Renegade Ops Review

I miss '80s action movies. I miss the ridiculous explosions, the testosterone that seems to drip off of the screen, unlimited rounds of ammunition, and did I mention explosions? These types of movies resonated with my childhood and influenced my schoolyard play sessions with G.I. Joe and Hot Wheels like no other (yes, my parents let me watch R-rated flicks as a kid). Renegade Ops allows me to live out these childhood play sessions with all of the gusto of an '80s action flick topped off with some comic book flare. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot of fun while it lasts.

This is pretty much the same Renegade Ops that was available to console players over a month ago albeit with one notable addition: Gordon Freeman. That's right, the hero of Half-Life has been moonlighting as a soldier of fortune and is a playable character with his own special power: Antlions.




Gordon Freeman isn't alone in terms of special powers in the game. Each of the playable characters has their own specific trait to bring on the battlefield. The other Renegades have a variety of other specials like being able to call in an airstrikes, turn into a powerful turret, or encase themselves in a metal shell -- depending on your preferred style of play there might just be a Renegade for you. Their vehicles also control differently, with Freeman's vehicle being the muscle car that still controls as loose as I remember from the original HL2.



My core playthrough was with Gordon Freeman (of course), and as I continued to play through the levels I increased my special abilities as well as other passive skills like health regeneration and extra ammo. These passive traits are applicable to the other Renegades as well.

The upgrade system is basic but extremely effective. Gain XP from destroying enemies, completing core objectives like eliminating tanks, or finishing bonus objectives like rescuing prisoners, among other things. Earn enough XP and you'll level up, and each time you do, you'll earn Upgrade Points, with more points rewarded in the game's later, more difficult levels. This gave me the opportunity to almost max out my character by the time I reached the end of the game -- I got to level 41 and still had two more powers to earn.
The core of the game follows what I like to call "Arcade Street Rules." Things like losing weapon upgrades after dying, or getting a "game over" screen once I'm out of lives are some core ideals of an arcade shooter -- which this is. What I'm trying to say is there's a fair amount of difficulty to be found in Renegade Ops, and it's nice to see these arcade staples still exist in this age of infinite lives and unlimited continues.
Being an arcade shooter subjects the mission design to a fair amount of repetition. It wasn't too noticeable for the first few levels because I was so enthralled by the beautiful explosions (they really are great) or some of the best fire effects I've seen in a game (again, really great). By the time I rescued x-amount of prisoners or destroyed x-amount of tanks, the small cracks of the game's arcade-influenced design began to shine through. In a way, the game noticed that and delivered some of the shortest levels of the entire game about mid-way through the four hour adventure. As such, the game peaks really early, and then sort of accelerates to the finish line.

Nearly all of the scenarios take place in a wide-open expanse of forest, desert, or secret military bases, though one nice change-up puts players in control of a helicopter and challenges you to single-handedly took out a giant battleship. And even when I started to tire of the repetition of objectives, it was the online and split-screen mutliplayer options that really made the game shine.

Yes, split-screen on the PC! It's a nice touch and works really well for two players provided you have two gamepads (more on that in a minute). Online play can work with up to four players, but I had trouble trying to find that many people who were playing the game online. I was able to play online with one other player through the opening levels and there was no noticeable lag, but I can't speak for how well the game's code works with four players on the screen.


The nice thing here was I could bring along my currently leveled-up character online to earn some more XP, unlock levels I haven't unlocked yet, and then return to the single-player portion to see these abilities and levels unlocked. It's a small touch, but I do like seeing features cross-referencing each other in a game.


There are a couple of sore spots that I feel are worth mentioning and they're both in relation to the ending level of the game during the final boss fight. The first crash-to-desktop I encountered was as the boss fight was about to start. The other was when I reloaded and went back to the same boss and... he vanished, driving off the raised platform shortly after the battle started. It was anti-climatic, but that was the end of the game for me. It's possible this issue will be patched, but it was a bit of a downer to run into two issues at the very end of the game.

My other complaint about the game is that the keyboard and mouse control scheme just doesn't work very well. I know the game recommends you use a gamepad, but a keyboard and mouse control scheme may be the only option for some PC players. It should have a better default setting than this. So if you lack a decent gamepad and you want to play Renegade Ops, you have been warned. Personally, I just plugged in my wired Xbox 360 controller and the game controlled fine.
Glitches and control scheme issues aside, I had a tremendous amount of fun playing through Renegade Ops. Variety of vehicles and playstyles, tons of cool powers to upgrade, and the online features make it a solid offering for PC gamers who are fans of twin-stick arcade shooters -- especially if you like some '80s action-flick machismo thrown in for good measure.






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