Rogue Ops – GC – Preview

E3 2003 – First Look

 

I was lucky enough to sit down
with the director of the next blockbuster title Rogue Ops, Dylan Beale. He ran
through a few levels of the game for me, explaining the game along the way, and
Rogue Ops looks to be an excellent tile.

 

Rogue Ops is an action
adventure title that takes place in 3rd person. You play as agent
Nicola Conners, an operative for the organization Phoenix. Nicola has been
chosen to investigate and eliminate a terrorist threat, but she has a mission of
her own: to find out who killed her parents. Even though Rogue Ops has an
intense plot with twists and turns, it shines exceptionally bright in its
gameplay as well.

 

Rogue Ops is set in a very
futuristic, sci-fi environment including some fantasy elements as well. The game
starts out with Nicola infiltrating the enemy headquarters. Start with only a
few guns and a pair of glasses that allow you to see the heat source of enemies
through walls, you must make your way through level and complete your missions
along the way. Throughout the game, you will get more and more gadgets that run
off battery power; the glasses are an example of a battery run device.

 

Your health and battery life
are both displayed in the upper right corner of the screen, where you will also
receive video feeds from your boss. Stealth is a huge part of the game, and
abilities like pick pocketing, stealth kill combos, and searching and moving
bodies are very useful. Guards will even notice things like blood from a guard
you might have killed, so sometimes avoiding them or finding other ways to get
rid of them are more useful. A great way to take guards out without leaving
evidence is utilizing the stealth kills. Stealth kills leave no mess, and treat
you to a cool little cinematic of Nicola taking the guard out with her bare
hands.

 

Players that explore Nicola’s
abilities will be rewarded by finding an easier way to get through a certain
level. For example, right outside of the first building is a guard. Then, later
on inside the building you’ll run into a room equipped with a laser defense
system. If you picked the guard’s pocket, you would have found a key card that
can turn off the lasers. Otherwise, you’ll have to find other ways of moving
through the room. There are a lot of scenarios like this in Rogue Ops, giving
you multiple paths and options through a level.

 

One feature I particularly
liked is how interactive the environments are. Like I mentioned before, a lot of
the levels have multiple ways of taking care of guards or obstacles. Interacting
with the environment can really turn the tables. One mission takes place in a
museum swarming with guards, and instead of running in with guns blazing, Dylan
shot the wires holding up some of the dinosaur bone displays causing a giant
dinosaur skeleton to come crashing down on a group of enemies. This is just one
example of the many things possible in Rogue Ops. Keep an eye out for this great
title in Q4 of 2003.