Alex_MorettiThe 1980s were iconic for three key trends: the crack epidemic, exploitation films, and corporate excess. The 1987 film RoboCop perfectly encapsulated all of these. However, it’s unfortunate that we’ve never had a game that truly makes you feel like RoboCop—until now, perhaps. Enter RoboCop Rogue City, brought to us by the same team behind Terminator Resistance. With fan service, dark humor, a lengthy campaign, and buckets of gore, the question is: Does Rogue City succeed in offering both newcomers and long-time fans of the franchise an unforgettable experience? Well, the answer is… sort of.
Dead or Alive, You’re Coming With Me
The game kicks off with intense action: Alex Murphy, a.k.a. RoboCop, and his partner storm a news station overtaken by terrorists. The first level does a solid job of teaching you the basics, from head-popping marksmanship to harnessing RoboCop’s brutal strength. The gameplay lets you:
- Use enemies as human shields (then toss them aside like ragdolls),
- Deliver devastating punches that turn heads into a pulp,
- Bust open metal doors or walls with sheer force.
It’s a great start, but dig deeper, and the cracks begin to show.
For instance, using an enemy as a shield prevents you from firing your gun. Why not allow players to shoot while shielding themselves? Additionally, the game limits you to two weapons at a time—one of which must always be your default machine pistol. It feels restrictive for a game meant to make you feel like a gun-toting juggernaut. Even the ammo pick-up mechanic feels clunky; you need to look down, hold the reload button, and wait a few seconds—an eternity during a firefight.
The AI is another sticking point. Enemies and teammates alike are inconsistent. Sometimes enemies flinch when hit, but other times, even shooting them multiple times won’t stop them from lobbing grenades. Meanwhile, your partner often seems oblivious to incoming gunfire.
It’s Only a Glitch?
After the opening mission, Murphy begins to experience a breakdown and finds himself in Detroit Police Station, talking to a psychiatrist. This introduces a skill tree with eight unique abilities, which you can upgrade using experience points earned from finding valuables, uncovering secrets, or killing enemies. These upgrades influence both combat and dialogue, offering options to be sarcastic or downright rude to NPCs. There’s also a New Game Plus mode, allowing you to carry upgrades into subsequent playthroughs—a nice touch since you can’t max out everything in one run.
Your Move, Creep
After completing the first mission, you’re introduced to a compact hub world. Here, you can take on side quests to earn additional experience. However, these side quests aren’t always intuitive. For instance, one mission involved issuing six citations for minor infractions. The first five citations took about 45 minutes, but the last one was a two-hour slog. I scanned graffiti, thinking it was relevant, only to discover that the final infraction was a man dumping expired fish heads into the ocean. Why include pointless distractions like scanning graffiti? It felt like wasted time.
Visually, the game’s gritty aesthetic has its charm, but overall, the graphics look outdated. It’s baffling how a game like this can demand 44 GB of storage space.
I’d Buy That for a Dollar
Despite its flaws, Rogue City delivers what most fans of the franchise have been craving: a bloody, explosive throwback to the glory days of action. While it doesn’t do anything exceptionally well and has its fair share of frustrating mechanics, nothing is truly game-breaking. If you’re looking for a game that lets you feel like RoboCop, this is it—just don’t set your expectations too high.
Most of your complaints come from your lack of understanding of gameplay elements, not from actual issues with the game. People are not picked up to be human shields (in fact they don’t even work as one if you try). They are to be thrown, like everything else you can pick up. When you run out of ammo mid firefight, consider using your sidearm with INFINITE ammo instead of trying to pick up something off the ground. The pickup time is there to discourage you. Maybe use some common sense and read the tooltips the game provides before criticizing issues created by a poor play style. (Though I know that is the trend for gaming journalism these days.)