The photorealistic approach was always a poor fit for artist Dave Gibbons's austere, almost expressionist inks, but even without a radical change of direction, there was massive room for improvement in those nondescript backgrounds. What begins as a pleasantly straightforward experience degenerates into tiresome repetition. I used the turret on a couple of occasions, I never used the hologram outside the tutorial. The problem is that these adversaries rarely provide you with a reason to spice up your playstyle with any of the abilities it provides. In fact, one of Rogue Trooper's redeeming qualities is how unfussy it is about combat, happy to serve up prodigious quantities of frail, dopey enemies and expecting you to do right by them and shoot their faces. The problem is not necessarily the lack of challenge. Enemies give you little reason to settle for anything less than a succession of carefully placed headshots, and then it's on to the next setpiece. 'Should' being the operative word here as, with witless Norts standing in your line of fire pondering the questions of existence and only occasionally bothering to fire back, combat is a series of shooting galleries.

(No more than 6–7 hours for the full campaign.)

Alongside an innovative (for its time) cover system and a host of neat little touches like the wafts of breath betraying enemy positions and the entertaining way Norts flail about in panic after you hit their oxygen tanks, these abilities should provide much-needed variety to the otherwise undemanding skirmishes that dominate Rogue Trooper's brisk playing time.

Rogue trooper ps4