Overview

In this current age of video games, the concept of the move-tie or video games that are based on films feels like more of a rarity, a thing of the past. Where back in the days in the early 2000's we'd see a ton of games adapt the works of popular cinema, these days it is more a rare instance for blockbuster IP's like Avengers, Star Wars, or Avatar. That's why when Teyon announced a video game based on the 80's icon Robocop, I was quite excited to see what they'd deliver. Robocop Rogue City is a game that is full of heart, and one that feels like it is made by fans of the the Robocop series. It is a double AA game that delivers, many nods to the source material and tells a story that feels very fitting and in accordance with what the series is known for. It provides combat that feels and encapsulates the motions and gunplay you'd imagine from Robocop, and some lite RPG elements that feel like a hit and miss. Overall the experience is one that I did enjoy and I'd recommend to fans of this series. So let's get into why Robocop is awesome.

Story

The story for Robocop Rogue City takes place between the events of the second and third film, and honestly does a great job at creating a believable and noteworthy story that really does well like it fits the tonal theming and overall essence that made the the first to films so special. In many ways, I can understand the sentiments of Rogue City being the Robocop 3 we never got, as this entry does explore the running questions of is Robocop more man or machine, and plays into the many choices that the players make that wrestle with the question of how the player is perceived, that being more Robocop, or more Alex Murphy. The story for Robocop is one the preserves these themes, whilst also sustaining the satire found in the original films, with the iconic advertisements seeing a return. Overall if you're someone who is a fan of these films, than the Rogue City, narratively will deliver a good amount of fan-service and a narrative that feels well read to its source material.

Gameplay

Combat

Kicking off the gameplay, I'd like to talk about the the combat for Robocop which really does lean into the fantasy of being the towering juggernaut that is Robocop. It achieves this through making it a factor in everything from the the pace you move and the thunderous robot footsteps as you walk around, to the movement itself that feels intentionally stiff and well Robotic to an extent. It of course sells the power fantasy in combat, allowing you to pick up items such as TVs, Dumpsters, and of course people. There is also the fact that you can withstand a lot more damage than most would be able to in other FPS games, feeding into the feeling of being like an absolute unit.

The combat itself feels satisfying, incorporating the iconic targeting tool from the films, along with the gore and overall satisfaction of taking out the different enemies that you face. It feels faithful to the films, providing chrunchy kills, that can come in a multitude of different ways, making what on the surface looks derivative and familiar, feel fun and engaging in its own right. The overall combat and main levels of Robocop are a shooting gallery, that provides a sufficient amount of enemy variety for the overall runtime of the game, and some particular enemies that will be familiar and exciting for those who're familiar with the films. The amount of different weapons that you can pick up throughout the game do provide a good variation, with some feeling better than others. Overall, nothing does feel as satisfying as blowing enemies to pieces with your pistol or slamming an enemy into walls with your bare hands.

Semi-Exploration

One interesting thing that I find with Robocop Rogue City is how it handles side content and it's approach to open areas. Because some may call this an open-hub area, but honestly the way I'd define Robocop is as a linear game with some open-exploration within the particular level. Because these levels are divided into instance open hubs where the player can take on particular side activities during a particular part in the story.

The reason I'd phrase this as an open instance is given the nature of these levels as they usually provide you an open area to explore that lay host to many different side quests and activities that accompany the main story and objective that you'll eventually be circling back to. You'll visit some of these locations later in the story, but you can never freely explore these areas and said side quests will only be available at the given time you start the quest. So ultimately, in no way would I call this game an open world, open hub or whatever terminology you'd like to use. I'd best picture this a a open level with some optional objectives that accompany the main objective.

The next question you probably have is "how good are these side quests and are they worth doing?", well yeah... about that. They're a little hit or miss. Where some of these side stories can come across charming, and provide some nice references, and fun gunplay, and others that attempt at trying to explore the and put some deduction based elements to work, which personally I feel it misses the mark on, but we'll get to that later.

Gameplay Systems

Progression

So now I'd like to move on and discuss the different forms of progression that are found in Robocop Rogue City. So as I mentioned earlier the game has a variety of different combat abilities that you can unlock that are actually great, but at the same time, it also functions sort of like an RPG lite with some mechanics focused on investigations, scanning and conversations. Except, many of these different skills, at least in my play through felt rather redundant in how they're utilized. I did side quests, and the main story, without really noticing any boons nor a reason to invest my skill points into the scanning tree. As for the psychology and deduction trees, they also felt rather pointless with the type of skills that they offered and felt like they really existed more to provide variety to the tree, because these skills feel like they never really do pay off with any significance.

The other form of progression is tied to your primary weapon, which is Robocop's iconic pistol, and it is this system which I think is quite cool, and I had a lot more fun tinkering with throughout the playthrough. So the way that this system works is throughout your playthrough you'll acquire different motherboards, and you'll be given a variety of new ones to play around with that get more and more expansive, as you progress through the game. What I think is really cool about this system is that you'll acquire different nodes with a percentage assigned to them, which is used to increase your stats like weapon damage, reload speed, etc. But where this system gets interesting is that these nodes will have connectors attached to them which will push the the flow of the motherboard tree in a particular direction, allowing you to navigate and activate nodes for particular skills that will impact gameplay, alongside increasing your weapons stats. It's a neat balancing act, and what I think is also cool, is that this motherboards also have debuffs too, which means you need to think and find the correct nodes, that won't trigger any debuffs, or take a debuff in one area to get a buff in another. It's a cool system, and couple this with the ability to merge different nodes together, it makes navigating this skill tree feel more like a conscious task than just putting a bunch of numbers into arbitrary trees.

Conclusion

Robocop Rogue City feels like a throwback experience to an era of games that I've personally missed. It develops a single player experience that is linear, with some open freedom and optional content that accompanies the linear narrative, and what glues this experience together nicely, is the fun, gruesome, and satisfying form of combat that you can engage with in what is the gritty, bleak, dystopian city of Detroit. There is a skill tree that introduces some new abilities, that can keep you spice up gameplay and a gun mod system that does feel a little awkward at first, but interesting once you get the hang of it.

I overall feel like Robocop is an experience that I enjoyed my time with and despite a few issues with some of its filler side quests, somewhat redundant abilities and visual or lip-sync issues, I see a good game, that was fun to play, and I'd love to see what Teyon can do with a sequel, and how they can evolve the game that they've released here. Because it is clear that they understand Robocop and given the chance to make a sequel I can see them taking what is a pretty good game, and polishing it into something even greater.

If you're a Robocop fan this is a no brainer and I feel like you'll find at least some enjoyment in this experience, if you're more or less looking for a new FPS to play, then Robocop is a sufficient experience, but one that I doubt will live in infamy. As someone who enjoyed the films, I can can confidently say I had a good time with Robocop Rogue City.

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