextual scenery. And get old very quickly. The lack of swear-based one-liners here also disappoints.

Tech-wise, the game is a bit of a nightmare. Rebellion has rolled out its "Asura" engine (a new one on me, but Google says it's derived from idTech4) and aside from the odd well-lit environment or nice dynamic shadow, the visuals look low-poly with a bizarre mishmash of different levels of texture detail.

V-sync is enabled on the Xbox 360 version we reviewed, but frame-rate is abysmal. If you get anything above 20FPS you should count yourself lucky. Thanks to the poor update rate, there's also some pretty horrible input lag from the controller, to the point where aiming the weapon in the direction of your assailant is often a challenge simply due to the lack of visual feedback from the game itself.

Game development has evolved to the point where it's pretty rare that a PS3 or Xbox 360 release is actually anything worse than mediocre, but Rogue Warrior is easily the worst game I've played on either platform for a long, long time. You could call it cheap, exploitative trash, but it's not actually that cheap, and the exploitation elements are probably the best thing it's got going for it. Trash though? Absolutely.

2 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Richard.

About Richard Leadbetter

Rich has been a games journalist since the days of 16-bit and specialises in technical analysis. Commonly known around Eurogamer as the Blacksmith of the Future.

Read more articles from Richard by visiting the Richard Leadbetter archive page.

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Comments (79) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BartonFink #1 2 years ago

    Oh dear not quite as good as Dorkfail then.

  • MORZTAN #2 2 years ago

    Holy Hell. I see commercials for this all the time on television. Funny enough it shows no ingame footage... Now I see why!

  • GoldLightan #3 2 years ago

    The most annoying thing is that this will probably chart, seeing as shooters are in vogue at the moment.

  • noobjob #4 2 years ago

    i played this at EG and it seemed terribly average. it reminded me of QOS which i did enoy online but this dosen't seem to have a good online mode so im never buying this even in a bargain bin

  • bad09 #5 2 years ago

    I noticed this one on Steam, it has "I'm REALLY crap" written all over it. Like the beard tho!

    / doesn't shave this morning, feels manly

  • RandomTerrain #6 2 years ago

    Yeeeeeeeeeeees, day one purchase! lol.
    Quite a funny review, but I feel extremely sorry for any unfortunate souls who unwrap this on Christmas day, due to this being half price. I just hope it won't be me.

    /Shivers.

  • SleepyDeathFred #7 2 years ago

    *The sound of a million Christmas lists being... completely unaffected*.

  • HuggyAtHome #8 2 years ago

    Most exciting thing there was the mention of 'The Thick of It' - possible the most fouled mouthed, yet funniest, TV ever made. Maybe a Malcolm Tucker game could be worth a look? No guns, just swearing and un-PC put downs.

  • MadCaddy13 #9 2 years ago

    As soon as I read about a few months back I knew it would be a huge pile. So no suprises for me

  • Darren #10 2 years ago

    Ouch!

  • ostrasized #11 2 years ago

    And in two months, the same company releases 'Aliens Vs Predator'......

    Oh dear....

  • bad09 #12 2 years ago

    @ ostrasized

    Was thinking the same thing myself and AvP didn't look that great at the Expo TBH. To be fair though I didn't bother waiting for a game myself so it might play better than it looked.

  • muscleblade #13 2 years ago

    Rebellion has only made extremely crappy games this gen. I really hope Aliens vs Predator will change that.
    Im afraid that it wont. I will buy Aliens vs Predator no matter what but it wont be more than
    a 6-7/10 game at the most.

  • SleepyDeathFred #14 2 years ago

    "2! Holy sheet. Its not like its hard to make a FPS, look how far CoD has got trading on mediocrity! Negs away! "

    Punish me! Please! I want to be punished!

  • Buztafen #15 2 years ago

    "What the fuck happened, Rebellion? If they screw up AVP that's the end, surely."

    This is scary indeed, from what i played at the expo i really liked. Running around as an Alien was pretty exhilarating. And even though the balance was a little...off (Marines running around filling their pants at every movement, Aliens tearing Marines apart and running away from predators. Predators cloaking and destroying everyone in a 5 mile radius) it was fun, fairly slick and i wanted to play more!

    Hopefully Rebellion left the monkeys and remedials to work on this while the big boys sorted AvP...hopefully...
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 08:46

  • RobotRocker #16 2 years ago

    EG dont appreciate the art of gratuitous swearing it looks like.

