Rogue Ops


Publisher: Kemco	Size: 1 DVD Got it for: $14.99, new	Developer: Bits Studios
Xbox.com Section: Yes	No. of players: 1	Live Enabled: No
Guests: No	System Link: No	Hard Drive: 13 Blocks
Custom Soundtrack: No	Dolby Digital: Yes	HDTV: 480p
RO was played on my 27" Panasonic SDTV via an S-Video connection.

After witnessing her daughter and husband killed in a car bombing by unknown terrorists, Nikki Connors begins her search for those responsible. Her digging has led her to an extremely secretive anti-terrorism group known as "Phoenix". After reviewing her military record, the head of Phoenix(Colonel Nathan Jacobson) recruits Nikki into their operation. With the promise of helping her find those responsible for the death of her family, Nikki trains with Phoenix for two years. After being deemed "field ready", she begins her mission...

What's it all about?
It's a stealth-based action game. You sneak around, you take down enemies silently, you basically try to get in and out without being seen. Just like in every other stealth-based game, it's not even remotely possible, so don't worry, you'll also get a lot of action out of the game as well. Like in most stealth games, when you begin to loose patience and find yourself just wanting to rush through levels, things can get really shitty. Fortunately, there's no real pre-determined path that you must follow for most objectives. Though some levels may seem so, they are not linear, there’s almost always two or three ways to go about getting things done. Even though more than just a few things have been borrowed from predecessors like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell, thus making the gameplay pleasantly familiar, Bits Studios has added more than enough new stuff to keep it feeling like "the same old thing". Among these various additions are the "stealth" attack system(see "Control" below), voice recognition for items and weapons(used via the Xbox Live headset) and even a few companions who will chime in, in real time, to give you hints and tips on the fly while you're in the field.

Raiding Van Cleef's Villa...

Graphics - Gorgeous. The character models, not just Nikki but all of them, have an incredible amount of detail and move fluidly. The environments look amazingly authentic, from the villa to the museum to the Magyar Klub. All are very large, and have nice touches like the hanging skeletons in the museum, the overgrown vines in the villa, and various water effects in the sewers. In battle, the guns give off a nice bit of lighting, and leave convincing "decals" on glass and walls. There's even a very stylish bit of graphic flare when Nikki performs a stealth attack, which includes a "skeletal flash" view of where the damage is occurring. All of this, of course, is running a solid and smooth framerate...

Sound - Excellent 5.1! Sound effects not only come from the direction they would be in relation to Nikki’s position, but the music also takes full advantage of all 5 speakers. For the most part, the music is relatively ambient, until alarm is sounded and such, then it picks up to a typical adrenaline pumping beat. The sound effects consist of various gunshots and explosions, both of which sound quite authentic and even have some beefy bass to go along with them. A lot of the game's soundtrack comes from the sheer amount of speech, not just from Nikki and the commanders at Phoenix, but the enemies as well. Decent voice acting lends to giving the enemies an actual personality, as you can sit there and listen to them talk about their cheating wives, checking out sports scores online, calling home to check in, bitching at other enemies, etc. Nikki and the rest of Phoenix sound good as well, though there are a few just beyond-cheesy lines that will grate your nerves...

You can actually shoot the dino bones down to take out enemies.

Control - Smooth. Though there are only three different pre-configured control schemes, you're likely to find one that works pretty well for you. Once you choose one, the comprehensive(and fun) "trial"(ie: tutorial) that Phoenix will put you through will get you up to speed on all of the important stuff. For the most part, Nikki controls very smoothly, and reacts immediately to everything you tell her to do. Getting around the levels is usually a snap, though there is one thing, and it's about the only knock against the control: Nikki can only do things to stuff *she* sees. That is, even if you can see the vent she's to go in/hook she can grapple to/etc. if SHE does not see it, the game won't allow you to interact with it. This is easily remedied with the dual analog control scheme, but does take some getting used to.

During combat, the control really picks things up. It has a nice way of target-locking enemies, allowing you to continue moving without fear of losing your mark. While locked on, you can easily move the cross hair up or down to shoot various parts of the body...though I'd *always* try for head shot if I were you. Finally, there's the "stealth" take downs. Rather than go with the typical, simply button-pressing take downs, Bits decided to try something new: Walking up behind enemies will present a gauge over their head, the more it's filled, the harder the attack will be to perform. Once you've decided just how hard you'd like to whip their ass, pressing the "action" button will then bring up circle filled with controller movements(Up, Down, Left and Right) and a timer. Nikki will grab the enemy, and you must perform the controller movements in the allotted time to perform the attack. If you miss, the enemy will break it. If you get it right, you're treated to a very stylish assortment of ultra-painful attacks, kills and take-downs. Quick note, and this just really sucks: Nikki has *no* hand to hand combat moves...so if you run out of ammo...kiss her sweet ass goodbye.

