In the far-off future of 2012, mass pollution and societal decay have turned Earth into a toxic hellhole. The few viable sightseeing spots left have been monopolized by a mutated gangster known as Big Daddy. The tourists who don't want to pay the extortionate rates for Big Daddy's tourist traps have only one other alternative: hitch a ride in the vehicles of the crazy folks at the Amalgamated Association of Auto-mercenaries.
Rogue Trip plays like Twisted Metal with a twist: on each map is a single tourist who can be grabbed to collect cash, and extra cash can be paid by taking the tourist to pre-determine photo spots on each maps. Other competitors can grab the tourist by either firing a specific missile at whoever currently holds the tourist or destroying them. The money can be used to repair your car or upgrade your weapons.
See also Critical Depth, the other Vehicular Combat game released by Singletrac under GT Interactive Software ownership.
Provides examples of:
- Aliens Are Bastards: Both the tourist alien and the unlockable character are.
- Arrow Cam: The Prowler missiles are manually guided by the player. It's extremely difficult to maneuver one into an enemy though, so tapping the fire button twice will cause it to auto-lock on, at the cost of half the damage points.
- Betting Mini-Game: In the Neon Nightmare level, there is a giant slot machine in the middle of the map. While you can win big, you can also lose ALL your money if the wheels land on three bombs.
- Boss in Mook's Clothing: The first boss, Goliath, appears at first as a normal enemy (either in the Washington D.C. or Area 51 levels). When you destroy the enemy, it turns into the steamroller.
- Co-Dragons: Goliath and Nightshade are this to Big Daddy.
- Crapsack World: A post-apocalyptic pile of crap, run by a disgusting MegaCorp owned by a very Fat Bastard that's turned everything that's not radioactive into The Theme Park Version.
- The Dinnermobile: The Meat Wagon is essentially a copy of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile with a hockey mask welded onto the front end of the sausage.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: You can cause this in the Area 51 level if you plant an upgraded RLM behind the crashed saucer, take the teleporter to the moon, then detonate it. This causes the Earth to blow up, taking the moon along with it. You are then stranded in space with infinite weapons.
- Expy: Ratman is this to Batman. His vehicle, "Intruder", heavily resembles the Batmobile.
- Fan Disservice: The SoCal level features paintings of Big Daddy in a speedo, and it's wrong.
- Fat Bastard: Big Daddy.
- Game-Breaking Bug: In the Area 51 level, if you plant an upgraded RLB behind the crashed saucer, teleport to the moon, and detonate it, the Earth will blow up (taking the moon with it) and you'll be suspended in weightlessness with infinite upgraded weapons.
- Humongous Mecha: The Big Bad drives one for the final boss fight.
- Jerkass: All of the tourists, minus the superhero.
- The Mole: The unlockable characters, both bosses and enemies, are this. Fridge Brilliance because, of course they would secretly be Automercenaries, they're playable characters! Lampshaded by the ending cinematic for them, calling them "ringers."
- Mythology Gag: The driver of the unlockable Helicopter, Agent XQJ-37, takes his name from the missiles used as Warthog's special in Twisted Metal 1.
- No Fair Cheating: If you beat the game with a vehicle unlocked by a cheat code, Mad Jack will tell you to try again, "this time without using a ringer!"
- Self-Plagiarism: Remove the tourism and cash mechanics from the game, and you'll see that this game is ultimately no different than SingleTrac's earlier Twisted Metal 2, down to having the same physics and feel as that game, only more refined. Having it released so close to Twisted Metal III didn't help matters either.
- A Winner Is You: Calling them "endings" is way too generous, as all the ending cinematics play out exactly the same, with Big Daddy being blasted to the moon, Mad Jack awarding you a trophy while cracking a one-liner related to the player character, giving them a trophy that zooms in on a revealing code that you can then input in the options screen for bonuses. Rinse and repeat for all the standard characters.