I remember our ex-GameFocus teammate Brian talking to me at various occasions about Rogue Warrior and how great it was going to be. A tactical third-person shooter game featuring an drop-in/drop-out four-player online cooperative mode, an unparalleled storyline based on ex-Navy Seal Dick Marcinko...basically, it looked like it was going to be one hell of a game. Months passed and I got to finally see it in action at last June’s E3. The early build was far from impressive and the initial developer left. On top of this, the much talked about cooperative mode was axed. Five months later, instead of what we anticipated would be one of the years most exciting games, we get one of the most disappointing.

Set in 1986, Rogue Warrior lets you play as Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko, real-life founder of SEAL Team Six and the US Navy’s most efficient killing machine. Marcinko and two of his fellow soldiers are dispatched to North Korea to investigate a secret operation. Shortly after his team is killed in action, I guess a half-assed attempt to explain the lack of co-op, the game’s protagonist takes the entire mission on his shoulders, completely disregarding his superior’s orders to leave North Korea and come back to base. Over the game’s eight missions, you travel from North Korea to Russia killing everything that moves with either one of an array of different weapons like handguns, shotguns and rifles or take them out Rambo style using your bare hands or your trusty knife.

Now that you have a better idea of what Rogue Warrior is about, I will get it out of the way just how disappointing and laughable my experience turned out to be. Okay, let me put it this way: there is nothing positive I can say about this game. The shooting mechanic is sluggish and imprecise. The cover system is clunky and barely useable. The level design is extremely linear. The weapon hit detection is horrible. The enemy A.I is abysmal. In all seriousness, I could keep this list going for another eight pages.

Rogue Warrior also features stealth gameplay mechanics, giving you a pretty good variety of close-encounter Kill Moves which can be triggered whenever you can attack an unaware enemy from behind. But you don’t get to choose a specific Quick Kill. Depending on how your enemy is positioned and by following the button prompt, Marcinko will execute one of the Quick Kills from his repertoire. Sadly, the animations quickly become repetitive after the first hour of gameplay.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Rebellion took the time (or did they really?) to add a boring and unappealing eight-player online multiplayer component, throwing in the stock Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes.

With that package, your $60 nets you a game that not even a mother could love.

Graphics & Audio

Alongside the aforementioned gameplay flaws, you can also add framerate issues, poor textures, sub-par level design, pathetic character models and outdated graphics to my list of grievances. Everything you could possibly list off the top of your head as things you do not want to see in a next generation game are, sadly, found in Rogue Warrior.

Funnily enough, this was exactly my line of thinking way back at E3 this summer. Back then, it was an unfinished build and there was the expectation that it would improve a lot before it went gold, but seeing it now, I’m lead to believe that Rebellion decided to give up trying right after that event.

And the same goes for the audio build. Both the environmental sounds and the voice-over work are just as bad as the rest. Mickey Rourke’s performance as Richard Marcinko might have been notable if it wasn’t for the repetitive and unnecessary cussing. Of note, however, is the credit roll which showcases the rap skills of Mr. Rourke, certainly one of the weirdest moments in gaming history.

Value

We could at least thank Bethesda for not making us believe that Rogue Warrior was going to be the greatest gaming experience ever. We’ve heard so little of the game that I wasn’t sure if it was going to be released this year. When a publisher releases a game with little to no marketing behind it, it’s time to start worrying about the quality of that product.

But what gives me pause is this: if Bethesda knew Rogue Warrior wasn’t going to be such a great game and that it wouldn’t sell all that well, why not release it as a bargain title? At $60 CDN, Rogue Warrior is just not a recommendable title.

Conclusion

Rogue Warrior tries very hard to emulate that kick-ass gritty mature game that every hardcore gamer wants but unfortunately, it does no better than leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Anyone who is tricked into paying full price for this game should never be allowed to buy another game, ever. Be smart and check it out as a rental or grab it soon when it finds its way to the bargain bin, sporting a big red tag that says CLEARANCE. Otherwise, avoid this dog of a game at all costs.