Welcome to The Top Shelf, a weekly feature wherein I sort through my extensive PS2 collection for the diamonds in the rough. My goal here is to narrow down a library of 185 games to a svelte 44: the number of spaces on my bookshelf set aside for my PS2 collection. That means a whole lot of vetting and a whole lot of science that needs to be done - and here in the second round, that means narrowing our laser focus to one game per week (at least). Be sure to check out the Case File Repository for more details and a full list of games/links!

Extra Note: We've entered Shelftember! In this much-vaunted month, we will be processing one of the second round entries every day. I'll be spending one hour apiece with each game - inspired by DanielKempster's backlog-clearing series "An Hour With..." - and determining its fate from there.

Man, Halo really did some numbers, huh? I actually had this perception of almost every shooter from this generation being a straightforward World War historical affair, like the early Call of Duties (Calls of Duty?) and Medal of Honor. Since I started unpacking the various shooters I've picked up for the PS2 over the years and never got around to, there's a distinct strain of speculative sci-fi that I am for the most part on board with, because while neither today's game nor Robotech: Invasion from a few weeks ago are perfect they're hardly what you would call uninspired and dull. Obviously being based on licenses with a lot of worldbuilding and story to tap into helps, but Rogue Trooper has more going on than just its background.

But hey, let's address that background all the same. Rogue Trooper is based on the comic strip of the same name that was part of a British sci-fi anthology comic named 2000AD: an institution in the adult (in the blood and violence sense, if only rarely in the boobs sense) comic world in my country of the UK and others since 1977. Its most famous contribution to the art world would be Judge Dredd (who not-so-coincidentally also saw a PS2-era video game adaptation from the same developers that made this game, Rebellion) but they produced many many others, from the time-travelling bounty hunters of Strontium Dog, to the mechanical soldiers of A.B.C. Warriors, to Rogue Trooper here. Rogue Trooper is set on Nu-Earth: a paradise planet rich in resources that two separate human factions have been fighting over for decades, their high-tech alien weapons of war turning the once lush planet into a toxic wasteland. The GIs - Genetic Infantry - were the Southers last and best bet to win the war, by scientifically producing soldiers that could withstand the toxic atmosphere and were free to move without the necessity of the heavy filtration and oxygen tanks that the Nort army uses. Instead, the Nort army got the drop on them and wiped all but one of them out: the honorable protagonist Rogue. Along with three fallen comrades, the personalities and memories of each backed up onto a microchip installed respectively in Rogue's gun, backpack and helmet (and, coincidentally enough, named Gunnar, Bagman and Helm) for later revival, Rogue's been making his way across the rough terrain of Nu-Earth on his own as he seeks answers behind the annihilation of his unit. I'm pretty much a neophyte when it comes to any 2000AD comic that isn't Judge Dredd, but I've read enough of the Rogue Trooper strips to know what it's going for: a jeremiad on jingoistic wars and the weapons thereof and the overwhelming human cost (both in terms of bodies but also in how war strips the humanity right out of you, turning you into something like our blue friend up there), much like how Judge Dredd is thinly-veiled satire about fascistic police forces.

It's a lot of backstory, and the game adroitly eases you through it with a chaotic introduction as the Souther GIs make their first and last stand against the overpowering Nort forces, with each of Rogue's friends being introduced and summarily dispatched as they make their way to objectives laid out by insistent "milli-com" radio chatter. What's also remarkable about the game is the way they make each of Rogue's fallen friends play a significant role not only in the story, as they would eventually become Rogue's only companionship, but in the gameplay as well. Gunnar, once he is installed in Rogue's gun for safekeeping, becomes an auto-aim system of sorts that lets you spray and pray as long as you're pointing the gun in the general vicinity of enemies: a necessity with the still fairly inaccurate analog stick aiming controls. Bagman can use any salvage you find, either in piles off the beaten path or taken from the corpses of enemies, to create new items or replenish the stocks of those you already have; rather than run around looking for grenades and ammo, you simply manufacture some from a finite supply of materials. I've met Helm but he has yet to die, so I'm not sure what role he'll play once he becomes part of the "team": I suspect it'll have something to do with hacking doors and security panels. Beyond that, Rogue Trooper is a fairly standard third-person shooter with grenades, sniper rifle modes, sticking to cover, various enemy types with differing tactics and levels of intelligence, the occasional turret or emplacement sequence, and a lot of checking around nooks and crannies for additional resources on the path to the next waypoint. It's not awful nor has it aged badly, which is more than I can say for the FPS/TPS games I've played so far for this feature, and while the gameplay can be a little rote the world and story and visuals surrounding it is not.

I might actually stick with this one for a little while longer. It's probably not a shelf candidate and the shooter genre has, like so many others, evolved by leaps and bounds since this game came out in the (relatively late for PS2) year of 2006. What surprised me most while researching the game (i.e. checking its Wikipedia page) is that a remastered version is on its way. Next month, in fact. Probably a fine time to remind people that this game has some neat ideas and a rad premise and world to build from.

(And no, this isn't the Dick Marcinko "I killed that fucking fucker" game. That's Rogue Warrior. Which, oddly enough, was also a Rebellion game.)

Result: Progresses to the Final Round.

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