Video Juegos

While the Tom Clancy brand dominates the genre of realistic military shooters, it's going to get some competition from a legendary Navy SEAL. Bethesda and Zombie Interactive are currently working on Rogue Warrior, a tactical shooter for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 that's based on the fiction novels of the same name by Richard Marcinko, a former Navy SEAL commander whose best-selling autobiography is also titled Rogue Warrior. However, the game won't be based on Marcinko's real-life exploits in the Vietnam War. Instead, the plot, which could almost be ripped from today's headlines, is set in modern-day North Korea.


In Rogue Warrior, you'll lead Marcinko's four-man SEAL team deep into enemy territory. The game's plot has you infiltrate a North Korean submarine facility to get intelligence data on that country's nuclear capabilities. However, while you're busy doing this, North Korea launches a massive invasion of South Korea, and war erupts. Since all friendly forces have their hands full, you'll have to find your own way out of North Korea, which means you must escape and navigate through enemy territory.

There are a couple of key things to note about the game. The first is that this isn't a rigidly scripted game, like so many other military shooters. The design team at Zombie felt that the "rails" approach favored in those games (so called because you're basically restricted to a single path) doesn't really capture the essence of SEAL combat. SEALs are the Navy's elite commando units, and they're usually dispatched in small teams to operate behind enemy lines. That means SEALs must be smart, resourceful, and flexible, and to capture this element of SEAL warfare Rogue Warrior will have fairly large levels for a first-person shooter. The idea is that you'll be able to approach tactical situations in the manner that you determine.

For instance, in the example that we were shown, Marcinko's SEAL team approached a North Korean ship-breaking yard (where ships are torn apart for their metal). In this situation, there were three paths that the team could follow, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. One path might be more direct, but it also increases the odds of detection, while a safer option might offer a more roundabout path that takes longer to navigate. The idea is that you can tailor your tactics to fit your situation. However, having this freedom of movement in such large levels doesn't mean that Rogue Warrior will be like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda's hugely popular fantasy role-playing game. Rogue Warrior's levels are big, but not gigantic. The levels are designed for tactical flexibility, not exploring a huge dynamic world.