Fortnite X Rainbow Six: Siege – Rogue Company is finding an accessible middle ground.
Rogue Company has been all over Twitch recently. An aggressive early access/Beta campaign coupled with founders pack sales lead to an impressive early player base exploring the brand new game from Hi-Rez Studios, the creators of Smite. While at first glance Rogue Company may seem like just another Overwatch clone, it is doing enough well that it should be able to hold onto a nice chunk of the market share. Tight controls, interesting characters, and fast paced game-play are the hallmarks of a game with the proverbial legs it will need to stick around.
A Familiar Look & Feel.
If Rogue Company looks and feels similar to Fortnite, is it likely on purpose. Fortnite’s accessibility is welcoming to players of all ages and skill-sets with some stellar shooting mechanics. Rogue Company takes these cues and adds much needed weight. Going from special skill to shooting down your enemies is smooth and responsive, making it feel like you are never over-committing to any action, which only ramps up the intensity. This encourages swapping strategies on the fly with precision and speed. The characters might seem familiar, too, as many of them have similar perks and abilities as games before it like the aforementioned Overwatch, League of Legends or Apex Legends. This is both good and bad.
It feels a tad unoriginal, but trades this off with being familiar enough to make you comfortable with a few characters right off the bat. A healer with a robot that heals downed teammates? Check. A brute that can set up a barrier? Check. A hacker that can detect enemies and break traps? Check. It will be interesting to see how the team at Hi-Rez breaks up the formula of character archetypes in the future, but for right now it has a nice balance that should be welcoming to new players familiar with these types of class based hero titles. Don’t let that fool you into thinking this makes the game generic. The unique presentation and interactivity between the permutations of the characters on the battlefield make it feel fresh.
One Mode to Rule Them All.
The deepest criticism of all would have to be the lack of gameplay modes available in this early access build. It is possible more modes are locked behind closed doors being refined, but right now a two hour session will have you wanting to try something new. You have two modes right now, a demolition mode where one team plants a bomb and the other refuses it, or a simple zone capture/team elimination mode. The two modes are different, sure, but they all end up feeling too similar. This is where games with an established player base will crush Rogue Company. It would be nice to have new and innovating modes as opposed to ones that are taken straight from rivals in the same space. Rogue Company has a lot of personality and they should show it in the way you play. That being said – what you do play here is fun, as is pushing forward to unlock more characters to use in battle. A battle pass and constant string of unlocks will certainly help keep your attention even in the limited game modes.
Technical Issues.
Early access builds are bound to have a litany of technical issues. Most will have some server issues or player connection hiccups, but one of the most damning issues you will find in Rogue Company is opponent “location” bugs. That is the best way to describe it. An enemy will appear to be looking in one direction looking down their sight, making you think you have the drop on them, only to shoot a bullet that makes a 90 degree turn right to your chest. There are a lot of these “how did you see me?” moments that are just not explained. Whether it is actual glitches or just possible server lag where the player is simply not being shown in real time, it becomes a glaring issue after only a few matches.
So far, Rogue Company deserves your attention. It is fast paced and full of character. It is a wholly satisfying experience that fans of competitive shooters should find no qualms in sinking dozens of hours in this early access build. Now we all play the waiting game and see if Hi-Rez will treat this game with the love and care it deserves with meaningful updates and bug fixes.