AI - Refreshingly life-like. As I stated above they'll do all sorts of stuff that really helps in conveying that they are real people, in a real situation. They'll talk to each other, skip out on patrols to go and have a smoke, screw around and play pinball instead of guarding their post and a variety of other human-like activities. In battle they are pretty much dead-on with what's going down: They see you, they shoot....they trigger alarms, they call others in for backup. Now, unfortunately, typical AI bad habits do tend rear their head into this game as well. You'll find that snipers are just *beyond* amazingly good shots, and some enemies will somehow see you no matter how well hidden you think you are. It's definitely nothing too serious, but will tend to get on your nerves from time to time. Past that, the actual level layouts(mostly the later levels), even though most times there are a few ways to get through, can become incredibly hard to negotiate and can lead to a lot of frustration...

Tearing up the Egyptian wing of the Forsythe Museum.

Replay value - Moderate. Though the hardcore player may want to go back through the game on the insanely hard "Assassin" difficulty mode(which yields, upon beating it, a sort of blooper real with the models and voice actors), the general majority of people will probably pass due to some of the overly hard missions such as as the Magyar Klub. Then again, with a list of cheats(see below), you can seriously tilt the advantage to your favor...and even add some ultra-hip new stuff to your next go-through. Though it may not yield much of a challenge, the unlimited life code can really make for some interesting gameplay, not to mention the ever-cool "skeleton mode" and various "exploding" weapons codes...

Tips for better gaming experiences:
There's an excellent walkthrough available at the Official Rogue Ops site. When you get in trouble, be sure and check it out. As I'm not entirely sure how long the site will be active, I've downloaded the walkthrough and recommend you do the same.

Past that, here's a few small bits to help you along your way:

	Throwing stars can be retrieved, sometimes you actually have to pick up the bodies though, to get them back.
	Hide your bodies! I cannot stress this enough. The alarm will never go off if the guards it spawns keep finding dead bodies. That's not to say that it's not possible to finish a mission with the alarm on, it's just a lot harder.
	Don’t worry about using Med kits. When her life gets low enough, Nikki will use one automatically on herself.
	Make good use of the Adrenaline Boost. It not only slows time down for you, but actually makes it so that you’re moving faster than the enemy is, this can help against bastards with rocket launchers who like to take pot shots at you.
	Most cameras can be…and SHOULD be shot out. Also, remember: Blue lasers trip alarms, red lasers kill.
	The trick to the locks that require controller motions to open, is to do them slowly.
Finally, there is a full list of cheats for the game, straight from Kemco. To view the list, click here.

My rating: 80(out of 100) - It's nowhere near as shitty as Metal Gear Solid 2, nor is it as ball-achingly hard as Splinter Cell...it's in a very nice place right around the middle. It controls well, the graphics are drop-dead gorgeous, the voice acting isn't bad at all(Nikki is great), the levels are interesting and well done and the story/ending leave it wide open for a sequel...so why only an 80? Well, as it is one of "those stealth based games", it tends to fall prey to the same problems they do: Infuriatingly frustrating later levels. Though the first few missions are a breeze, after that, it seems to get so hard...so fast that you are just caught completely off guard and are left tripping, to keep up...

Nikki says:
Yeah, I'm sure you were looking for the typical hot whore that he usually puts in his reviews...but your luck just ran out. I ought to break your face for even looking at those other chicks. Now get off your ass and go get *my* game!

How to talk dirty to Ms. Connors:
It's Cody here folks, I'm going to run you through a few of the finer details of the voice recognition programmed into the game. As you may or may not know, using your Xbox Live headset you can actually speak to Nikki and even make her perform actions like pulling out an assortment of weapons and using items. Though the technology isn't the greatest, it sure is fun to bark orders at her. 18 voice commands are recognized, here are a few examples...and a few that are undocumented...

You say:	She:
Hey Baby	Punches you in the crotch.
Pistol	Pulls out her pistol....shoots you in the crotch.
Crossbow	Breaks out the crossbow.
Toast	Finds the nearest toaster...makes herself some toast. Damn that's tasty.
Where's Raiden?	Immediately pulls out her pistol, aims it at her head, asks "Why Hideo, why?" then pulls the trigger.
Scanner	Readies the Retinal Scanner.
Get Naked!	Formats your Xbox's harddrive.
Sniper	Equips the Sniper Rifle, screams "Die you motherfuckers" and begins to shoot every male enemy in the crotch.
Boost	Uses the Adrenaline Boost...or if she misinterprets, steals the closest thing to her.
Fly	Releases a Fly Cam. Quick tip: Anytime you get stuck in the "Magyar Klub", nine times out of ten, it's an area where you need to use the Fly Cam to proceed...

...and finally...

HD Usage(for the obsessive-compulsive in you):
Rogue Ops takes up a total of 13 blocks, or 0.2 meg roughly, on your Xbox's hard drive. It breaks down like this:

1. Save Game - 7 Blocks

...but Bel, this doesn't add up!
I know, I know...the extra 5 blocks that are missing are used in just creating the save space on the Xbox's HD.

Rogue Ops screenshots were borrowed from the official sites located at Rogueops.com and Bits Studios.