Unbeknownst to me, and most mere mortals, it seems, there was a new RoboCop game released late last year.
Yeah. I said the same thing. "Wait. RoboCop? Like, Don't move. You are under arrest RoboCop?"
Sure enough, RoboCop Rogue City hit consoles and PC Q4 2023. (I'm not sure exactly when, this isn't a paid article or anything, not like I need my facts right). I fully expected it to be another asymetric survival clone (Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw, the upcoming Killer Klowns....come on guys you're killing my childhood. I didn't have friends then, I don't want them now). When it showed up as a semi- open world FPS shooter featuring Robo's favorite modified Beretta 93R and started getting positive reviews, I got interested. And let me tell you....they were right
It plays like a Robocop movie. I can't exactly tell the timeline but it seems to ignore 3 entirely (Lewis is still alive). The "Taurus" is still there but it's been changed just enough to avoid having to license it from Ford. Anyone with half a brain will barely notice. It's REALLY toeing the line. Robo plods along like you'd expect him to. There is a sprint, which is welcome when transitioning areas, because some of them are pretty big, but the rest of it is definitely 80's robot movement. The screen even goes semi-grainy when you go into "detective" mode. There is no jump. RoboCop does not jump. He does grab slimebags and throw them into other slimebags, out the window, throw stuff into slimebags, explode stuff next to slimebags, shoot them in the dick (there's even an achievement for this) and generally any other cybernetic police officer activity you can think of.
Graphically, it's almost too good. Robocop (movie) is 30-something years old (again, I am not getting paid for this, I'm really only writing it to try and use my thinker) and carries that very specific Verhoeven gritty look. You know the one. This game is slicker than that. It's in 4k obviously. It looks fantastic on my cheap Hisense 4k gaming TV (u8g for those curious). It can be a bit unsettling though, to have 30 years of progress slapped onto something we all grew up with as children.
Speaking of that...whose parents were letting us watch Robocop as kids?
Bottom line, if you want a no nonsense, shootemup featuring an IP that you'd NEVER think people would use again..... this is your move. I got it on XSX because that's what gamestop had a physical copy of when I got there, I'd PREFER it on ps5 because I'm convinced it'd look slightly nicer on that, but we're splitting hairs here. I'm 44 and my sight isn't that good. It's gonna look better than my lookers can really appreciate anyhow. PC is also an option, but I can't keep up with those kids and I don't wanna build an LED seizure box.