Rogue Warrior First Look
Bethesda steps out of Oblivion and into North Korea.
by Erik Brudvig

October 27, 2006 - Before Bethesda finished development on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, they had already begun working with Zombie Studios towards creating a shooter to be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Development began last November and we first caught wind of the project in August thanks to an online job posting. Several months later, Bethesda invited us down to Las Vegas for the first look at this new title, Rogue Warrior.

The Rogue Warrior is a man named Dick Marcinko. If his autobiography is to be taken as true, and we're in the habit of believing everything told to us by anybody who has killed lots of people, then Dick Marcinko spent the formative years of his life kicking ass, making time with the local ladies and drinking until dawn every night. He then went on to become a Navy SEAL and form SEAL Team Six, the Navy's first counter-terrorism unit. This larger than life man is the main character in Rogue Warrior. From that you can probably guess where this game is headed.

Rogue Warrior is a first-person tactical shooter that uses the Unreal Engine and streaming technology to create some massive environments. Everything we were shown was real time using and looked fairly impressive for a game that isn't due out until fall of next year. The demo kicked off by showing off some of the single player game. The game begins with Marcinko and his fellow SEALs infiltrating North Korea via a submarine as a voice over explained the situation. This was to be a standard recon mission, though nothing ever goes as planned. Once the team has crossed the border, North Korea launches an attack on their neighbors to the south. This separates the squad from any possible help or evacuation as they are now behind the front lines of a major war.

When the playable section started, the first thing we noticed is that the game is entirely HUD-less. We were then shown a few of the technical aspects of the game, such as the ability to play either in first or third person and how vehicles will take damage differently depending upon where you shoot them (hint: don't aim for the cloth area). Unfortunately, it looks as if the vehicles in the game will merely be part of the scenery rather than being operable. The bulk of the demo consisted of us being taken through a series of gun fights, each approached in a variety of ways, to show the range or gameplay options that Rogue Warrior has.

The philosophy behind Rogue Warrior is to create a game that is a departure from the norm; a game that can help to differentiate the shooter genre. While most shooters fall into either the tactical or run and gun styles of play, Rogue Warrior is looking to leave the gameplay style up to the player. To do this, free form battlefields have been created where you can choose to attack the situation in any way you'd like. In the demo we saw the player give commands to his teammates with a single button press to spread out and flank a group of enemies. Another time the player just let the team be controlled by AI. This time, they took cover in areas around the player when he did, went stealthy as he crept forward, and then began the attack alongside the player. The level of micromanagement is really up to the player.

Rogue Warrior isn't just an action shooter. You can also perform stealth attacks, booby trap bodies or equipment and generally mess with the enemy AI. Since the enemies act as soldiers should, they'll investigate irregularities, such as a fallen or unresponsive friend. That's when the demo kits come in handy. You can also set up nice little traps by laying out some explosives and then sounding the alarm. As soon as those guys come running they'll find a nasty little surprise waiting for them.

We were only shown the first stage, which took place around a ship deconstruction yard. The demo ended with Dick and his squad being told they were SOL in terms of an evac thanks to the war. The remainder of the game promises to be a trek across North Korea and climaxes as the squad attempts to cross the frontline back into friendly territory. As you approach the frontline, the combat will become fiercer and more frequent. Since you're not technically in a mission based game, you'll be charged with seeking out weapons and ammunition during your quest. Given the large levels and openness of the design, we were told that the team is aiming for a system for saving the game anywhere, but will probably end up with checkpoints.

Perhaps the most promising part about Rogue Warrior is the multiplayer game. The entire campaign can be played co-operatively with up to four players. The co-op play is hot swappable, so your friend can hop in or out of your game at any time and play for as long as they please. Working together will greatly improve your odds of survival, though you'll be able to heal each other if you die. Oh, and the co-op play will be online, so you won't have to worry about having four people crowded around a single screen.

Of course, Rogue Warrior will also feature adversarial multiplayer combat. For it, they have developed a tile based system for creating maps that is unique and promising. At the start of each map, each team will vote on a tile. Whichever tile wins that team's vote will be put up on the screen alongside the other teams. The server will then pick the third tile which won't be revealed until the start of the match. When the match starts, all three tiles will be pieced together into one large battlefield. Since different tiles will favor alternate styles of combat, it will be difficult to select one weapon to play with that will be superior everywhere on the map.

Along with the huge variety of possible maps the tile system creates, there will be 10 different gameplay types. You can play with up to 24 players, but just in case you can't find anyone to play online with, you'll be able to play against bots to hone your skills. If you're wondering, there won't be any jumping in Rogue Warrior so you won't have to deal with people constantly bouncing around the map.

Screenshots and pictures

Boy that's a big departure from what it could have been.

The game was originally being developed by Zombie Studios, who was in early development stages of the game. Soon after, Bethesda stated that they weren't satisfied with the direction Zombie Studios was taking the game. Bethesda quickly scrapped the project and brought in Rebellion Development to develop an entire new game from scratch. Rebellion, while retaining some major elements from Zombie's rendition, has taken a whole new approach to the game and its focus.

Unfortunately, the appalling dialogue seems to have inspired Rogue Warrior's gameplay, which is characterized by useless stealth mechanics, inconsistent hit detection, incredibly linear level design, and abysmal AI. Yet the boring, one-dimensional gameplay and terrible dialogue aren't the game's most insulting blemishes; that prize belongs to Rogue Warrior's total lack of value. You can finish it in just over two hours, and the stripped multiplayer consists only of deathmatch and team deathmatch, yet publisher Bethesda Softworks is asking full price.