RoboCop is one of the great iconic characters from 1980s cinema. The original RoboCop film was released in 1987 and has had a couple sequels, TV series, reboots and several games, but the first film remains a timeless classic. The fact that 36 years later a new game is being released based on the original character design is a testament to the character’s staying power. Set between the events of RoboCop 2 and RoboCop 3, RoboCop: Rogue City has Peter Weller reprising his role as Alex Murphy, the cop who was gunned down to become the future of law enforcement courtesy of Omni Consumer Products. A demo for RoboCop: Rogue City was just released on the Steam store and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to get early hands-on time visiting dystopian Detroit.
RoboCop: Rogue City begins with a ordinary TV newscast . The satirical snark that was present in the original film is included in the broadcast but things quickly take a turn for the worse. Apparently there is a new guy in town who wants to throw a lot of money to the various crime syndicates, so one of the major players in the drug trade stages a hostile takeover to get catch this newcomer’s eye. These peddlers of the highly addictive drug known as nuke are armed to the teeth and have no qualms about killing anyone, cop or civilian. Police respond to the distress call and form a perimeter around the station until reinforcements arrive. RoboCop is the only reinforcement they need.
RoboCop was never programmed to address crime in a kinder, gentler manner. While not explicitly stated in his prime directive, RoboCop’s go-to approach to dealing with criminal scum is to reach for his Auto 9. During the initial mission when he and Officer Anne Lewis storm the TV station to rescue the hostages, most of the criminals are brought into compliance through the use of his duty weapon. Navigating through the tower to reach the hostages, RoboCop is constantly under assault from gun-wielding assailants. RoboCop moves fairly sluggish compared to most other first-person shooters, but unlike other protagonists in the genre, he doesn’t need to resort to cover that often. RoboCop’s armor can withstand quite a bit of punishment before he needs to be repaired, which can be done with OCP repair kits. This helps give the player a sense of invincibility which is what someone wants when they assume the role of this character.
Teyon could have taken the lazy route and made RoboCop: Rogue City nothing more than shooting bad guys. There’s quite a bit of that, but that isn’t the totality of the game. There’s a fair amount of open world freedom for the player explore and RoboCop’s job does consist of more than just shooting people. He can address lesser crimes such as issuing tickets for vehicles parked in front of fire hydrants. At the precinct there were more mundane tasks that needed to be addressed during the demo such as carrying a heavily-intoxicated individual to the drunk tank and standing at the reception desk trying to address citizen complaints, many of which captured the humor of the original film. Players can use RoboCop’s enhanced visor to scan the area to gather information about suspects and environmental objects, which is also useful in examining an area for clues.
An aspect of Murphy’s character that was seen in the demo was the duality of his two identities. OCP wanted to remove all the human components from RoboCop, making him their invincible but controllable instrument of law enforcement. But despite their best efforts, underneath that shiny metal is still the mind of Alex Murphy. Certain events seem to trigger memories of his life as a fully organic human. How this aspect of the character is explored and what ramifications it may have are only hinted at in the demo, but it’s an intriguing aspect of the game.
The demo of RoboCop: Rogue City lasts about an hour or two depending on playstyle. RoboCop’s primary means of attack is his duty weapon and whatever stray guns he can pick up. He can also pick up various items to throw such as chairs or even criminal suspects. It might not be as efficient, but there was just something satisfying about picking up a criminal and throwing them through a window on the top floor of the TV station. The portion of the game present in the demo only gave the smallest taste of this, but skill points can be used to not only increase RoboCop’s offensive and defensive capabilities, but also grant him access to more options to interact with the world, such as opening up more dialogue tree options and figuring out how to access safes. The player can choose which assignment they which to have active which suggests a certain amount of autonomy in how they wish to go about cleaning up Detroit. What stood about this demo is how the player covers a variety of different police tasks. It can be forgiven if someone expects a RoboCop game to be limited only to shooting people, but this covered all his duties, from peacefully interacting with citizen complaints, issuing citations for misdemeanor offenses and dealing with mundane tasks and briefings at the precinct.
RoboCop: Rogue City is scheduled for release on November 2 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The short time that was spent with the demo left a favorable impression. The graphics of the titular protagonist are near movie quality, but what made the demo memorable is how fun it is. RoboCop lumbers through Detroit like a walking tank, and controlling him gives the player a feeling of power as the incoming bullets do little to slow his progress. The battles were frantic and enjoyable, but what will likely make this game special is all the time spent outside of battle getting to know the city Murphy swore to protect.
