STACK July 2017 Issue 153

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066 JULY 2017
visit GAMES FEATURE
I t’s often the games you know
nothing about before sitting
down in front of them with
a controller in hand that end up
surprising you. This was indeed the
case with Sniper Elite developer
Rebellion’s Strange Brigade, a title
we played on our final day at the
show.
It clearly takes inspiration from
Raiders of the Lost Ark and is
also set during the 1930s. You
play as one of four adventurers
(each versed in a particular skill),
cooperatively or in a single-player
mode, and being the antisocial
gamer that I am, I went alone. Big
mistake.
Armed only with a pistol, a
single-shot rifle and a special
ability unleashed once charged, I
was seriously under-powered for
the ceaseless waves of mummies
lumbering toward my position.
Usually, by trial and error, I can
find a strategic point in a level. But
the Ancient ruins-setting offered
nothing other than a handful of
traps set off with a well-aimed
bullet – stay prone for too long
taking potshots from a distance
and you’ll be flanked; and killed.
I faced a selection of different
enemies in my 20 minute demo.
Progression through the gameplay
is punctuated by a humorous
Pathé News British accent that
was genuinely funny.
It’s a quirky and amusing title
and certainly stirred an interest.
There’s no release date announced
for Strange Brigade yet, but I’ll be
playing this – with friends this time
– when it does finally surface.
I can remember Rogue Trooper
from my days as an avid reader of
the comic 2000 A.D., but I didn’t
play the game when it released 11
years ago. Rebellion Studios, who
own the rights to the comic, has
decided to remaster the game.
Rogue Trooper Redux is a
third-person shooter. The single-
player level we played dropped
us straight into a battle on
Nu-Earth. The blue-skinned Rogue
Troopers are immune to harsh
environments, and armed with an
automatic weapon that doubles as
a sniper rifle.
Combat utilises a tactical cover
system (the original game was
purportedly one of the first to
incorporate a cover system), and
objectives range from shooting
Nort soldiers and blowing up
tanks, to taking out enemy
spacecraft with an AA gun. The
original has developed a cult
following over the last decade and
you’d imagine this is where most
of the traffic is going to come
from. There’s no release date at
this stage.
I found a H.P. Lovecraft book
on a bus when I was around 13,
and I was hooked from the first
paragraph. The trouble with an
author such as Lovecraft – and
the worlds he created – is
FIVESTAR
Words Paul Jones
purveyors
of mayhem
Strange Bridge
RogueTrooper Redux