Thoughts on ‘Robocop: Rogue City’ (2023): A Messy Good Time
Dead or Alive You’re Playing This Game!
Warning: Spoilers and Irrelevant Opinions ahead.
You might be wondering why I’m suddenly talking about a video game despite not having done so in about half a year. Well, it’s because I felt like doing so, that, and the holidays have been messing with my schedule.
So, I thought December would be a month to do whatever I wanted without following a theme or going through a series, not that I won’t do them anymore, but I want to try some other things and see how well they do, at least for the month of December.
With that all said, let us take a look at ‘RoboCop: Rogue City’.
The Hero The Industry Needed
In a time when games like ‘Gollum’ and that ‘King Kong’ game have come out, it couldn’t be a worse time to be a licensed game. Oh, and don’t forget that ‘Walking Dead’ game that came out as well, all done by the same developer I might add.
So, for a game like ‘RoboCop: Rogue City’ to come out in the middle of this mess and be as good as it is, well, I can’t help but applaud it. This game could’ve easily been a generic first-person shooter that would quickly be forgotten about, but by God, it’s just so fun.
The story follows RoboCop as he tries to hunt down a new criminal mastermind and solve a conspiracy that runs deeper than anyone could imagine.
It’s a story that feels ripped right out of the ‘80s and I love it. You get connections to the first film while also getting an original story. It keeps you guessing who is involved in what and who should or shouldn’t be trusted.
I also liked how we dive more into RoboCop’s identity crisis which ties in rather nicely to the main story. However, this portion is determined by the choices you pick during parts with dialogue options.
Yes, there are multiple endings here. So, it does give you some incentive to replay the story, but overall it’s nothing special. It’s fine and I do like how everything gets tied up in the end, but that’s about it.
The core gameplay loop involves RoboCop walking around like a gym bro after one too many leg days and mowing down criminals with more brutality than Batman after he finds someone pirating a copy of ‘Sausage Party’.
You move slowly but can tank a decent amount of damage much like how a tank would; however, there is an added layer of strategy when it comes to your healing items. You can find more throughout the levels, but you still have to think about when to use the ones you have.
You’d think it’d get repetitive, but not once did I find myself bored from seeing bits and pieces of thugs flying across the screen. I mean, you can shoot them in their pork swords and they’ll react. How is this not the game of the year?
There is a variety of weapons to use, but I found myself defaulting to the standard burst pistol as it has unlimited ammo. I like having a second weapon, but it’s not like the burst pistol becomes a pillow gun by the end.
There are some side quests and other things to do, too, like a puzzle that can both upgrade and hinder your burst pistol. It’s similar to those power puzzles in 2018’s ‘Spider-Man’. Honestly, I didn’t find enough payoff to mess around with it. I barely touched it and got through the game just fine.
I will give credit to the skill tree. It was easy to follow and the skills you unlocked were good enough to push me to get more EXP. It’s nothing ground-breaking, but for a game like this, I’d rather it be simpler.
Good Environments, Shaky Animation
The levels themselves look like they were ripped straight out of the film. I hadn’t seen ‘RoboCop’ in over a year, but I swear the police station looks one-for-one the same as it did on-screen.
There’s a nice amount of detail given to this world with posters, advertisements, and having people mill about. Hell, the first time I was free to roam Detroit, it took me an hour before I stopped exploring and went to the main objective.
The levels here remind me of the first ‘Crysis’ game where each level is one big sandbox to explore with side objectives that complement the main ones.
While the levels look good, the character models are hit-and-miss. The models themselves look fine and look like people and not melty clay figures. The problem comes when they try to move. They look as stiff as the Tin Man before he gets oiled.
RoboCop himself gets a pass since he’s supposed to be stiff, but it’s off-putting when a regular human tries moving or talking for that matter. It’s like watching a poorly dubbed film where the lips don’t always synch with the audio.
At least the voice acting is good. Peter Weller returns to voice RoboCop, and he hasn’t missed a beat. He has mastered the art of showing emotion with minimal emoting with the subtle changes in his voice.
Bugs and Locks
My biggest issue with ‘RoboCop: Rogue City’ is the bugs. There were a couple of times I couldn’t progress in the game because the next objective wouldn’t start.
For example, there was a point where I cleared a room of enemies, but the next part wouldn’t trigger. I walked around the area for almost 10 minutes thinking I had missed something like a button, but no, I had to reload the game and clear the area again.
There was also a moment when I walked into a prison guard and prisoner having a standoff. Both of them will try to sway RoboCop into believing their story, so naturally, I thought that there would be dialogue choice.
However, the game cuts to RoboCop telling the guard to let the prisoner go, and then it turns out that the prisoner has a gun. I go around the corner and find that the prisoner not only had a gun, but in the two seconds since he had been released, he got into another standoff with a different guard, and they both die.
I reloaded the game two times to see if it was on my end, but nope. I went online and saw that others had this same issue. It wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t lose out on EXP, but the game actively punishes the player for something out of their control.
Conclusion
‘RoboCop: Rogue City’ is a game with an additive core gameplay loop, tight level design, beautiful environments, and a story that’ll bring you back to those ‘80s action films.
You’ll just have to be aware of the bugs and awkward character animation. The gun upgrade puzzles and dialogue trees are fine enough but aren’t outstanding.
But, this is still a title I’d highly recommend to those who are looking to work at some place like Waffle House.
