Review: RoboCop: Rogue City is a hugely entertaining return to simpler times
31.10.2023 - 10:47
/ videogameschronicle.com
“Street Vultures are the biggest gang in Detroit”, comes a warning a few hours into RoboCop: Rogue City, as our hero attempts to infiltrate the hoodlums’ hideout.
Reassuringly, RoboCop replies: “I have a large supply of bullets.”
He isn’t joking, either – the main firearm in Rogue City comes with infinite ammunition, and using it to wipe out countless yobs in a stream of bloody explosions is deeply satisfying.
It’s also a line that probably sums up chunks of the game quite well, and not necessarily in a negative way. When the action starts here, it doesn’t let up. But to dismiss it as a mindless action game would be doing it a disservice.
We were admittedly worried about Rogue City. Polish developer Teyon hasn’t exactly had a shining reputation for its movie tie-ins, thanks to the awful Rambo: The Video Game and the forgettable Terminator: Resistance.
Despite the studio’s clear love for ‘80s action movies, until now it’s yet to display evidence that it knows how to turn them into enjoyable games. This has all changed, because we had an absolute blast playing Rogue City.
Set between the events of RoboCop 2 and 3, the story – to keep it deliberately vague – revolves around a new criminal leader simply known as The New Guy, whose secret operation initially appears to be based on the Nuke drug but ends up being something altogether more sinister.
Naturally, it’s up to OCP’s finest to save the day, but RoboCop’s not quite feeling himself. He’s started having glitches that are bringing up illusions of his wife and child and it’s affecting his performance, leading to a pivotal incident a few hours in that he could have stopped had he not been malfunctioning.
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Most of the previous RoboCop games released over the years – in particular the 8-bit and 16-bit games of the ‘80s and ‘90s – focused strictly on action, despite the fact that the movies juggled the gunplay with genuinely deep philosophical topics, such as what it is to be human.
Rogue City does a good job of making sure these moments of downtime are catered for just as much as the times when all guns are blazing. This ensures the game isn’t just a case of moving from stage to stage mowing down criminal scum, but also gives similar time to the detective side of things, building a story that has the player genuinely invested in what happens to RoboCop.
It also results in numerous opportunities to better enjoy the game’s writing, which is a joy. Rogue City knows it’s set in an ‘80s action movie world and so performs a very fine balancing act, delivering dialogue with its tongue in its cheek while continuing to play it straight.
“Rogue City knows it’s set in an ‘80s action