Rogue Ops is a third person action adventure game that was released in October 2003 for the Xbox, GameCube and PlayStation 2. I suppose it would fall within the “stealth” genre though I don’t know that I ever really got into this kind of game enough to consider it a separate genre. Strictly speaking, stealth is just an option anyway. If you prefer, in most cases you can blast your way through the game though that may not always be the easiest approach.
Rouge Ops fits roughly into the same category as games like Splinter Cell and Metal Gear (at least the Metal Gear Games from 1998 and beyond). Rogue Ops consists of a variety of levels or missions. A variety of tactics can be used but at least in a few cases stealth is required as a prerequisite for completing a few missions is to not set off any alarms. Game play is typical 3rd person actions stuff but there are a variety of gadgets and weapons to use, including a fly cam, retinal scanner, throwing stars, sniper rifle, remote controlled mines, and so on. And of course you can always use your hands to get up close and personal with your enemies.
The protagonist is a female ex-Green Beret. She witnesses her husband and young child die as a result of a car bomb in Turkey. The perpetrators are a terrorist organization called Omega 19. Later, Nikki (the protagonist) finds out that here husband was really part of some secret counter-terrorist organization when she herself is recruited. This ultimately gives her an opportunity to exact her revenge. There are a number of other plot twists and turns but that is the basic story.
Unfortunately, while Rogue Ops might fit into the same genre as Splinter Cell and Metal Gear, it is not as good as those games. As the Girls of Gaming image at the top might indicate, sex was used to sell this game more than its game play attributes. It’s not a terrible game, just mediocre. Despite its flaws, it was original enough that you might expect a sequel but one never came. I suspect it was because sales were just not that great. If you love this genre of gaming and haven’t played this one, it is worth checking out, just don’t expect triple A quality. However, it is a nice change of pace from endless iterations of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear. The version that seemed to get the best reviews is the Xbox version so if you can, that is the one you probably want to try. However, I don’t think the differences were huge or anything so if you have a PS2 or Gamecube instead, I’m sure it is worth trying there too.
The screen shots above are from the PS2 version of the game.
