Game review: Rogue Flight (PS5)

On-rails action games aren't as common as they were back in the '80s and '90s. Sega was the king of on-rail shooters, coming out with classics such as Space Harrier and Panza Dragoon back in the day. Nintendo, on the other hand, has the famous Star Fox series. Thanks to the indie developer market, we now have a new game in this genre called Rogue Flight.

Rogue Flight's presentation is quite impressive because the cutscenes resemble those of an old-school Japanese anime. Not to mention, the in-game graphics are on your face, and there are lots of enemies coming at you at all times. You have to be quite skilled if you choose to play the game on its highest difficulty setting.

Before I begin talking about the gameplay, Rogue Flight has an interesting premise and story. The story is about an AI that controls a missile system called Argus, and it has gone corrupt and has destroyed most of humanity.

A surviving group has a military base called BOW, and they plan to fight back against this AI using a jet called Arrow. Players will assume the role of a skilled pilot named Nadia as she has to shoot her way to survive the game's many levels.

Much like many action games back in the day, Rogue Flight is level-based, and each level ends in a challenging boss fight. At some point in the story, the player is given three choices, which can lead to different levels and even multiple endings.

As for the gameplay, you start off with a standard machine gun, but you can unlock multiple different guns as you progress. My favourite weapon in the game is the lightning shot because of its high damage and large hit box.

Alternatively, the Arrow is also armed with missiles, and these can lock on to multiple enemies all at the same time! That being said, you only have a small number of missiles, so you will need to pick up extra ammo if you use them all. 

Players can also flick the right analogue stick in different directions, and these give you access to several special moves. You can initiate a forward thrust that avoids missiles, do a drift that powerslides into multiple enemies, and you can even slow the jet down to get powerups.

One of my favourite defensive moves is doing a barrel roll by pressing one of the shoulder buttons. Barrel rolls not only avoid gunfire, but they can deflect bullets from enemies too. I found this technique very helpful during boss fights because they love to spam gunfire everywhere!

Another challenge for players to do during the levels is to maintain a high combo meter. If you kill multiple enemies at a fast rate, this regenerates your shield, making you survive more gunfire. You only have three lives in this game, so staying healthy should be one of your main goals.

The game also has a ton of customisation options, too, as you can change your loadout. Players can also customise the look of the jet plane, change colours, and even change aeromods too.

While Rogue Flight is a fun game, one thing that might deter some gamers is that it's really short. If you are a skilled player, you should be able to 100% the game in just around five hours. This is very short for a game that still costs $34.95 NZD in New Zealand. 

Despite being a very short experience, Rogue Flight is still an enjoyable game for old school gamers. Fans of Star Fox and Space Harrier are sure to have a blast flying and shooting all of the enemies in this game. Even younger players may like this game due to its difficulty on higher levels. 

Verdict: 8.0/10