It was just a couple of weeks ago that Rebellion announced its willingness to license 2000 AD characters for use by other game developers. I half-expected that the news would lead to a flood of new games based on Judge Dredd and maybe a few others, but I did not think that it would begin this quickly. But here we are, with word that Rogue Trooper: Redux, "an HD remaster of the cult shooter game based on the 2000 AD comic series," is in the works at UK-based developer Ticktock Games.
Rebellion said in the announcement that the 2006 original "set the benchmark for videogame adaptations of comic books," and was widely acclaimed as a "tactical, cover-based third-person shooter that debuted before the genre became the gaming staple it is today." I'll be honest, I don't really remember it that way, mainly because I don't remember it at all, which is probably telling in its own right. PC Gamer UK liked it quite a bit, though, scoring it 84/100, the top critical score in the Metacritic review roundup, while the US side gave it 73/100 a month later.
In any event, Rogue Trooper should by all rights make for an ideal videogame hero—he is literally a rogue trooper, after all. "Rogue Trooper Redux will remaster the Rebellion classic for a new generation of players, taking them to the chem-blasted battlefields of Nu Earth," Rebellion explained in the announcement. "Rogue, a bio-engineered Genetic Infantryman (or 'GI') immune to the planet's poisonous atmosphere, is the last soldier standing against the colonial Nort regime. Carrying three fallen comrades as biochips in his equipment, Rogue is a one-unit squad of death and destruction, and he only has one thing on his mind—Revenge."
No dates were given, but Rebellion said Rogue Trooper: Redux is "coming soon." The original game, by the way, is still available on Steam.
