Summer Gaming 2026 Part 1 - Rogue Warrior (2009)

During periods of excessive temperatures I often play some games that don't cause the CPU or GPU to output excessive amounts of heat - and in turn are less of a danger to cause either component to overheat either. Rather than replays I do try to pick out a few from my huge backlog that I'd have likely picked up for free or for peanuts somewhere - this is Summer Gaming

The first on the list is Rogue Warrior. This is actually lauded as one of the best "worst games of all time", a game adaptation of a series of fiction books written by the legendary Richard Marcinko, the US Navy commander who created S.E.A.L. Team Six and Red Cell.

Now with a Metacritic score below 30% and an average game publication rating of 1.5 out of 10 I knew it was going to be shit when I installed it. After spending a hour of downloading user-created fixes for the aged technology Rebellion used in 2009 and another hour actually playing the game I felt I couldn't put myself through the additional 3 hours it's suggested the game would need to play.

The graphics were not the worst of era to be fair and the gunplay was OK but the animations and the enemy AI were abysmal. The opening cutscene direction made Marcinko's highly trained ex-S.E.A.L.s look like extras from a 1970's comedy movie and then we had Mickey Rourke. 

Literally the only draw this game ever had was that you as Marcinko was voiced by Mickey Rourke, the year he won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA and was nominated for an Oscar! But here nearly every sentence in the limited script contained a variation of the word "fuck" to a point where it was hilariously out of place the first few times but would have prompted Quentin Tarantino to say it might have been to excessive.

Final Verdict: No. Just no. 

Technicals: 1 hours playtime through Steam using a Nvidia RTX5080 @ 3440x1440/175Hz with max settings on Windows 11.

 

Bugs: The vanilla installation is likely broken. The game requires several fixes and installed workarounds to emulate older DirectX components and frame syncing depending on your system hardware or experience within the game outlined on the PC Gaming Wiki page. Without these the game will stutter, randomly, show the desktop and/or not fit correctly to your screen be it 16:9 or 21:9.

 

Availability: Rogue Warrior is available for €4.99 on Steam which is a price I wholeheartedly do not recommend anyone pay for this unless like me you want to genuinely see how bad it is. Review copy purchased from from Fanatical for €1.24 in 2018.

First Play Review - BioShock 2 (2010)

 Note: This review is for the 2016 Remastered version of the game.

After reviewing the excellent original BioShock, the spiritual successor to System Shock marries Steampunk/Cyberpunk with biological elements creating a unique 'Biopunk' genre and that sets the tone and the overall design of the game's world - Rapture. In an interesting twist, in this sequel you play as Subject Delta, a Big Daddy, an armoured denizen of Rapture similar to those you fought in the original with the goal of escaping the underwater dystopia. As with the original you have an array of weapons and 'Plasmids' (powers) to aid you.

BioShock 2 had some pretty big shoes to fill considering the success of the original and it delivered in the gameplay. Your weapons are different to those in the original, more akin to being cobbled together from various bits of Rapture tech - and of course a mining drill! Rather than crafting your own ammo this time, you can buy it from vending machines using dollars you pick up along the way. Powers and abilities are drip fed to you over time but using 'Adam' - life force energy drained from Little Sisters or sea slugs, you interestingly you can purchase different powers of your choice as you progress and lightly customise your abilities as you see fit.

 

The biologically created powers Plasmids return, allowing you to burn, freeze or shock enemies or the environment. The pacing of the game with some quite vast levels however is certainly superior to the original. The difficulty of this game over BioShock was noted, or (I'm getting older). Overall while improvements such as those related to hacking Rapture's devices made the gameplay superior, there sadly was not any significant element which distinguishes itself from it's predecessor. You can still chose to harvest or free the Little Sisters after you eliminate their guardians which puts you on a sort of light or dark path just as Jack did in BioShock.

 

The original game's story is lauded as one of the best in gaming history in stark contrast to the fact that most FPS games aren't known for their story. Sadly BioShock 2 was always going to live in the shadow of the original in that regard. The story is still far superior than most FPS games, but when compared with it's progenitor it's sadly lacking.

 

The star of BioShock 2 I must say is still the series unique environment. There was no initial awe at discovering Rapture this time around, but more like going to somewhere familiar that is really as interesting as it was the first time. The lighting, texture detail, volumetric smoke and surface reflections of the 2016 remaster were not wasted on my top-of-the-line monitor 10 years later. Sound plays a very important part in the game from Garry Schyman's impeccable sore to the sounds made by Rapture's technology and denizens as well as a stellar voice cast including Juliet Landau (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Armin Shimmerman and J.G. Hertzler (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) all returning from BioShock with some new additions in Michael Ensign (Ghostbusters & evey Berman-era Star Trek) and Yuri Lowenthal (Marvel's Spider-Man game ).

 

Final Verdict: BioShock 2 did not iterate very much over the original and provided nothing new, it was nonetheless a superior gameplay experience by far and well worth your time today.

 

Technicals: 14.3 hours playtime through Steam using a Nvidia RTX5080 @ 3440x1440/175Hz with max settings on Windows 11.

 

Bugs: The game requires an external mod called Luna to run on modern hardware in UltraWide resolution. Once this was installed I encountered no bugs/crashes but game saves were not synced to the cloud.

 

Availability: BioShock 2: Remastered is available on its own for €19.99 on Steam or GOG. Steam also offers BioShock: The Collection which has BioShock 1 & 2 Remastered and BioShock: Infinite and all DLC in one package.

 

Note that the 2010 edition of BioShock 2 is no longer available for sale, but a purchase of the 2016 remastered version (or collection) on Steam will have the original version also added to your game library.. Additionally if you own the original versions of BioShock or BioShock 2 on Steam, you have access to the remastered versions for free.

BioShock franchise

• BioShock (2007)
• BioShock: Challenge Rooms (2008)
• BioShock 2 (2010)
• BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (2010)
• BioShock: Industrial Revolution (2012)
•  BioShock Infinite (2013)
• Infinite: Clash in the Clouds (2013)
• Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 1 (2013)
• Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 (2014)
• BioShock Remastered (2016)
• BioShock 2 Remastered (2016)