Got to be honest here, when I first heard that Rebellion were to do a remastered version of Rogue Trooper I was a little bit surprised but the happy kind of surprised. Growing up I really loved the 2000 AD comic book universe with Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper my top two personal favourites. Up until 2006 when Rogue Trooper originally came out all I had to enjoy was the Amiga version so at the time, so getting a true video game adaptation back then blew me away. Now in 2017 it has been brought back with some gameplay refinements and a new visual look but it is still 11 years since that release, and sadly it feels how a ten year old game would feel to play.

Set on the planet Nu-Earth, where a never ending war between the Norts and Southers is being fought, a war that has cost the lives of millions as all manner of chemical and biological weapons have been use. This has led to catastrophic poisoning of the planet, and the troops of both sides now live in enclosed cities and can only travel outside by wearing bio-suit protection. The Southers have developed a race of warriors who are immune to the deadly atmosphere through genetic engineering known as the Genetic Infantry. The GI’s are deployed in an airborne assault, but a traitor has betrayed the secret of the G.I.s to the Norts and they are massacred during the drop which is then known as the Quartz Zone Massacre.

Our hero Rogue, the only surviving G.I. decides to go AWOL to track down the Traitor General responsible and get revenge for his fallen GI’s. Rogue is not alone however, as each GI is fitted with a bio-chip which contains their personality and memories after they die for a short time and so Rogue ends up becoming a one man squad as his squad buddies, Helm, Gunnar and Bagman who strangely and almost as though it was destined for them, are inserted into Rogue’s rifle, backpack and helmet enhancing each to aid Rogue in Battle.

Rogue Trooper is a third person shooter taking players to various areas of the planet Nu Earth as Rogue tries to uncover and track down the traitor who betrayed the GI. For this remastered version a new auto cover mode as been added where Rogue will clip to cover for protection but enables him to fire from that cover. Well that is how it is supposed to work however I found that this new mechanic was rather hit and miss after going into cover sometimes it refused to let me shoot from it forcing me to break cover just to fire at enemies. The over shoulder camera can get very confused as well when crouching in cover with it not able to see where you need it to. Hit detection is also an issue with some enemies requiring an almost full clip to take them down yet another enemy of the same time would go down with just a few hits, focusing on headshots is the best way but overall just makes the shooting feel clumsy, especially when using the weapons you pick up later in the game.

It does have some interesting ideas however such as Gunnar can be placed as a sentry gun to serve as a trap or distraction allowing Rogue to flank an enemy position for a stealth take down. That is if Gunnar can actually hit anything as at times once positioned he couldn’t hit a barn door with his firing which is great as a distraction but fairly rubbish if you actually plan to take out enemies with the sentry. I also found the stealth takedowns lacked the impact the sudden animation scene wanted to give it and melee attacks were just comical throughout with minimal ragdoll physics on the enemy body following the thud noise after being hit with the butt of your gun. But they other two Bio-chipped kit did actually come in handy with Bagman being the MVP of the squad for me. Bagman will reload your gun, apply a med kit when needed but the best ability by far is how it can create ammo, grenades, med-kits and upgrades for your gear from the salvage Rogue can collect from fallen enemies. Depending on how you want to play either all guns blazing or perhaps more stealthy, deciding what to spend your salvage on especially when it comes to picking an upgrade can be the difference between running out of ammo or med-kits right when the fighting kicks up a notch. Helm is able to hack devices but also provides a mini radar and ability to send out holographic decoys. A clever twist is that during hacking is that Rogue must take off his helmet and so loses the mini radar which seems strange for a genetically grown super soldier with advances bio chip technology in his kit only lack any form of WiFi connectivity.

The real focus of this remaster is really in the visuals rather than smoothing over any of the original gameplay issues and niggles and the game is better for it when you compare it to the original. Colours and lighting are enhanced and the character models have benefited from this with Rogue looking better than ever. Cut-scenes have been remade with the new engine but even with all the updated visuals the game still looks clunky and aged here in 2017. That really is my main problem with this as a remaster, yes the original has been brought up to date visually but the gameplay feels sadly very dated and the unique elements that work the best struggle to stand out against all the faults. I do wish that instead of a new makeover, Rebellion had remade this from the ground up and really brought it into 2017 as a new game. There is so much in this game that could be used as the foundation for a new game but instead it really just feels like a very old game that has been spruced up.

The story is enjoyable and from a nostalgia perspective, Rogue Trooper Redux still holds up today. But sadly it never feels like anything more than just a ten year old game made prettier. The gameplay at times is still as fun as it was but it shows its age now and having played the original, I hoped for more refinement in the gameplay because it needed it. Great work has been done in the visuals but the animation looks dated and the problems and niggles have not aged well at all. With the online modes and trip down memory lane for anyone who does remember the original, it is certainly fun to experience again for nostalgia but I wanted more from this and didn’t get it.

