I wanted to drop by with more information about our PSN PLAY-bound title Renegade Ops, focusing on upgrades you’ll use to enhance your chosen vehicle. The upgrades are there to help you tailor your character to your preferred play style…though all four characters can be played balls-to-the-wall, and you’re never going to have enough time to sit back and take in the gorgeous scenery for long.

First though, allow me to give you the first exclusive look at the latest trailer which surprisingly enough shows off some of these upgrades.

The better you are at the game – in other words the more enemies you destroy, stunts you pull and collectibles you grab – the quicker you’ll reach the next level, and in this game levels mean prizes…well, upgrade points. So, how can you spend these points? Well you’ll have the choice of three skill trees to spread your points over, so you can customise your character depending on how you best play the game. The only limit to this is the amount of upgrades you can have active at one time; the higher your level, the more upgrades you can equip.

What I’ll do below is detail the upgrades you’ll have access to, and then give you an example using my current level 19 Roxy build.

All Character Upgrades

Defense

Spare Parts: Chance of spawning health pick-ups from your vehicle when hit by explosive damage

Nitro: Double tap turbo button for nitro speed boost, also extinguishes fire if used when burning

Second Chance: Death is delayed by 10 seconds so you can find a health pick up to stay alive. Second chance only triggers once per life

Extra Life: Increases the numbers of loves you start each mission with by 1

Hardened Hull: Maximum health increased and health received from pick-ups increased

Auto Repair: Automatically regenerate health when low

Offense

Auto Reload: Automatically generate ammo for secondary weapon over time

Ammo Surplus: Secondary ammo pick-ups give more ammo than normal

Advanced Arms: Rocket launcher – homing rockets, Railgun – shorter charge time, Flame Thrower – Damage increased

Magazine Size – Basic: Secondary weapon magazine size increased

Magazine Size – Elite: Secondary weapon magazine size greatly increased

Now it starts to get different, with each character having unique upgrades, as follows:

Roxy Upgrades

Special Ability: Rocket Strike – Drops beacons that are hit by a rain of rockets from the sky, causing area damage.

Offense

Rocket Launcher Kit: Start Every life with Rocket Launcher and some ammo equipped

Tactical

Efficiency – Basic: Rocket Strike cooldown reduced

Efficiency – Elite: Rocket Strike cooldown greatly reduced

Auto Strike: Rocket Strike automatically targets and attempts to directly hit enemies in area

Bombardment – Basic: Rocket Strike duration and radius increased

Bombardment – Elite: Rocket Strike duration and radius greatly increased

Quick Strike: Rocket Strike hits instantly and has increased damage radius

So, to give an example to provide further context, here’s how this ‘expert’ Renegade Ops player does it:

Roxy (Currently level 19)

Defense: Nitro (short additional speed boost, removes fire if burning)

Extra Life (Start each mission with 1 extra life)

Offense: Ammo Surplus (Secondary ammo pick-ups give more ammo than usual)

Tactical: Bombardment – Basic (Rocket Strike duration and radius increased)

Efficiency – Basic (Rocket Strike cooldown reduced)

Quick Strike (Rocket Strike hits instantly and has increased damage radius)

Current skills equipped: Ammo Surplus, Efficiency – Basic and Quick Strike

This build means that the already nimble Buggy that Roxy drives is now suitably powerful, too. Secondary weapons can be spammed a lot more due to the extra ammo, and I’ve powered up my special ability into something quite devastating. The only problem is without any defensive abilities equipped, I’m currently something of a glass cannon…but hey, you play how you play. In this game I like to be in and out of the action quickly dealing as much damage as possible.

Usually in co-operative games, I play a support role, whether that’s as a medic or engineer. But in Renegade Ops I want to be nimble and explosively deadly, and that’s why I prefer Roxy. However, you may like to support your teammates by causing disabling effects to the enemies, so your preference may be for Diz and her awesome EMP special ability.

Diz Upgrades

Special Ability: EMP – Releases an electromagnetic pulse over a large area disabling all enemies within this area making them susceptible to attacks for a limited period.

Offense

Railgun Kit: Start Every life with Railgun and some ammo equipped

Tactical

Static Shock – Basic: EMP causes minor damage to enemies in addition to normal effects

Static Shock – Elite: EMP causes high damage to enemies in addition to normal effects

Black Out: Duration of EMP effect on enemies increased

Efficiency – Basic: EMP cooldown reduced

Efficiency – Elite: EMP cooldown greatly reduced

Super Charged: Increased EMP radius and enemy rockets are disabled in mid-flight when hit by EMP

Armand Upgrades

Special Ability: Armadillo Plating (Shield) – Extendable shield plating that causes enemy bullets to bounce back at the attackers.

Offense

Flame Thrower Kit: Start Every life with Flame Thrower and some ammo equipped

Tactical

Efficiency – Basic: Shield cooldown reduced

Efficiency – Elite: Shield cooldown greatly reduced

Rebound: Shield deflects enemy bullets and rockets back at the enemy for damage

Time Extension: Maximum Shield duration increased

Guarded Repair: Regenerate health over time while Shield is active

Ram Plate: Destroy small enemy vehicles when ramming them and no penalty when driving through buildings

Gunnar Upgrades

Special Ability: Heavy Cannon – Extends heavy cannon that fires high velocity, armour piercing rounds causing extreme damage. Vehicle cannot move while active.

Offense

Rocket Launcher Kit: Start Every life with Rocket Launcher and some ammo equipped

Tactical

Efficiency – Basic: Heavy Cannon cooldown reduced

Efficiency – Elite: Heavy Cannon cooldown greatly reduced

Power Hydraulics: Increased Heavy Cannon turret rotation speed

Explosive Rounds: Heavy Cannon causes additional splash damage to enemies near area of impact

Riot Shield: A shield protects against bullets from front while Heavy Cannon is active

Counter Shot: Heavy Cannon shots destroy enemy rockets in mid-flight

So now you have a good idea of the depth of the upgrades available, and how you can experience four different play-styles by trying every character, or playing the same character using different builds depending on your mood and the composition of your team.

Finally, if any of you are going to PAX this year you’ll be able to get the chance to try Renegade Ops there. So come and find us, get your hands on the game, ask as many questions as you like, and prepare for Renegade Ops. Hopefully I’ll see some of you there!