Rogue Warrior
Preview
Yet another Tactical Shooter? Think again.
by zr122
previewed on PS3
Collaboration in multiplayer map creation
Rogue Warrior wouldn?t be a true shooter without multiplayer and co-operative modes, and Bethesda does not disappoint on that score. When creating maps for online play, both teams ? SEALs and Koreans ? are able to alternately choose tiles from an expansive list, creating game maps that are unique to each successive game. These options allow for no less than 200 unique maps in both night and day settings. This also prevents one team from having a distinct map advantage in online engagements.
AI... No, Human... No, AI!
A brand new AI system allows new players to jump into the game at any point, taking control of one of the three other SEAL members that travel along with Marcinko. This same AI immediately takes over when the player withdraws from the game. With fast-action game play, those fast switches could mean the difference between success and failure.
The advanced AI is also applied to the Korean forces, giving your enemy more life than you ever thought possible. Enemy forces follow schedules, another Bethesda trademark, checking in with fellow sentries at intervals, passing information just like real soldiers. This inspires you to be a little more discreet in murdering unknowing enemies; if the others suddenly call the guy you just dispatched, and he doesn?t answer, you?ll be swamped with enemy forces coming to investigate. The new element of strategy should not only increase the enjoyment level, but make the game seem more like a real life situation that FPS games have provided in recent years.
New taste of realism in graphics and... acting!
Bethesda has created Rogue Warrior on the Unreal 3 visual engine, the same engine that is used in the best-selling Gears of War game of 2006. The graphics show astonishing detail, from shifting sand to red light from the setting sun reflecting of off a lake, to the individual hairs on the back of your character's neck and arms.
But what really stands out to make this game enjoyable is not the one-of-a-kind game play, or the astounding graphics, but the audio. Marcinko contributes his own voice to the game, and you?ll hear actual voices of the three other SEAL members that accompany him in the fictional mission upon which Rogue Warrior is built around. His background, however, leads to much speculation about the type of phrases Marcinko and his teammates will utter; he is a Navy man after all, and we all know what words are in a fighting man?s vocabulary. The vulgarities we?re bound to hear, combined with the language of a man with a university degree, should prove to be highly entertaining.
While this game is still in development, and we?ll most likely have to wait until the third quarter to see anything decisive about a release date, there is nothing but promise for such a highly-anticipated game.
