Review of RoboCop: Rogue City – explosive nostalgia

The original 1987 RoboCop film was directed by legendary director Paul Verhoeven (Star Trek, Total Recall), who gave it a completely unique feel. This is much more than just an action movie: great science fiction, touching drama. Subsequent films, TV series and remakes have never been able to match the quality and atmosphere of the original film. However, this year, Polish game developer Teyon managed to give us a second game after Terminator: Resistance, which very sensitively and successfully works with nostalgia, reviving the atmosphere and quality of the original work. However, this time they have also moved forward in terms of gameplay, because this year’s game offers even more than their previous game, a surprisingly deep and even wilder action experience.

• Platform: PS5 (review version), XSX|S, PC
• Publication date: 02/11/2023
• Manufacturer: Teyon (Poland)
• Genre: FPS
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Download data: 40 GB
• Game time: 15+ hours
• Price: 1220 CZK (pairs)

More than just a shooter

As for the plot, theoretically the developers could be content with a simple description of the events in the films or at least simple action. Instead, however, they very carefully worked into the game elements of the touching drama from the first film – to the point that regular check-ups with a psychologist, for example, are part of the game. As in the film, the question of how much RoboCop is still human and how much is a machine, his broken relationships with his wife and son, his partnerships with fellow police officers and, of course, also the trauma of “surviving” his own. Death plays a big role in history. However, the story includes, in addition to most of the original characters, entirely new characters, including a mysterious main villain – so it manages to hold your attention even if you know the films by heart.

The game can surprise not only with the scope of the plot, but also with its overall structure. I expected there to be a lot of corridors to explore and shoot enemies, but instead the developers built chunks of the city that take on a life of their own and offer a variety of side stories, missions and activities, including things like handing out parking tickets. . Along with the living base of your “mother” police station, the game in many ways feels more like an urban RPG than a straight shooter. This is also supported by dialogue choices during conversations, as well as a skill tree where you can add points and unlock new features not only in terms of strength, health or armor, but also hacking or talking to people. While the two games clearly don’t compare in terms of production, I couldn’t help but be reminded of this while playing Cyberpunk 2077.

In many ways, the game is more like an “urban” RPG.

I would be quite interested in how all this would affect someone who has never seen this film. I’m afraid this will lose a lot of the overall charm, since the story really follows suit and doesn’t try too hard to explain how RoboCop himself actually came to be, who he was originally, what the circumstances of the situation in Detroit escalated, and so on. So I highly recommend that if you’ve never seen the original, you at least watch the iconic first film. But if you “grew up” on this in the eighties, then you are in for a huge dose of very honestly processed nostalgia, where almost every prop, message or theme song is a reference to the original source. On the other hand, this fidelity to the original is also associated with a relative negative: the dialogues and plot are often naive and full of “80s” clichés.

A truly explosive event

Although from the very beginning you may be pleasantly surprised by the extraordinary amount of destruction of the environment and human bodies during the action (this is an adult shooter, so the actual impact of your weapon on everything around you is an important part of the game). theme and being drawn into the plot), I strongly recommend not to evaluate the game in this aspect for the first few hours. For example, you may find it strange that you practically only have one weapon (RoboCop’s famous pistol). You can take shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles or grenade launchers from enemies and use them, but they are always only “temporary” for a given playthrough. However, once the game opens up the ability to customize the properties of your unique weapons, big things start to happen.

I’ll leave the less obvious improvements like more damage or bullet penetration. Your pistol has a basic magazine of fifty rounds and fires in bursts of three bullets. However, you can gradually unlock not only full-automatic fire, but also the “permanent ammo supply” upgrade, so you don’t have to reload. And at that moment, the gun in your hand turns into something completely unprecedented, spewing bullets faster than a Gatling and turning everything in front of you into an absolute chaos of shrapnel, dust and blood until you remove your finger from the trigger. . It’s indescribable and I’ve never seen anything like it in any game (FEAR is probably the closest, but there haven’t been any weapons this crazy either). That said, the pace of your gun is so fast that sometimes not only the game’s physics, but even the sound effects can’t keep up – it doesn’t feel broken, it feels completely intoxicating and superhuman, I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed the action and destruction in a game like this.

It’s indescribable, I’ve never seen anything like it in any game.

So, with that said, it’s no surprise that Theyon’s designers were able to find ways to add meaningful rhythm and challenge to the game despite your destructive power. These are mostly unique enemy types that are either very fast (you have trouble targeting them), very armored, very well armed, or a combination of all of these. Additionally, your character moves like a slow tank, which is of course in keeping with how RoboCop actually looks and operates – don’t expect any jumping or crawling over environmental edges in this game. But that’s part of the magic too, as you slowly march through enemy territory, stomping your armored feet while smaller caliber rounds bounce harmlessly off your chest. In short, it was a huge success.