Worth picking up in the sales down the road but right now the trip down memory lane is not quite worth the asking price.

So far Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series has been a really mixed bag for me as both a MARVEL and a Telltale Games fan. It started strong but a poor follow up in episode 2 sullied the experience. Episode 3 came with a huge decision for players which would shape how their game would continue and end for the series, something recent Telltale games have used in order to provide both replay value and additional dramatic choices for the player. Now we have finally reached the penultimate episode to the series and the fall out from what my choice was in Episode 3 would play out….or so I thought, but instead Episode 4 left me both bored and slightly frustrated.

*Spoiler Warning for Episode 4 and previous episodes based on my player choices ahead*

So the big decision or player choice in Episode 3 was to either save or destroy the Infinity Forge, a device so powerful that it could return any person from any time period back to life but only if another life was sacrificed to maintain balance. With Hala fighting to take control of the Forge as well as Rocket wanting to use it to bring his old friend to life, Peter Quill in my game was caught up in a powder keg of pressure trying to make a choice. In the end I chose to destroy the forge which yet again in my game pissed off Rocket but pleased Gamora and had a disastrous impact on the main villain of the series Hala. Now I wanted and hoped that the pacing problems would balance out as we race towards the series finale but instead Episode 4 is slow between the action sequences and whilst it has solid story moments I came away yet again disappointed.

The problem I have with this episode is pretty much the same that has really kept me from fully enjoying this series, the pacing which just drags the storytelling between action sequences and forced player choices is almost mind numbing at this point. This episode opens with replaying the final moments of the previous episode as my decision to destroy the Infinity Forge results in the collapse of the temple and resulting firefight with Hala, now seemingly infused with the power of the Forge knocking the Guardians off the platform and all falling to an underground cave system. It all serves as a chance to pretty much stop everything, for the Guardians to take stock on their current circumstances and also for the player to catch a breath and think about choices made and their outcomes whilst still focusing on the main themes of this series.

Those themes are of Peter desperately trying to keep the Guardians together despite the story constantly putting in conflict which means that no matter who you try to side with or at the least keep a neutrality to, someone is going to get upset and someone will grow closer to Peter. So far for me this has boiled down to Peter’s relationships with Rocket and Gamora where I have tried to help Gamora repair her relationship with Nebula but at the price of alienating Rocket who is threatening to leave the Guardians for good. Game of Thrones: The Telltale Series had the same issue for me, I really do not like having player choices with no real good result and that no matter which answer I picked in dialogue scenes and now four episodes in, it is truly draining on me each time it pops up and all I can do really is pick which character to piss off the least. There are some light hearted moments which then immediately ignore the fact I have just upset someone when they suddenly join in or make jokes in the next scene making it hard to keep track of who is the most upset with Peter when a possible opportunity comes to build bridges.

Which is a shame because again the strength of the series is in the flashback for each character which for Peter means going back to him as a child just as his Mother is becoming really ill which we know is a huge moment in Peter’s life, with a planned trip to go camping taking a dramatic turn as Peter’s Mum passes out at the wheel forcing Peter to take control of the car to prevent them crashing. It leads to his mum finally being honest with Peter about just how ill she is, giving them a really tender moment. Next the flashback moment switches to Drax after previous episodes showed us Gamora and Rocket. This is for me so far the stand out story moment in the series as we see Drax and his daughter as they prepare for her Warrior’s trial with player choices affecting how Drax responds to her. Up till now Drax has almost been the punchline to the humour in his direct responses so to finally see his interaction with his family, especially his daughter is very touching and handled both beautifully by the writing but also in the player options given to guide his responses making it all the more emotional knowing that Drax loses this family.

This episode also has two pretty dark moments which I will not spoil, but they both have a surprising impact on the story now in the later stages approaching the end which for at least one of them I genuinely did not see coming though I have no doubt will probably be undone in the finale but still, it was certainly a moment with weight for the story going into the final episode. Which just fuels my frustration with this series which has amazing moments of brilliance in story telling and use of the Guardians of the Galaxy license but at the same time it suffers from poor pacing, lack of actual content which makes the series fill dragged out and QTE events so lazy it becomes boring.

With Batman: The Enemy Within serving as a second season and already two episodes in, Guardians of the Galaxy already feels like a good idea that ran out of steam. The fact it has been seven months since episode one started has certainly not helped keep the momentum in this game for me and having so much of it focus on player choices that only leave the player feeling like they cannot win no matter which option they take is so infuriating at times. I will be happy to get to the final episode and can only hope that all the player choices will have a rewarding pay off.

Episode 5 has a lot of work to do to salvage this first trip into the MARVLE universe for Telltale, but right now not even the Avengers showing up can help it!