Yep.
Nabbed it just prior to Christmas and played it through. Here's my Steam review of it - but it does contain some spoilers if you want to avoid them!
***** CONTAINS SEVERAL SPOILERS - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED *****
I took a punt on this game, being a bit unsure as what to expect. I have fond memories of the Robocop arcade game that I once spent far too much money on during a holiday to Spain - and the original Robocop game that was released on the Amiga. If the Robocop universe had a love-child with the Kingpin : Life of Crime game from 1999 - you would have a very close result within Rogue City.
First off - kudos to the devs in catching the vision of a miserable, despairing near-future Detroit. It's a run-down, desolate and unwelcoming place. The Unreal Engine genuinely looks great in the majority of places - and for reference, a 3070Ti easily handles the game set to Ultra in the graphics settings, whilst displaying out at 1440.
Robocop's own movement from the FPS perspective through which you play the majority of the game is rewarded with the THUD-THONK noise of his heavy footsteps. He can sprint of a fashion, but don't expect acrobatic displays here. He can neither crouch nor jump - making you feel far more exposed and cumbersome than you do in the majority of FPSs. Yet that is keeping faithful to the character and his sense of (non) movement.
SO, WHAT'S THE GOOD?
- This game single-handedly, introduces the finest pistol to any FPS that I can recall. Often a secondary thought - something to flick to when you're on your last few rounds of your primary weapon and sometimes, even ignored altogether. Not in Robocop. It's loud, accurate, functional and with a proper sense of feedback. Couple that with the weapon's unique ability to be upgraded via various PCBs in a mini-game puzzle, meant that I used the fast-firing hand-cannon for the majority of my time in the game.
- The destruction of scenery within the game is well portrayed. Bullets rip chunks out of brick pillars, boarded cover for enemies can be whittled down with suppressing fire.
- The maps and levels are well detailed throughout - some of them being fairly large in size too.
- The omnipresent OCP provides some funny dialogue - especially within the headquarters building over the tannoy system. One telling 'staff not to expect a day off work after being shot', I recall - highlighting the OTT aspect of the violence and undertone of the game and backdrop setting.
- The customisation of the main gun is a fun mini-game in routing paths on a PCB. If you did this often, it would become tiresome, but it does provide a welcome change from the usual FPS view.
....AND WHAT'S NOT SO GOOD?
- Arguably, the biggest problem with Robocop is the fact that the enemy opposition is stupidly dumb. Like, beyond shockingly dumb. Removing the head of an enemy in a barrage of lead, instigates no different behaviour from the remainder of bad guys in the room or immediate area. No diving for cover - no running away in an act of self-preservation. They literally wait their turn to be shot. This is exaggerated even further by the fact that Robo can enter a bullet-time mode upon breaching a door. Now you have even more time to take accurate headshots and render the occupants of the room dead within seconds. The highest level of dumbery that I witnessed was during a bank heist where Robo AND three ED-209 units were faced against a handful of gang members equipped with a couple of sidearms. It was so ridiculously one-sided, that I didn't really have to bother in taking out the enemies myself.
- Pop-in textures. Not so much when playing the FPS portions of the game - but during the dialogue sequences going back and forth between Robo and various NPCs where often textures pop-in during mid conversation. After a while, it becomes really off-putting and rather jarring to the rest of the game being fluid in appearance.
- The dialogue sequences themselves are very frequent and involve nothing more than clicking one of three or four responses. These can be skipped through by pressing the Spacebar, but be prepared to listen to a LOT of dialogue, should you want the full experience. At one point, I was heading to various dialogue points and quest markers and couldn't fire the gun (as the game hides it during these moments) for well over twenty minutes. Robocop the game had descended into a walking simulator and clicking various audio responses that you felt were relevant at the time.
- The various tasks and missions facing Robo range from the aggressive and highly enjoyable, to ones bordering the realms of satire. Running (ahem, walking a bit more quickly) around the police station to get various staff to sign Lewis's 'get well' card, was just grating.
- It's surprisingly easy for an armoured, heavy and determined Robo to become stuck on the most trivial of scenery. A small paving stone. A little metal post. All of which you have to backup from and walk around.
- The game sadly, isn't that difficult - at least when played on the Normal difficulty setting. I would like to believe that this represents a nice balance from the devs of presenting a challenge, whilst allowing the player some safety margin. When played on Normal, I didn't die once in the entire playthrough. A couple of occasions I triggered a bomb which meant that the checkpoint had to be reloaded - but from enemy opposition themselves, there was little threat. Again, this is made worse by the fact that Robo has a skill tree that you can expand through the acquisition of skill points. One of those increases your armour rating, along with how many OCP maintenance 'health packs' you can carry at any one given time. There's also the ability to unlock a self-heal through fuse panels on the wall - effectively making you immortal towards the end of the game. Remember, the goons facing you may start to get better gear - but they are all still dispatched easily with accurate headshots. As a sideline to the difficulty level, I managed to acquire all twenty-seven achievements in my 14.4hrs of playthrough. Nothing is really too troublesome to attain or to defeat.
- No fast travel. Not a major issue usually, but a pain when your character barely manages a fast-walk.
- Crazy rag-doll deaths. Legs bent back, bodies upside-down against the wall, heads snapped to clearly broken angle - all from being shot once.
- 'Boss' levels are surprisingly easy to work through. As your pistol has unlimited ammo, simply hide around a corner then step out, empty a clip into the enemy, step back to reload and then repeat.
- Bodies disappear way too quickly. I appreciate the graphics memory issues and wanting to reduce excessive assets stored in memory - but kill some, turn around and then look back and often there is just their dropped weapon on the floor. Oh, and half of their brains and cranium remain splattered about - but no body. Them disappearing like that adds further disbelief to the game.
- "I'm hit!" "I'm going to kill you!" - and several other common phrases are shouted by gang members when you have just detached their heads from their shoulders. I'm no human physiology expert - but I assume you need your skull and throat in order to speak?
- The background audio of downtown areas especially, sounds like it has been recorded in a plastic tube. Very hollow and weirdly 'echoey'.
- Robo's skill tree feels a bit like an after-thought. It gives the player something else to strive for - but it's very easy to make your character virtually untouchable with the correct unlocks applied.
TL : DR
In essence, a good looking and enjoyable FPS, let down by excessive use of dialogue encounters and utterly brain-dead opposition. If you like nothing better than to execute moronic hoodlums - then this is the game for you. If you're expecting more tactical and thought-provoking firefights - perhaps stay away.
Overall, 7/10
