Rebellion’s latest offering, Rogue Warrior, features Navy SEAL Richard “Demo Dick” Marcinko as he singlehandedly attempts to prevent the USSR from gaining the upper hand over the United States in the Cold War. While this tactical FPS doesn’t bring anything new to the table and could have used a bit more polish, it still offers some tense, engrossing scenarios.

Things kick off in North Korea, where Marcinko (marvelously brought to life by the voice talents of actor Mickey Rourke) and his team have been deployed to do some digging on ballistic missile launchers. This simple “snoop and poop,” as Marcinko describes it, quickly goes south when his comrades are killed in action immediately after landing. He’s ordered to abort, but his anger fuels him to continue the mission alone. It is discovered that the Russians are in fact behind this program and Marcinko treks to the USSR to destroy the missiles at all costs.

The story is inelegantly told via voiceovers and text that accompany the loading screens before each of the game’s eight levels. Players who have little interest in elaborate narratives shouldn’t have any issues with this; however those who were hoping for involved storytelling won’t find any here.

As Rogue Warrior centers on a Cold War theme, you’ll frequent many areas that you’d expect to see in a James Bond movie or videogame, including bunkers, dams, hedge mazes, launch facilities and the like. While the locales are interesting, originality is lacking and the game falters slightly in level construction. Each linear mission presents the same core objectives of finding something, blowing it up, and “getting the hell outta dodge.” Luckily, the combat is satisfying enough to keep your interest; though don’t expect to experience massive firefights and adrenaline pumping set-pieces. Rogue Warrior is about using a calculated, methodical, and often stealthy approach. Health is limited, though the well-integrated third person sticky cover system and useful blind firing tactic assist in this regard.

Although the visuals are not nearly as crisp as what’s been seen in recent CoD games, Rogue Warrior still offers decent scenery and some of the lighting effects were implemented quite well. Fuse boxes, for example, can be destroyed to cause your confused enemies to stumble about helplessly in the dark, while you “go ninja on their asses” and hunt them using night vision goggles.

Another intriguing visual effect occurred early on: As I was creeping up a stairwell in a dimly lit building, lightning flashed and revealed the silhouette of an unsuspecting enemy who was standing by a window directly in front of the stairs. This created tension and provided a perfect opportunity to utilize one of the many fantastic “kill moves” at your disposal. I slowly stalked the doomed soldier, tapped the ‘A’ button, and then watched as Marcinko violently ended his life. These moves are brutal to witness and there are over 25 variations including gory throat slashes, crunching neck snaps, and you can even toss enemies over ledges. The action that Marcinko will initiate depends on your angle, approach, and the environment factors in as well. These are what make the stealthier sections of the game worthwhile, and because there is such a vast assortment of maneuvers, this means that you’re not seeing the same few animations constantly. It’s satisfying to sneak up an enemy so you can deploy a kill move, which are often followed by a profane one-liner delivered by Rourke. Some may find the amount of swearing in this game offensive, though I don’t imagine that soldiers facing grim situations worry about language censorship.

But despite how invigorating it can be to perform these grisly finishers, they don’t make up for the inconsistent enemy AI that you’ll encounter. There will be times where foes demonstrate good accuracy while making use of advanced tactics such as blind firing, and they’ll even try to flank you occasionally. Then there are other instances where enemies are just downright dimwitted, missing plenty of shots and making fatal blunders that you can exploit. The best enemy screw-up occurred in the second-to-last mission when I was severely wounded, very close to being dead and caught in a reload as a Russian soldier charged towards me to finish the job. I thought that I was surely done for and that I wouldn’t have enough time to switch weapons before the final shot was fired. But luckily, the hostile soldier also ran out of ammo and reloaded when he stopped right in front of me, close enough for the kill move prompter to come up. “Have it your way,” I thought as I gladly obliged and watched Marcinko stab away. These minor problems that occasionally occur make your task easier and less satisfying at times, though that’s not to say that the overall experience is ruined by them.

Rogue Warrior may be a little rough around the edges, though its problems aren’t exactly unforgiveable atrocities. It is a decidedly average shooter – this however doesn’t mean that it’s incapable of providing entertainment. While the bare boned multiplayer that only offers death match and team death match for up to eight players won’t pry anyone away from Spec Ops, the campaign is worth experiencing. Playing as Marcinko and dropping foes with his ferocious kill moves will give you the sense that you’re a force to be reckoned with. However, more variety in mission types and additional levels to extend your playtime would have been beneficial. It’s also worth mentioning that Mickey Rourke sort of raps during the end credits. But don’t let that deter you.