    /No, really. 2/10 for this which at least has a redeeming feature to play through and 4/10 for TH: Ride? Sort your standards out EG

  • M_of_the_sys #17 2 years ago

    @bad09

    I didn't like the look of AVP at the Expo either. Looked that bad that I didn't want to hang around to play it. Like you say though, it might play well. Am I surprised? No. Am I disappointed? Yes.

    Edit: Oh... and on Rogue Warrior, am I surprised? No. Am I disappointed? No.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 08:56

  • bad09 #18 2 years ago

    @ M_of_the_sys

    Glad I'm not the only one! Mind you Buztafen restored my faith a little. I need a demo stat!

  • krushing #19 2 years ago

    Has Rebellion actually made anything worthwhile other than the original AvP? Looking at their games list in Wikipedia makes me think not.

  • Shadders #20 2 years ago

    Don't suppose anyone knows which of Rebellion's studios put this together? Liverpool?

  • Aretak #21 2 years ago

    IGN gave this a 1.5/10, so you know it must be really, really bad.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 09:05

  • Beano #22 2 years ago

    Not as good as Halo then....

  • Xerx3s #23 2 years ago

    "IGN gave this a 1.5/10, so you know it must be really, really bad. "

    Or IGN didn't get their bribes. ;)

  • Madafunkola #24 2 years ago

    Surely "Cocksuckers" constitutes as homophobia?

    Also - anyone else tempted to rent this just to experience how bad it really is? Can it be worse that Tenchu Z?

  • GreyBeard #25 2 years ago

    From what I understand, the original developer of RW dropped out/was replaced for some reason and Rebellion stepped in to do a quick and dirty job in the shortest time possible. I believe the "Asura" engine is a pretty old (like PS2 era) engine that they used purely for quickness at getting something going.

    Realistically, the hysterical Mickey Rourke rap over the game credits should be an indication that Rebellion weren't bringing their "A" game for this one.

  • actionfitz #26 2 years ago

    Fuckin Ouch!
    hehe.
    Guess no one will mind then when this one gets banned in Australia ;)

  • jebus #27 2 years ago

    This is the best thing about the game. End credits remix of all the Mickey Rourke samples. Sheer genius on the part of whoever does Rebellions music
    What exactly is an "Executive Chef" :)

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=OVoyGUcXepc

  • Petulant_Radish #28 2 years ago

    @ Madafunkola

    Why? You don’t have to be gay to suck cock you know, you can be female too!

  • asphaltcowboy #29 2 years ago

    Surely this should have got a 1?

    The Giantbomb quick play video for this is hilarious

  • Madafunkola #30 2 years ago

    @ Petulant_Radish
    But the character in the game is not calling women "cocksuckers", he is calling the enemy soldiers - and I very much doubt this game is prgressive enough to have any female soldiers in.
    I just found it odd that those too statements were next to eachother in the review.

  • Petulant_Radish #31 2 years ago

    @ Madfunkola

    Well if you start going down that PC route you might as well say that him calling people a bastard in it is offensive to illegitimate children. Just calling someone a cocksucker does not infer that someone is gay, there are many meanings of it as the insult is quite old.

    It’s a thrown about term in the US, the same as you would call someone a wanker in the UK, you’re not necessarily saying that they are masturbating, but that they are, in fact, a dick. Basically, don’t get upset about verbal insults used in media unless they are being used in right wing propaganda, which this isn’t, it’s just shit.

  • rydek #32 2 years ago

    Well i hope AvP isnt as bad as this, and i heard theres different staff working on both projects i hope the team on Rogue Warrior get the can and the AVP team can get full force behind them. From gameplay vids AVP looks sweeet

  • cianchristopher #33 2 years ago

    It's Rebellion - what did anyone expect? They're a terrible studio!

    Shellshock 2: Blood Trails, anyone?

    And why are people looking forward to AvP - the first one was ages ago! It'll get 4/10, maybe 5/10, tops...

  • jebus #34 2 years ago

    @MrParker
    Not that I wish ill or such on Rebellion employees. But I do have to genuinely wonder how the company manages to keep going when other studios are getting shuttered left, right and centre. Their track record of games is hardly a good sign. Is someone out there buying this stuff?

    I think they own the rights to 2000AD so perhaps that pays for the studio to some degree.

  • JahB #35 2 years ago

    this is what you get if your A-team makes AvP and you let your B-team run rampant on a sideproject...

  • Madafunkola #36 2 years ago

    @ P_Rad

    Ahhh - I see what's happening here. You think I'm upset about it? No, no. Just contradictions in the review thus:
    "hated Commie scum, who are, apparently, "cocksuckers"....the dialogue is almost as bad as the "user-generated" variety you typically encounter on Xbox Live, albeit minus the homophobia."

