Someone (you know who you are!) asked me if Rogue Trooper held up over the years. So I put in two hours to answer that question. (So, disclaimer, I didn't finish the game yet.) Does it hold up? The answer could surprise you!
The story: There's a war going on for some reason on Nu Earth (not explained whether it's a different planet than Earth or merely something post-apocalyptic.) The Southerners/Southlanders/whatever use blue-skinned genetically-modified (dare I say...augmented? It is an Eidos game after all) infantry - "G.I.s" - and are apparently the good guys. The Nordlanders/Norts are basically Nazi-analogues. And we all know that German accents = evil. You play Rogue, a woman from Louisiana with the power to absorb other mutant powers a member of a GI squadron, along with Gunner, Bagman and Helm. Gunner quickly dies, and Rogue cuts him open to take out a "biochip" which still has his personality or something, and he uses it as a targeting system in his...gun. Then Bagman dies and Rogue uses his biochip for a manufacture and upgrade system...for his bag. Then Helm gets captured, and both sensing a theme and noticing a biochip-shaped indentation in my helmet, I didn't have high hopes for him. He becomes your electronic hacking system...in your helm.
And since you disobeyed the order to retreat since you were going after Helm...you went rogue. It's at this point I need to mention the game was made in 2006 in the PS2 era, and not 1998 for the N64. I sure hope it's explained why they named a GI "Rogue" as if they were intending for him to do just that. Anyway...bottom line is now you're apparently a one-man army going after the Norts and probably having to fend off your own allies because you're apparently a deserter now. It's...very simple, and more than a bit campy.
The gameplay: It's weird playing this game having played future Eidos games, and seeing the seeds of those games in Rogue Trooper. It's mostly an action game but you have the option to play with stealth and do melee kills from behind (just like Deus Ex HR,) it's got some janky cover shooting with blindfire or duck-out fire - luckily this got better ovver the years - and it has a salvage system where you can salvage bodies or piles of junk to upgrade weapons and such, just like Tomb Raider 2013.
The game presents several options to complete objectives - use your assault rifle as a turret, create distractions, etc. - but you'll find shooting in the game is sufficiently easy that you won't want to bother. I'm playing on normal, so maybe those other options make more sense on hard mode.
The graphics: Hooboy. This sure is a PS2 game. I'm playing in the max resolution: 1280 x 1024. They have a widescreen option but the highest one there is 1280 x 768...so yeah. The textures are fine for 2006 but they conserved polygons like there was a shortage and they'd need some later. It's hard to believe Deus Ex HR came out a mere five years after this.
The characters are pretty badly designed. There's one female character who they wanted to give an absurdly bubbly butt such that her legs had to take on Liefeldian proportions to support it, and consequently she walks like she's got scoliosis.
The dialogue: Your teammates/equipment banter with you and each other as you play. It alternates between funny and "whoa, radical man, I'm tryin' too hard" 90s-style zany. "Let's go sniper on 'em! Zoom and boom!" made me want to cringe. But overall it doesn't get too annoying.
The length: Well, I dunno. I put in two hours and already feel like I'm in the second act. Howlongtobeat estimates it at six hours, meaning yes, I have just started the second act. 6h is kinda short for a third-person shooter. Maybe they were banking on multiplayer.
The verdict: Is this a bad game? No. It's clunky in parts, it feels like they were still working out the kinks in mechanisms they'd polish in future games, it feels a touch too easy for a "normal mode" game, but it's not bad. But does it hold up? ...Not really. These days there are better TPSes out there. If you need a tight cover system in your TPSes, avoid this game. If, however, you can look past janky cover, want a bit of light-hearted fun, and prefer your TPS combat in the "Mass Effect 1, we don't need no stinkin' cover, best defense is a good offense" camp, then maybe you'd get a few hours of enjoyment out of this.
