Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 masterpiece RoboCop is one of my all-time favourite films. So, when a new game based on the IP was announced, I knew that I had to play it. From developer Teyon and publisher Nacon comes RoboCop: Rogue City. But, is it worth buying for (more than) a dollar?

“Become the iconic part man, part machine, all cop hero and bring justice to the dangerous, crime-ridden streets of Old Detroit.”

Before I get into this review, a little background. I wasn’t given a review code. Oh I tried. In fact, about 15 seconds after I saw the original teaser trailer back in 2021, I sent an email to the publisher and put a request in. Of course, that was over 2 years ago and just maybe, my review request was lost? Fortunately, I’m a member of the media outlet that was handling the press for RoboCop: Rogue City. So I sent in a request via that ‘properly’ instead. Nope, still no review code. But that’s the nature of review requests, you don’t always get them… hence them being requests.

I had to play and review RoboCop: Rogue City because I’d written a multi-part article looking at the entire RoboCop franchise in terms of films, TV shows and even games. Seeing as I’d covered pretty much any and everything RoboCop, I had to review this game too.

I have a bit of a rule when it comes to reviews. If I genuinely loved the game, I’ll buy it to support to devs. Yup, even though I do get review code for free, I’ll still buy the game. I even own games on systems that I don’t have. With RoboCop: Rogue City and as I didn’t get a review code, I decided to buy the game anyway. This is why my review is a little late compared to other sites. I had to wait until release day before I could play. As I said, I still buy games if I really like them, even after getting review code. With RoboCop: Rogue City, I had no idea if I liked the game or not. So, let’s find out…

While I’m not about to get into story spoilers here, RoboCop: Rogue City takes place after the events of RoboCop 2. So we can all still forget that RoboCop 3 ever happened. This means that Anne Lewis is still alive too, and that’s a good thing. Anyway, the designer Nuke drug is still flowing through Old Detroit and the city is just as crime-ridden as ever. A new and mysterious crime boss comes to town with the intent of taking over while working with the gangs of Old Detroit. That’s where RoboCop comes in, to clean up the streets in his own way.

The basic gameplay of RoboCop: Rogue City is FPS-based. Just looking at a few clips, trailers and screenshots or even playing the opening mission, you’d think that is all it is too, an action-packed shooter. However, there’s a lot more depth going on here than the first impressions give. Quite frankly, RoboCop: Rogue City does an astonishing job of capturing the mood and atmosphere of the RoboCop character and the film’s universe. Right from the off and even before you play the game, during the start screen, you are greeted by that music. It’s a different, piano-based arrangement of the awesome Robocop theme, even so, before I had started the game, there was a big ‘ole smile on my face.

When you do get into the game itself, you will be lost in the level of detail and respect for the IP. Did you ever play Alien: Isolation? Do you remember walking around the ship and spotting things that looked exactly like the films? That’s the same feeling that I got with RoboCop: Rogue City. It looks and feels like Old Detroit from the films. As for playing as RoboCop himself? The Batman: Arkham games came to mind as they really made you feel like you were Batman. That’s exactly what RoboCop: Rogue City does for RoboCop. You do feel like RoboCop.

Anyway, the actual gameplay. RoboCop: Rogue City takes place in a semi-open world that you are free to explore. You get several semi-open hubs that offer a level of freedom and this lifts the game up and allows you to do pretty much whatever you like. As an example, one early mission had me having to seek out an arcade that was being used as a drug den in Old Detroit. I was allowed to explore the city though and didn’t have to go right to the arcade.

As I explored Old Detroit, I discovered several side missions. One had me solving a murder. I had to examine the crime scene, look for clues and question suspects, etc. Elsewhere, I could give parking tickets to cars and more. RoboCop: Rogue City is crammed with stuff like this to do. Yes, you have the main story to play through, but you also have a ton of side-quests to find and complete if you wish. Between the main missions, you can explore the police precinct and it is stuffed with details and looks like it did in the films. Do you remember the first film and when RoboCop is (kind of) shown, as he walks past that frosted glass partial wall to slightly obscure him before the big reveal? That frosted glass partial wall is in the game. You can go to the shooting range, just like in the film. There’s the locker room, just like in the film. There’s RoboCop’s chair (complete with his ‘baby food’ dispenser), just like in the film. There’s the parking garage with the ramp and when Robo drives out of it, sparks kick up, just, like in the film. Seriously, the attention to detail here is impressive. There are nods and references to the film both in the police precinct and in the main missions. Any RoboCop fan will be in reference heaven.

As I mentioned earlier, the gameplay is much more than just being a FPS. But before I do get into that, the shooting mechanics here are fantastic. RoboCop feels chunky as he moves, but still with that quickness that he has. Aiming works like any other FPS title. You can ‘shoot from the hip’ easily enough, but you can also hold down the aim button which brings up ‘Robovision’ and does that thing where RoboCop targets enemies with the green targeting system. You still have to manually aim, not auto aiming here, but this does highlight the enemies and makes them easier to spot.