    I would say the dialogue is NOT minus the homophobia... Sounds EXACTLY like the xbox live chat - cocksuckers included, which in this context is aimed in exactly the same way as the "FAG" insult.

    That's all I was saying.

  • ant72 #37 2 years ago

    ouch

  • mickey_rourke #38 2 years ago

    #39

    Actually it's what happens when you get 8 months to make a video game, you have apalling management, constant interfering and various untalented staff.
    Rebellion has no "A" game, either.

  • mr_woo #39 2 years ago

    Rebellion have 4 game development studios. The one developing AvP is the same studio who made the original AvP and who were responsible for Rogue Trooper and Sniper Elite. Now considering Rogue Trooper and Sniper Elite are supposed to be a fuckton of fun (from many friends who have played both, i haven't) maybe AvP will actually turn out pretty good.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 11:16

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #40 2 years ago

    it reminded me of QOS

    Quality of Service?

    Queen of the South FC?

  • Doctor_What #41 2 years ago

    I loved Rogue Trooper, and AVP has got a lot of those people on it, so I've got high hopes.

  • Kaspar #42 2 years ago

    A 2 - same score as Shellshock at the beginning of the year. There's a proud achievement to bookend Rebellion's year.

    Like others, I wonder how they manage to stay in business, never mind operate three studios. Delivering games on time and on budget may score you points with publishers, but building up a reputation as a (poor quality) shovelware developer isn't any way forward.
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 11:31

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #43 2 years ago

    @asphaltcowboy

    That video has now made me want this game... for shame!

  • muscleblade #44 2 years ago

    "i nearly bought this before any reviews came out"

    That was the plan actually. The reason why they didnt send any reviewers a review copy before release. Hoping people would buy it before reading the bad news.

  • Skurmedel #45 2 years ago

    Hehe, I was monitoring this on Steam waiting for reviews, but it was out for like three days or something before any reviews came... so I figured it must be a real bore or otherwise we would've read about it now.

  • mickey_rourke #46 2 years ago

    #48
    I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

    ps. did you know idTech4 is powering AvP3!

  • jack_klugman #47 2 years ago

    Unfortunately, the dialogue is almost as bad as the "user-generated" variety you typically encounter on Xbox Live, albeit minus the homophobia.

    Using "cocksuckers" in a derogatory context doesn't smart of homophobia to you then, Richard?

  • jack_klugman #48 2 years ago

    That said I challenge anyone to use the term "cocksucker" in a way that isn't derogatory.

  • jefranklin18 #49 2 years ago

    (imagine scene in a confectionary factory)
    Product Manager: market research has shown that children like animals, therefore we are bringing out a range of farmyard sweets
    CEO: sounds cool, what you got?
    Product Manager: cows - we're calling those milky mouths, pigs - they're called percy pigs. We're stuck on what to call the hen ones
    CEO: how about cocksuckers?
    Edit: bugger, it is cutting half of it off :(
    Edited by 2 at 09/12/09 @ 13:03

  • orpheus #50 2 years ago

    Echoing everyone else who's now worried about AVP! Please let them get it right.... :o

  • VibratingDonkey #51 2 years ago

    Can't wait for my copy to arrive. I ordered it before any reviews had been published. Damn you and your £18 deals Zavvi.

  • Doctor_What #52 2 years ago

    Since both games were in production at the same time you won't have the same teams making AVP and Rogue Warrior, so that's a comfort. Rebellion's reputation has got a lot riding on AVP - they need it to be good, so I hope they throw everything they can at it.

  • muscleblade #53 2 years ago

    AVP will probaly be much better than this crap. I dont believe it will be more than a 7 though.

  • Petulant_Radish #54 2 years ago

    @Madafunkola

    Right got ya, apologies!

  • Beek4257 #55 2 years ago

    That said I challenge anyone to use the term "cocksucker" in a way that isn't derogatory.

    To girlfriend: "Thank you very much for being such a fantastic ..."
    No?
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 13:45

  • TravisTouchdown #56 2 years ago

    @Jack_klugman

    Down at the farm this weekend past, there was a commotion in the hen coup. On investigating, I discovered Mindy, the farmgirl, wrestling with our prize cockerel, Combover - she had his whole left foot in her mouth!

    "Whatever are you doing, Mindy?!", I obviously asked. She simply looked up at me and shook her head as best she could, pointing to her mouth - she clearly had no intention of removing Combover's foot from it.

    I couldn't be arsed to hang about, but when I bumped into her later on, she told me all about it.

    "He'd cut himself, he was gushing blood," she said. "All I could think of to do was stem the bleeding by putting his foot in my mouth."

