RoboCop Rogue City review: What you call a repeat offender

In recent years there has been a flurry of 80s sci-fi and horror icons finding a second life in games. We’ve seen Predator, Friday the 13th, Terminator reborn with varying degrees of success, and now RoboCop is also back in RoboCop: Rogue City. The game is set after the events of the second film, and if you’re a fan of Alex Murphy's cyborg's adventures, Teyon has made a game just for you, with even the smallest details from the films included as you try to clean up the streets of Old Detroit.

If you’re too young to remember RoboCop - although there was a remake in 2014 that lacked the gore and humour of the original film - then the film is set in the not-so-distant future where Detroit has been ravaged by crime and RoboCop is developed to try and clean the streets. He is a former policeman, who died on the job and has now returned to single-handedly stop criminals as a walking tank.

It is a very simple concept really, with the nuance coming from the issues of a corporation getting involved in public services and monetising everyday necessities. No one is really good in this world, well, except for the police (yes, really).

Some things are a product of their time and can be appreciated in the context of when they were made, but maybe they should be left that way - and RoboCop: Rogue City feels like a game out of time.

A perfect recreation of Old Detroit 

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I would feel remiss not to mention the shortcomings of just how delightful and pure the police are in this world, but like I said if you’re a fan of the 1980s films then this game is for you. During your time in RoboCop: Rogue City you will be taken to many of the iconic locations from the films including the precinct, OCPs offices, the streets of Detroit and even the Steel Mill from the first film's final confrontation. All of them are perfectly recreated and capture the gritty charm of the rundown streets, as well as the hustle and bustle of the precinct.

What helps solidify this world, is the return of some familiar faces including Peter Weller who has returned to voice the titular character. We also see some other familiar faces like your partner Lewis and the Sergeant, but the new characters are welcome too, most notably Pickles, a drug addict with a heart of gold and a love of cinema. Teyon relishes the chance to offer more dialogue than RoboCop could feasibly recite within a movie.

It is during these interactions we get a version of RoboCop not seen before, adding more depth to who he is now and not just the shining light of the law. Despite some questionable voice acting at times that makes side characters sound more robotic than our hero, it's a great way of peering into an established world and marks one of Rogue City's highest points.

• Our Spider-Man 2 review calls the game a "spectacular Spider-sequel"

Mundane main missions & technical issues  

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During the main missions, you don’t get as much of a glimpse into what makes RoboCop tick since for the most part, the missions revolve around entering a building, slaughtering 100 bikers or people cosplaying as the Sex Pistols and then moving on. There is plenty of gore and challenge, but it becomes repetitive quite quickly.

The shooting doesn’t feel great and when you knock the sensitivity up the framerate drops so much it looks like stop-motion animation. Enemy variety is also quite limited, and certain areas suffer from plenty of pop-in and technical issues.

On multiple occasions, I would need to restart the game because it had become unplayable, or my gun disappeared or I got stuck in the world because RoboCop was incapable of stepping over a crate.
It’s hard not to feel limited in combat as well because of his lack of mobility. I understand that’s his whole shtick; he is slow, lumbering, and intimidating, but he takes such shallow steps, he gets caught on everything and sequences where you’re being overwhelmed from range feel unfair. Multiple sections felt as though they were built on avoiding damage while not really giving the tools to do so - making some of Rogue City's more frustrating sections feel akin to Murphy's initial death scene in the first movie.

The precinct will act as your hub, where you go after main missions for psychological assessment and a ranking - these conversations with the psychiatrist also offer a fresh perspective on RoboCop as you dictate the conversations with dialogue options. But like I said, the crowning achievement here is the side missions. They range from trivial things like taking complaints from the general public to helping fix a power cut in the precinct. All of these tasks are pretty lowkey, but it’s where the quirky humour associated with the films really shines, elevating the whole experience with a healthy dose of satire and the occasional branching path.

• Check out our Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 review 

The Verdict 

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From the moment you fire up RoboCop: Rogue City and see his cruiser’s bumper scrape up the ramp, it is clear who the game is for - if you’re a fan of the 1980s classic you’re in for a treat.

Otherwise, the poor performance and uninspired gameplay make it hard to recommend the game to someone who isn’t already a fan of OCP's finest. One thing you can’t take away from Teyon is they have delivered a true-to-the-film RoboCop experience, but whether you'd buy that for a dollar is up to you.

3/5