The shooting itself is very Paul Verhoeven-like, it is over-the-top bloody and violent. Shoot someone in their head and it explodes in a glorious shower of claret and a really satisfying ‘squelch’ sound. And yes, you can shoot people in the balls. Limbs fly off as your bullets tear through flesh and blood splatters against the scenery. The action is so bloody that it makes Kinney’s death by ED-209 look like something from a kid’s TV show. There’s destructible scenery and you can use the environment to add to the utter carnage. While Robo’s famed Auto-9 will be your main weapon of choice, you can also pick up any of the guns dropped by enemies, so there’s a good variety of weapons on offer too. You don’t have to stick with guns though as Robo also has some melee moves at his disposal. You can straight-up punch folks in the face and it is as devastating as you think it is. There’s even a grab option and you can then throw enemies all over the place, into walls, scenery, other enemies and best of all, through plate glass windows. It feels like that scene in the first film when RoboCop gets Clarence Boddicker to confess by throwing him all over the place in the drug warehouse. Yup, the shooting and overall action is massively enjoyable and very, very satisfying. It’s also wonderfully varied and you can really mix things up. However, the action is only a slice of what RoboCop: Rogue City has to offer.

The game plays a lot like Mass Effect. Now, in terms of scale and such, this is nowhere near as grandiose as a Mass Effect game but there is a heavy RPG element. Outside of shooting and guys in the balls and such, you’ll have to talk to people, choose questions to ask and responses to give. Find clues to solve crimes and even do general police work. I had to work the front desk at the precinct to help people with their police-related problems, get other police officers to sign a ‘get well soon’ card and I even had to help an old lady find her cat. This may sound a bit ‘silly’ for someone like RoboCop to have to do but, he is still a police officer and he has to fulfil his police officer duties. As bad-ass as Robo is, he still has to serve the public trust, protect the innocent and uphold the law. These slower and calmer moments are a nice break from the gung-ho action.

The RPG element is really well implemented though and does help to sell the deeper tone and style of the original film. You can make decisions that will affect aspects of the game and the public’s perception of RoboCop. As an example, I caught someone doing graffiti and I had the option of arresting him or making him do community service. Playing as RoboCop, you have to make choices both big and small, and they’re not arbitrary good or bad choices, but they are choices that determine what kind of police officer you will be and how people perceive you.

There’s an experience and levelling system with plenty of skills and upgrades to unlock. You’ll get experience for finishing a main mission or side-quest, but there are bonuses that you can get to boost the EXP awarded. Find criminal evidence and various logs/memos, bonuses for saving hostages or pulling off some impressive shooting skills and such. You can upgrade your awesome Auto-9 gun to be even more awesome, if you can find the required motherboards and chips. When you level RoboCop up, you earn points to spend on skills and upgrades. While you get your basic improve armour, combat and such to help out with the action, there are also upgrades that will boost the RPG elements of the game. You can improve your deduction to help out with scanning scenes for clues. Some skills will help out with the dialogue options. There’s even a psychology upgrade path to take.

This brings me to one of my favourite things about the original film and this game. Alex Murphy himself. Just like in the film, there are times when Murphy struggles with being RoboCop as he recalls his past life. I don’t want to get into details here, to avoid spoilers and such, but Teyon have done an amazing job of making RoboCop: Rogue City feel like the original film. It isn’t just about gloriously over-the-top violence and action. There are moments of humanity and Alex Murphy trying to be the police officer that he is programmed to be as RoboCop, and him still having that human quality as a husband and father that he still remembers. I know that I have said it once or twice before but this game seriously does feel like Robocop.

The social and political satire that made the first film so damn clever is here too. Occasionally, you will find radios on the levels and you can listen to them for some satirical ads and news reports. If you stop to listen to the NPCs talk, you’ll overhear all sorts of funny comments. Yup, RoboCop: Rogue City has a bit of a comedy angle to it, just as the films did. RoboCop himself even cracks the odd joke now and then. Still avoiding spoilers, there’s a mission that involves a VHS store and there’s some wonderful meta humour going on that die hard RoboCop fans will certainly appreciate.

It’s not all good news though as RoboCop: Rogue City does have several rough edges. As I played on the Series X, I did notice several graphical glitches, clipping issues and such. Some of the animation looks really stiff and robotic. This is fine for RoboCop himself, but all of the human NPCs also look like they’ve had some cybernetic work done. These things are especially noticeable during cut scenes. Speaking of the cut scenes, some of them feel badly put together with awkward editing. They look like they were directed by the fella who did RoboCop 3 levels of awful. The lip-syncing is terrible and often looks like you’re watching a badly dubbed film with mouth movements not matching the words being spoken.

Audio levels are all over the place too. Sometimes a character’s speaking volume will be fine, then they’ll sound like they’re whispering for the very next line. Speaking of the audio, RoboCop’s Auto-9 does not sound right at all. It may only be a minor thing, but it is really, really irritating, especially as the gun has such an iconic sound. I’m not sure how or why the devs got it wrong when they could’ve lifted the sound right from the film(s). Robocop’s footsteps sound great and the music is spot on… but the gun’s audio is wrong.

