Developed by Avalanche Studios (the guys behind Just Cause) and published by SEGA we get a game that focuses on what really matters, and that’s huge explosions..!! Hmm.. I mean.. Gameplay yes! We speak of Renegade Ops. With a lot of action (and plenty of explosions), this is a game with good gameplay reminiscent of retro games from the 8 and 16-bit era.
Story
The world is in danger, a malevolent terrorist threat to blow up cities, if the world governments do not pay what he asks. No, it’s not Dr. Evil and Mini Me.. This madman is called Inferno, and has lots of nukes under his sleeve!
As the world leaders hesitate to retaliate, a furious General Bryant, decides to take action and assembles a group of soldiers to put an end to Inferno and his world domination plans.
Gameplay
This is a shooter game, if you love to blow up stuff, i’m sure you will enjoy it. I did mention before the retro feeling that the game has to it, with a top down view style, that seriously takes me back and reminds me of games like Jackal for the NES (oh sweet glorious Jackal!)
Gameplay is brilliant and is without a doubt awesome! You will love the 9 missions the campaign has to offer; from disabling nukes to fighting huge battle ships, the variety on the missions is good enough to keep you hooked through out the campaign.
Controls are good, easy to learn and responsive. The game uses twin stick controls, left analog to drive your vehicle and right analong to shoot and aim, it’s simple and works like a charm.
You can choose from 4 different vehicles/characters, each with his own ability and attacks. Dont think you can spam this all the time to get an easy win, there is a cool down balancing and limiting the use of these abilities.
Roxy (Fast Jeep) Special Ability: Airstrike, this marks a zone in which an aerial barrage will take place, you can destroy a lot of enemies or buildings using it properly.
Gunnar (Heavy Jeep) Special Ability: Heavy Gun, this replaces your regular machine gun for a more powerful and massive machine gun, while you use it you can’t move so it’s a two-edged sword.
Diz (Armoured Truck) Special Ability: EMP, my personal favourite, this one releases an electromagnetic pulse disabling machinery around you, great to destroy big armored vehicles that can do massive damage to you.
Armand (Tank) Special Ability: Shield, this one covers your vehicle for a period of time making you invulnerable to enemy attacks, as well as being useful against tanks or heavy armed vehicles.
You can also obtain powerups to increase your firepower, this includes rocket launchers, flame throwers and Railguns, all in all you are loaded with tons of weaponry, exactly what you need to give the enemy a can of whoopass!
If that was not enough, as you kill enemies you gain exp and level up, this will let you upgrade your defense and offense. Casual mode will not let you use perks and it’s available only if you play normal or harder modes.
Game modes include 3 difficulty levels; Casual, with infinite lives, no damage streak, upgrades to your vehicle or leveling at all. Normal, 5 lives allowing perks, upgrades and leveling. Hardcore, with 3 lives and increased score. The game offers infinite continues after you die, and certainly you will die a lot, specially in Hardcore.
Co-op: This is where the game shines is in multiplayer mode, featuring offline and online cooperative play. You can join with a friend to beat the terrorists or play challenges with other players via Xbox Live Arcade.
The graphics are rich and very detailed, something many arcade games do not offer, this along with a very polished gameplay make it a very good game. Just something else could make this title more spectacular, and that’s B. A. Baracus! Just imagine, this game could be called “A-Team: The Videogame!”
Downsides
There are some graphic glitches here and there but nothing to hinder gameplay. As rich and detailed as the graphics are, sadly there is a lot of repetitive scenery in the game, while missions offer variety the backdrops does not.
Story is not that good (really guys, B.A. Baracus, think about it!) and voice acting is not so great either, still gameplay is good so who needs it?
Infinite continues sounds good? Well yes, but not when you have to restart a mission instead of restarting from a checkpoint! This tends to be a chore after a time.
Extras
The game offers just one avatar award, and that’s it a black hoodie, showing Renegade Ops in the Front and the Logo in the back.
Overall
With excellent old school gameplay, good controls and great graphics for an arcade title which deserves praise Renegade Ops. is an addictive and fun game worth to try.
If you dont mind a cheesy story and care for an overall polished game, break your wallet and spend 1200 Microsoft Points, come on dont make MR-T pity you!
We give the game an 8.5 out of 10
~Mario
