The RoboCop movies felt special when they came out in the 80s and 90s.
Progressive, aggressive sci-fi with a hell of a lead character.
It was brutal and fist-pumping cop action.
Flash-forward 30-odd years and we now have the ‘definitive’ RoboCop video game on PS5 and Xbox.
And while it carries the same charm as the original films, it’s B-movie design is both a complement and a let down.
A complement in the sense that its glitchy cut-scenes and old-fashioned video gaming kind of suits the classic hammy RoboCop filmmaking.
It’s very much bang-on in that sense, it feels 80s.
But ultimately it is a let down the minute you compare it to other first-person shooters.
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Because while the genre has evolved to be super-slick, with incredible speed in gameplay and ridiculously lifelike visuals – this game is very much stuck in the past.
Developer Teyon has built an original story here where Old Detroit is being plagued by gangs, who have decided to throw in with the “new guy in town”.
This new foe, previously unknown to the police, is behind a reign of terror: between disappearances, crimes of all kinds and trafficking drug Nuke, the city has been plunged into chaos.
You play RoboCop, the iconic part-man, part-machine, all-cop, primed to restore order.
And that means endlessly stomping far-too-slowly around relatively small ‘open worlds’ shooting all manner of cliched baddies in bloody gunfights.
The controls are bog-standard for a first-person shooter and play achingly slow at first, but then RoboCop always was a relentless stalking horse, rather than a speed-freak sharpshooter.
And the anarchic evil-doers are all straight out of an 80s-designed book of baddies, so expect sweary punk rockers and motorcycle tattooed gangs in your face.
The open world elements are fairly basic when compared to modern masterpieces, with the odd side-mission popping up and few NPCs on the streets to interact with.
There’s a simplistic skill tree to level up on, giving you better detective skills and eventually the ability to mix up your movement and gunplay.
It feels like it’s always on the edge of crashing with glitchy story scenes and texture pop-in.
The crime analysis element is okay but isn’t up to Batman Arkham fun.
And the shooting is okay too, but not a patch on your Call of Duties and Battlefields.
So what we’re left with is a fairly 'meh' video game that feels like a mid-tier PS4 title from about 10 years ago.
It’s got lots of effort in its moment-by-moment storytelling and fits closely with the source material.
But there’s absolutely nothing in Rogue City you haven’t seen before, done better elsewhere.
Such as shame.
VERDICT 2/5
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