Then there is the voice acting. It is beyond awesome that Peter Weller is back as RoboCop and he is great for the most part. But there are times when his performance does feel ‘off’. You kind of have to forgive him though as Weller is 76 years old as I write this and I’d rather have an older Peter Weller do a pretty decent job than a sound-a-like do a pretty decent job. Disappointingly Peter Weller is the only original cast member to return. Nancy Allen doesn’t voice Anne Lewis, as an example. Other cast members with characters in the game, such as Daniel O’Herlihy and Robert DoQui are sadly no longer with us. The quality of the voice acting throughout the game is very uneven. You get good performances and some distinctly not-so-good ones. I’ve heard far worse voice acting in games and the work in RoboCop: Rogue City is far from being awful, it’s not exactly stellar either and sits in that ‘it’s pretty okay’ area.

Graphically, RoboCop: Rogue City is a bit of a mixed bag too. The locations that you visit and the environments look amazing and are wonderfully detailed. They even look like they’ve been ripped right from the films. However, the graphics for the human characters are less impressive. Some of them look downright horrific and the less-than-great animation really makes them look so much worse. This is mainly noticeable with secondary NPCs. Plus, when RoboCop takes his helmet off, he looks like something from a couple of gaming generations ago.

This all brings me to my final judgment. When I do my reviews, I always like to look at the price of the game and decide if the cost is worth the gameplay being offered. First, I bought RoboCop: Rogue City – Alex Murphy Edition and I can honestly say that the extra content is not worth it. You get a digital art book, which I think should’ve been included in the base game as an unlockable. You also get a cosmetic skin for RoboCop, which given that this is mostly a FPS title, you’re only going to see the skin in cut scenes. There’s an alternate skin for Robo’s Auto-9 gun and you also get a shotgun to use as a secondary weapon. You don’t get any extra playable game content, no extra side or main missions, nothing. You just get some art to look at and some minor cosmetics. The extra cash for the Alex Murphy Edition really isn’t worth it at £60. I’d suggest that you skip it.

However, the base game for £50 is much more reasonable. RoboCop: Rogue City has a few issues, some that can be fixed via a patch and some that you’ll just have to live with because this isn’t a massive AAA title. It is a bit of a budget game, a AA title at best and you can’t expect the small team of devs to deliver a game comparable to a massive studio in that regard. However, with highlighted issues aside, what Teyon have managed here is certainly impressive. This is the same developer that made that fucking atrocious Rambo: The Video Game from 2014. They also made Terminator: Resistance in 2019. A game I only played a couple of hours of, so I can’t offer a valid option on (unless they want to send me a review code for the newly released complete edition on the Xbox) but, I have heard that the game was pretty decent.

With RoboCop: Rogue City, you can really see how the devs have grown and this is a far cry from Rambo: The Video Game. RoboCop: Rogue City is a title made with a passion and respect for the IP and even with the rough edges, this is still very playable and one of the best games of 2023. If you’re a big RoboCop fan then you’re in for a real treat. You’ll get about a 20-23 hour or so long main campaign if you rush and just stick to the main story, but you can add several more hours to that if you want to do all the side-quests and upgrade RoboCop to his fullest and so on.

There’s a decent bit of replay value too. There are multiple difficulty settings to try. I did start playing on easy just to do this review, but I found it way too easy. So I changed to normal and saw it through to the end. However, I really, really want to go back and play through on the hardest setting and try some different things, alternate conversations and mop up all of the side-quests next time. There are even three different endings, these depend on the choices that you make throughout the game. There is no New Game+ mode, which I think is a bit of a disappointment but maybe Teyon could add one in later? I honestly don’t think that the Alex Murphy Edition is worth it as the extra content is largely redundant, but the base game is amazing and most definitely worth a purchase as there is a lot here to keep you happy.

For me, as a huge RoboCop fan, this is an utterly fantastic game. One that really did surprise me as I thought it was a straight-up FPS and all about action. The deeper RPG elements were a welcome addition and how they have expanded on the psychology and humanity angle of the original film is wonderful. RoboCop: Rogue City is a far deeper game than I was expecting and if you are a RoboCop fan, this is a must-buy and it is one of my favourite games of the year. If Teyon could smooth out the rough edges, this could go from a damn good game to a truly great one. Just as a quick aside, Teyon have the Terminator and RoboCop IP rights…

Short of joining the police force, being sent to a rough part of the city, attending a call without back-up, getting your hand blown off, shot several dozen times by gang members, being executed via a gunshot to the head, to finally then be brought back to life via cybernetics. RoboCop: Rogue City is the closest that you’ll likely get to be being RoboCop. Buy it for more than a dollar. Besides, seeing as the RoboCop Returns film is dead in the water, this is the closest that we’re going to get to a proper sequel.