Preview: Rogue Company (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · July 29, 2020

Rogue Company is an upcoming free-to-play multiplayer third-person shooter video game developed by First Watch Games and published by Hi-Rez Studios.

Pros:

Decent graphics.
9.32gb download size.
Platinum trophy.
A repeatable tutorial area that breaks down shooting, cover, and abilities.
Hero shooter gameplay.
Daily contracts.
Party invites system.
13 Rogues to choose from with each being a unique class with a unique ability and passive skills.
Skins for guns and rogues with each rogue having its own loadout as it were.
Profile-shows rank, exp to next to rank, kills, revives, time played, and victories.
4v4 teams.
Crossplay and cross-save.
Two modes-Demolition (attack and defend) and Strikeout (control objectives and limited respawns).
Training-tutorial and practice Demolition mode against bots.
Bit matches are solo or Co-op vs bots.
Seven maps.
Has a full emote and sprays selection.
Can throw melee weapons.
Pick up melee weapons in-game.
Load out-two primary and a secondary and a melee.
Wingsuit-can unlocks new ones and equips them.
Game-you fly in on a wingsuit and can see player trails.
Ping system for movement and enemy notifications.
Your special ability charges up over time.
You have a main passive ability but can buy more in a match.
Cs Go like round intervals where you spend cash on new abilities, improve weapons, and buy weapons.
Cash is earned from downs/kills/revives/playing.
Can swap shoulder cam on the fly from left to right.
3rd person perspective.
Fun to play.
Characters will give call outs.

Cons:

Can’t just equip skins to all characters, it has to be done manually and individually.
The Ping system is not ideal.
Takes a long time to unlock new rogues.
Feels unbalanced but could easily be my shite skills.
The time to kill is really short.
Not all weapons have ADS.
The vaulting mechanic doesn’t always work.
Ranking up is a nonevent and very flat.
Revive timer is short.

Summary

The signs are good with this one, Rogue Company combines the elements of CS GO with a hero shooter like Overwatch and does so in a way that is both fun and accessible. You have 13 Rogues to play with and they all play completely different, some will be defensive, some offensive and some are just darn right sneaky. The opening tutorial does a good job of serving up humor bit also more importantly the key controls of the game. It uses a ping system that is OK, it’s not as good as an Apex Legends or Call of Duty but it does a job and its better than nothing. The shooting feels really good for each gun, but I found the time to kill so short, and when you factor in how short the revive timer is, it makes for frustrating gunfights. With so many characters and abilities balancing is always going to be an issue and I believe it’s still a big deal here, or let me say it like this, it’s very stressful to know how to counter players, how to play a certain character, etc and maybe that’s more the issue than perhaps saying it’s balancing that needs tweaking because, at the end of the day, the game plays really well and is a lot of fun both in solo and with randoms and friends. Sure it needs a bit more meat on the bone and some little things need tweaking but it’s an early access game for a reason but the initial release is both fun and promising and Rogue Company is a game you want to keep your eye on.