    "Mindy," I replied, "you're clearly a remedial for not having come up with a better plan, but you may well have saved Combover's life all the same. Thank God you're such a willing cocksucker."
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 13:55

  • jimbo118 #57 2 years ago

    I'm getting given this by a friend of mine who is journo. His office gets sent free games from time to time. Bethesda sent his office this game so he said he'd give it to me as he doesnt have a 360. Gona play it for the lulz.

  • TravisTouchdown #58 2 years ago

    Beek, your answer was easier. And better. Well done.

  • darc #59 2 years ago

    "the exploitation elements are probably the best thing it's got going for it."

    LOL.

    Poor Mickey Rourke. He deserves better. Hope he got paid well.

  • ianos #60 2 years ago

    Two pedantic points:

    - Dick calls people "fuckin' fags" in the game, which I'd say is definitely homophobic.

    - There is more than one shotgun in the game - the Type 91 or whatever it's called and a SPAS. No real variation, but still.

    One of the worst games I've ever had to play. It actually depressed me afterwards, thinking about how I could have been doing something so much better, like rubbing a cheese grater against my eyeballs before dousing them in salt and lemon juice. Astonishingly bad, and a two is one of the most generous marks I could ever imagine for it. Giving it a mark at all is fucking generous.

  • Sharzam #61 2 years ago

    Althourgh AvP didnt really get me at EG expo, iam thinking that they rushed this game out as they wanted to focus some more people on AvP.

    Even the best studioes (not saying rebellion is one) sometimes produce a bad game fast just to raise funds for there AAA titles. Atleast i hope this is the case.

  • Garfy #62 2 years ago

    That video was almost enough to get me to buy this fuckin' game but on reflection I fuckin' won't.

    Fuck! :)
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 18:15

  • JamieR #63 2 years ago

    I'm wanting it now i want to see just how bad it is lol >.

  • BigAl-1992 #64 2 years ago

    Let's be serious here, if rebellion don't deliver on AVP in a few months time, then they're screwed.

  • domoslaf #65 2 years ago

    "Marcinko is also armed with an infinite supply of star-spangled F-bombs that he unleashes with gay abandon upon the hated Commie scum, who are, apparently, "cocksuckers". (...) Unfortunately, the dialogue is almost as bad as the "user-generated" variety you typically encounter on Xbox Live, albeit minus the homophobia".

    Hmm... ;)

    EDIT: Oh, so much for being witty. ;)
    Edited by 1 at 09/12/09 @ 19:19

  • Kostabi #66 2 years ago

    Got to make you wonder why this wasn't crushed like a fetus falling down the stairs.

    Rebellion struggle with video games these days but I'd have thought even Bethesda would be embarresed to shovel this one out the door.

  • jack_klugman #67 2 years ago

    @Beek4257 re: "Cocksucker"

    To girlfriend: "Thank you very much for being such a fantastic ..." No?

    That's still derogatory though, right?

  • clockworkzombie #68 2 years ago

    A person on my friends list was playing it, it had some bad reviews so I asked him about it.

    Fun game. rent it or buy it finish the single player and return it. I think I shall rent it.

    The original AvP on the Jag was excellent. Atmospheric, after 20 minutes of quiet air conditioner humming an alien popping up behind you would make you fill your pants.

  • trip919 #69 2 years ago

    My! My! It seems we have a late contender for game of the year!

  • Iain815 #70 2 years ago

    Seeing 2/10 reviews physically hurts me.

  • Sunyavadin #71 2 years ago

    I'll stick with Rogue Trooper, thanks.

  • ChaK #72 2 years ago

    Man I wanna play it, just like when I rent chuck norris' films

  • jambo74 #73 2 years ago

    A number 2, fits the bill

    Flush

  • sherbet56 #74 2 years ago

    i'm new to online gaming, so websites like this are great. before now i would buy a game like this,but now i've read this review,i wouldn't take it for free.many thanks for saving my time and money......sherbet56,glasgow

  • Waldo #75 2 years ago

    Demo Dick!

  • Haloboy #76 2 years ago

    Rogue Trooper 2 please Rebellion.

  • M_of_the_sys #77 2 years ago

    Maybe you shouldn't post your spam on a game review that scored 2/10...

    *has a strong need for Ugg boots now...*

    Edit: Ah the MODS are nice and swift. :)
    Edited by 1 at 11/12/09 @ 12:39

  • mastersly #78 2 years ago

    Worst game of 2009 and one of the worst games i 've played in the last 5 or 6 years .

  • Timbercottage #79 2 years ago

    I like it