Renegade Ops Review

When you’ve presided over some of the finest examples of open-world gaming and sold a healthy amounts of discs as a result, where do you go from there? The answer seems to be into the download realm, which is precisely what Avalanche Studios have done with their latest release, Renegade Ops.

Strewn across nine action-packed missions, Renegade Ops is a vehicular combat game that knows exactly how to get its point across. Usually in a gigantic ball of flames and accompanied by wailing guitar solos.

The story is simple; the world and its ineffectual leaders are paralysed with fear at the actions of Inferno and his forces. A General named Bryant, a gruff, no nonsense character with a luxurious moustache, decides enough is enough and goes rogue with his crack team of renegades in an attempt to stop the madman and his army in their tracks. It’s pure bubblegum, but what makes it compelling is the sumptuous style in which the story is told.

Cut scenes are done in a comic book style, with slides that punctuate the action and some wildly OTT voice acting which suits the action perfectly. In-game it also adopts this approach, as little windows pop up to further the action and story along, with nary a break in the fast-paced, frenetic action.

Missions are varied with a nice mix to stop players becoming bored. Actually, there’s little chance of that due to the ferocious pace which Renegade Ops employs – only the narcoleptic out there could possibly fail to be gripped by the mayhem generated. From taking on giant airships, to rescuing hostages and all manner of other objectives in-between, the game refuses to let players dawdle, with a countdown timer which kicks in at the bottom of the screen, urging the player to pick up the pace. Failure to adhere to the timer results in a Game Over and it’s a neat touch which adds pressure in the right way, just where it’s needed.

Each and every action performed in-game earns points and, as twinkle-toed octogenarian Bruce Forsythe will tell you, these make prizes. In the case of Renegade Ops this comes in the form of Experience Points which can then be used to upgrade various aspects of the players chosen vehicle in-between missions. From regenerating health, to how long it takes for the individual characters special move to cool down, there’s enough incentive within the persistent levelling system to drive the player along.

All of this would mean nothing if the control scheme wasn’t up to scratch, but thankfully this aspect is as exemplary as the rest of the game. With the left analogue stick steering the vehicle and the right stick used for shooting targets, everything is tight and feels just right as mayhem ensues all around. Even the secondary weaponry feels right to hand; the instinctive controls reek of a title that has been well crafted with a lot of care and attention, with the player being the main beneficiaries.

Avalanche Studios’ use of the engine employed in their Just Cause series is brought to bear in Renegade Ops to stunning effect. This is one seriously good looking game that’s brimming with detail, usually preceded with things exploding in a ball of fiery death. The way that even incidental units like guard towers collapse once destroyed, or watching miniature enemy forces being forcibly ejected from an exploding vehicle are just the very tip of the iceberg in terms of the lush visuals and animation involved. It’s a game has to be seen in person to appreciate just how lovely it actually looks in motion.

Even though it might be considered a downside that it only consists of nine missions, the incentive to replay on the harder difficulty settings is strong because the chaos that Renegade Ops kicks up is one that can be hard to get enough of. A quick session soon morphs into an hour due to just how utterly compelling the action is; that elusive “one more go” that extends to the extensive multiplayer options which encourage co-operative play. With two players locally in split-screen and up to four online, there are plenty of options to best previous scores and progression, sharing the carnage with as many as possible.

Renegade Ops proves that without a shadow of a doubt that you can transfer the big budget feel of a disc based game into a download title, with no loss of excitement or compromise in terms of class and panache. In doing so Avalanche Studio have produced something exquisite here, something that is to be savored, something that demands to be played by everyone who ever considers themselves a lover of games.

To that end, Renegade Ops is utterly essential.