What could have been an entirely forgettable traditional-style licensed game turns out to be a charming old-school experience in all the right ways. It’s the kind of game where the enemies are all the same three guys on motorcycles and the textures pop in every frame, but when you’ve burned through everything it has to offer, you don’t care.
It’s the product of a dedicated team who made a game with achievable scope, prioritizing surprising and thoughtful interactions within a reasonable amount of time rather than stretching out some pedestrian mechanics indefinitely. Within that framework, it manages to be the best and frankly the only follow-up to the original film ever made worth making (yes, RoboCop 2 is the spool, don’t write that in). Jim and I collaborated on the video below that explains why Rogue City is so successful as a licensed project:
It’s a crunchy, satisfying shooter with a nice cyberpunk backdrop that carries over and expands on the themes and satire of the source material in a way that truly understands what it’s supposed to be about.
In fact, it’s basically the canceled third game in the trilogy after Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – except it was made by AA Studios in Poland instead of costing $100 million to make. .
In RoboCop: Rogue City, instead of exploring Prague, solving mysteries, and completing side missions, you explore old Detroit, solve crimes, and help people find the right VHS at the rental store.
I’ve seen some arguments that it doesn’t have the same immersive simulation elements – it’s limited in capacity and you can punch through walls or break down doors if you want to be pedantic – but philosophically it feels like it’s in Immersive simulation within a limited scope. As a character, you explore the various powers of a mechanical body while also beginning to deal with its limitations.
This is just one of the themes of Robocop that deviates slightly from the “however you want to approach it” philosophy of immersive sims, but is one of the examples of a game that Teyon clearly put a lot of thought and craftsmanship into creating . Real role play of the character instead of just taking the license and calling it a day in a normal shooter.
Compared to many AAA RPG games, RoboCop still has room for customization and fun within its remit, like its scenarios can take unexpected turns without hitting the walls of the sandbox.
That being said, I don’t want to have too high expectations for Rogue City, as I feel that the atmosphere of surprise is one of the game’s best assets. It’s graphically terrible in places, mechanically weird in others, and some of the missions become frustrating, but it’s the first game I’ve earned a Platinum trophy for in years, and it’s definitely one for 2023 One of the rough diamonds.
Like the original movie, I think RoboCop: Rogue City could be the video version of Arrow 10 years from now.This is a cult relic that tried to do something different with interesting game design, and will be fondly remembered as being more than the sum of its parts
Given the similarities between the characters and how developers now approach two beloved sci-fi titles with grace and skill, we tried to embody the Justice League games from their universes.
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