Renegade Ops is only a couple of weeks from release on PSN and XBLA (with a Steam release to follow), but for some reason PAX marks the first I’ve ever heard of it. Frankly, I’m sorry to say it, because it’s fantastic.
Renegade Ops was developed by Just Cause creators Avalanche, and you can tell: It’s set in Latin America, and it’s not entirely straight-laced. Where the studio’s best-known work involves immersive 3D open worlds in the GTA tradition, however, Renegade Ops feels like a callback to the classic days of the arcade. On its simplest level, it’s a twin-stick shooter — though that description is an unfair simplification at best, a gross mischaracterization at worst. Where most twin-stick shooters are set in simple, flat, open arenas, Renegade Ops transpires across convoluted jungles. Its maps are huge and can be traversed freely; aside from rock walls and cliff faces that define the contours of the land, anything you see can be exploded or smashed through.
