Rogue Trooper is a 3rd person shooter, in many ways similar to the more recent Gears of War. It has many of the elements of a more modern game, including a cover-mechanic, regenerating health and an upgrade system. But unlike many more modern games, this game also has more persistent effects. While health regenerates, it only regenerates up to a certain point, and damage taken will lower this point. You have a resource to spend, salvage, which you use to make ammunition, health packs (to top up your health, and let it regenerate to 100%), and upgrade your equipment.

The game is very well paced, the large combat encounters that takes place are broken up well with smaller engagements, the difficulty ramps up, but does not spike and there are also a handful of different sequences (like turret sequences) that break up the action, but are short enough as to not overstay their welcome.

Rogue Trooper is based on a comic series, made by 2000AD, the same company that made Judge Dredd. How well it adheres to its source material, I cannot tell, but I suspect that anyone who has read the comic will get more out of the story than a person who has not, because it leaves a few things unexplained. That being said, while the story is not a true work of art, it is surprisingly good, and gives you a good sense of what you are fighting for and who you are fighting.

If you have any love for the genre, then you owe it to yourself to try out Rogue Trooper. It is an outstanding game that sadly was overlooked by the general public. It is up there with the likes of Psychonauts and Beyond good & evil, in terms of “great games that no one played”. But unlike those two, Rogue Trooper never received the same cult following, it was just overlooked.

Rogue Trooper is definitely on the list of "best games no one played". It's a sleeper hit in many ways, and a game well before its time. It is, at heart, a third-person shooter, that manages to include things like a great cover system, a flexible ammo system and great stealth, all in once. Level design is great, and it's a very fun game overall. The negatives are very few: it feels a bit short (though it is a great game while it lasts), and the story is good, but not great. However, it may feel shorter than it actually is because of its good gameplay, and the story fits well in the game, providing a good background for the excellent gameplay. All in all, it's a steal for 10 bucks, and definitely one of the best games in my collection.